A Meditation on St. Bernadette from Father Benedict Groeschel

From 8/14/03:



"Ever since the Song of Bernadette, one of the great religious films, based on Franz Werfel's novel, opened in America, people have been familiar with this little girl who was desperately poor and to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared at Lourdes. Many of us developed an affection for this humble saint, although few of us knew much about her. Many people thought she looked like the actress who played her role in the movie. I've done a bit more research, and I learned that Bernadette was a kind of fresh kid from the streets. She lived, after all, in an abandoned prison, and although her family saw to it that the children received the sacraments, they were very poor indeed.



Bernadette died at the age of thirty-five of tuberculosis of the bone, which had apparently begun as rickets during her childhood caused by malnutrition. She was famous for her wit, which was a simple peasant shrewdness, quite capable of mimicking people who thought they were very important. She sometimes said crisp things to those in authority.



A monsignor once asked her, "Do you expect me to believe that the Blessed Virgin appeared to you?"



She answered, "No, I don't expect you believe it; it's my job just to tell you what she said."



A few years ago I visited the convent in Nevers where Bernadette lived out her life in a very austere religious community. Her body is now on view in a glass reliquary in the chapel, although originally she had been buried in the ground. It is a most impressive sight. A thin layer of wax covers her face because when her incorrupt body was taken from the grave, one of the sisters washed it with soap, which turned the skin dark. Bernadette has something to teach all of us. Who is important to God? To whom will God speak? On whom will He rely? The simple answer is, those who will faithfully give His message. Bernadette has something to teach all of us. Who is important to God? To whom will God speak? On whom will He rely? The simple answer is, those who will faithfully give His message. Bernadette never added anything to what she saw, she never interpreted it, she just said what Our Lady had told her to say.



When Bernadette was dying of the very painful tuberculosis of the bone, she was asked if she wanted to go to the spring at Lourdes, which was by that time immensely popular. She said no, the spring was not for her. Our Lady had told her years before, “I cannot promise you happiness in this world but eternal happiness in heaven.”



After she entered the Sisters of Charity at Nevers, Bernadette never returned to the shrine; she never sought a cure for herself, although many of the cures were of people with medical situations similar to her own. She remained a selfless person all her life. Why was she chosen? Which one of us can understand the depths of a simple soul? Who understands how even a child can be totally dedicated to God and chosen like the Blessed Mother to do His work?



As I am struggling with my mashed arm and other symptoms as a result of my accident, I can only think of Bernadette and the message she has to give. I would like to go to Lourdes, but I won’t. Like Bernadette, I don’t think the spring is for me. I don’t know why I think that, but I do.

"

Pope--"I have reached the end of my pilgrimage"

From Belfast Telegraph:



"The Pope, who on Saturday - the first of his two days at Lourdes - appeared briefly to lose his balance while kneeling down at Bernadette's cave, made a rare reference to his state of health at the start of the Rosary prayer. 'I feel with emotion that I have reached the end of my pilgrimage,' he said, and was seen to shed tears.



The Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls talked down the significance of the sentence. 'The Pope is showing his emotion over this pilgrimage to Lourdes which he has been looking forward to for a long time.''



But many see the Pope's visit to Lourdes - only his second trip outside Italy this year - as a symbolic farewell on Earth to the Virgin Mary whose hand he believes saved his life when a Turkish would-be assassin shot him in May 1981."

Pope Struggles to Finish Homily

From My Way - News:



"The devout crowd of about 200,000 listened to his words from a field on the banks of the Gave River in the shadow of the basilica built over the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.



They cheered him like coaches for a struggling athlete when his words faltered and when he gasped for breath.



At one point he was heard to mutter softly in Polish: 'Help me,' and later said 'I have to finish.' An aide brought him some water in a white plastic cup and he finished his sermon."

Sad News

From My Way News:



"The death toll from Hurricane Charley rose early Saturday, when a county official said there had a been 'significant loss of life' at a mobile home park and deputies were standing guard over stacks of bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.



Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County's director of emergency management, said early Saturday that there were 'a number of fatalities' at the mobile home park, and that there were confirmed deaths in at least three other areas in the county.



The eye of the worst hurricane to hit Florida in a dozen years passed directly over Punta Gorda, a town of 15,000 which took a devastating hit Friday."

Hurricane Charley Now Category 4

Pray for the folks in Florida...



Expected to make landfall right about now.. from CNN.com - Dangerous Hurricane Charley now Category 4 - Aug 13, 2004:



"Hurricane Charley, now a powerful Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall in west Florida's Charlotte Harbor before 4 p.m. ET, the National Weather Service reports.



Hurricane Charley's winds had increased to 145 mph (233 kph), with higher gusts.



The storm was headed toward the Fort Myers-Port Charlotte area, after jogging slightly to the right, said Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.



Originally, Charley was expected to make landfall at Tampa to the north. "

Julia Child Dead at 91

The French Chef...



From CNN.com - Julia Child dead at 91 - Aug 13, 2004:



"Julia Child, who revolutionized cooking in the United States with her cooking school, cookbooks and television shows, has died, according to a statement from her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. She was 91.



Child died at her home in Santa Barbara, California, according to the release.



Years before any television chef said 'bam,' Child was on public television instructing Americans in a warbling voice and a mischievous manner how to prepare everything from omelets to sweetbreads to coq au vin."

Girl's First Communion Invalidated

Not the first time this has come up. In fact we did a book on this a few years ago that argues quite convincingly why the matter of the Sacraments matters, I include a link to that book which deals with all the Sacraments including marriage (man and woman being the matter) and priesthood (a male being the matter).



It should be pointed out that the young girl could receive the Precious Blood and that she would be receiving the whole Christ...but these issues usually involve someone trying to make a point rather than any real search for the truth.



FromGirl's First Communion invalidated over wheat-free wafer - billingsgazette.com:



"A Monmouth County, N.J., woman is battling the Catholic Church after church officials invalidated her 8-year-old's First Communion because she received a wheat-free wafer, contrary to church tradition.



Liz Pelly-Waldman's daughter, Haley, suffers from a rare digestive disorder and can't consume the wheat wafer that Catholics believe becomes the body of Christ during Communion.

Pelly-Waldman initially asked her priest to allow Haley to eat bread made without gluten, which is a component of wheat.



But the priest refused. And when Pelly-Waldman found a priest who would serve Haley a gluten-free wafer, the Diocese of Trenton, N.J., stepped in and declared that the Communion was invalid. "