This year is the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette Soubirous. Br. Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P., a student brother at the Dominican House of Studies wrote an article for the website GodSpy.com reflecting on the significance of the apparition entitled: “The Healing Love of Lourdes.”

A friend once remarked that Marian shrines are special because they are our mother’s house. And so it’s to our mother’s house that our siblings come; the lame, the sick, the proud, and those who party too much. Mary has a special place for all; even the revelers. After all, she’s the one who interceded at a party when the wine ran out. She knows the love of those who buy cheesy holographic images of her, cigarette lighters decorated with pictures of the grotto, and little bottles shaped like her. When our birth mothers die, we too are hard-pressed to find artistically fine tokens of love among her effects. Rather, we find the scribbled art of our childhood, a stick figure with the primitive label “mommy” above. Our blessed mother blesses our humble imperfect offerings of love with a maternal heart.

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