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Weekday
February 13
THE MEANING OF SUFFERING IN THE
LIGHT OF THE MIRACLES AT
LOURDES
By Pope St John Paul II 5
◊◊◊
The reality of faith, of hope and of charity, the reality of suffering
sanctified and sanctifying. The reality of the presence of the Mother of God in
the mystery of Christ and His Church on earth: a presence which is particularly
alive in that elect portion of the church which consists of the sick and the
suffering.
These persons, if animated by faith, turn to Lourdes. Why? Because they
know that there, as at Cana, “There is the Mother of Jesus” and where She is,
Her Son cannot be absent. Sick of all sorts go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, born up
by hope that, through Mary, Christ’s saving power – reveals itself in the
spiritual sphere above all.
It is in the hearts of the sick that Mary makes Her Son’s wonderworking
voice heard, a voice which prodigiously resolves the rigidity of sourness of heart
and rebellion and gives the soul back eyes with which to see the world, others,
one’s own destiny in a new light.
At Lourdes the sick discover the inestimable value of their suffering – the
meaning that pain may have in their lives, when interiorly renewed by that
flame which consumes and transforms in the life of the Church.
Upright by the Cross of Her Son on Calvary, the Most Holy Virgin
courageously shared in His Passion and knows how to convince ever fresh souls
to unite their sufferings with Christ’s sacrifice, in a joint “offertory,” which
surpasses time and space and embraces the whole of mankind and saves it.
5
from Prayers and Devotions from John Paul II; the K. S. Gininger Company, Inc., 1984.