Today is the 150th anniversary of Our Lady’s first appearance to St. Bernadette in the grotto at Lourdes. Those who have not yet done so have five more hours in which to visit a church, grotto or “other decorous place” in which an image of the Virgin of Lourdes is displayed as an object of devotion. By praying in front of this image, it is possible to obtain a plenary indulgence. I hope you have all had a chance to do this already, but if you miss it, there is another way — you may obtain the same indulgence by taking a pilgrimage to Lourdes at any time before December 8 of this year.

The story of St. Bernadette is widely known so I won’t retell it here (although, for any who have not yet seen the movie, you really should.) I did think, though, that I might relate my favorite detail of the story, which (so far as I recall) is not detailed in the film. As most of you probably know, Bernadette was out gathering firewood with her sister and a neighbor girl when the Blessed Mother first appeared to her. Understandably, she was rather frightened, and so, devout Catholic child that she was, she took out her Rosary beads and began to pray them. The Blessed Lady simply smiled and allowed her to continue praying… except during the Gloria, when she joined in.

Isn’t this a lovely thing to contemplate? St. Bernadette did not realize at this time that the woman before her was the Mother of God. But when you think about it, this is exactly what we should have expected the Blessed Lady to do. She does not join, of course, in the prayers directed at her, nor would it be appropriate for her to join in the Our Father, a prayer that is clearly meant to be voiced by those of us who are still in via. The saints in heaven do not need daily bread, and they have already been delivered from evil. But they do give glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who were in the beginning, are now, and ever shall be.

We don’t always think much about St. Bernadette in connection with the Rosary, but perhaps we should. Here we have an example of what it would be like to pray the Rosary with the Blessed Mother’s own eyes fixed upon us. But even if we don’t see her, can there be any doubt that she does attend to our prayers also? So when we pray our own Rosaries, we might imagine her as at the grotto of Lourdes, smiling warmly… and then joining in for the Gloria, adding her voice to ours in praise of the Holy Trinity.

St. Bernadette, pray for us!