CLXIII

Today marks 163 years since a young peasant girl, removing her stockings while preparing to wade into a stream in Lourdes, France, was visited for the first of several times by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

I have long been fascinated by the story of St. Bernadette, one of the two young French maidens who have figured so large in my spiritual life, the other being Saint Joan of Arc, for whom I have a special and intense devotion.

When I was a little boy, I watched the old black & white movie, The Song of Bernadette, on television with my mother. I was quite bored with the movie, except for the appearance of Vincent Price, whom I idolized as a master of scary-fun movies on late night Fridays. Mother, however, adored the movie and claimed it as one of her all-time favorites. Looking back, it’s remarkable to me how many Catholic and French cultural touchstones were important to the agate-eyed Southern woman who gave birth to me.

I cannot watch the scene where Bernadette first encounters Our Lady without crying. I simply cannot.

Nothing I write here can surpass the simple, reverent tribute paid to St. Bernadette by Laura Wood at her Thinking Housewife blog. Mrs. Wood was very influential in helping to hone my thoughts as I stumbled my way to my quirky faith in and embrace of the Roman Catholic church, and I can never repay the debt.

Praise be to Christ for the truly miraculous. And may He guard us from the temptation to explain away the glimpses of mystery with which we may be favored in this life.

~ S. K. Orr