He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

MIRACLE AT LOURDES:
THE CARDINAL MESSENGER OF THE VIRGIN

	Cardinal Ivan Diaz

Last Saturday, 8 December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception in Lourdes was marked by a great miracle: the homily of Cardinal Ivan Diaz, papal legate. One would think he was listening to Sister Lucy confiding to Fr. Fuentes, exactly fifty years ago, in December 1957, the sadness of Our Lady on seeing that no one had paid any attention to Her message. What would She say today after the encyclical of Benedict XVI, openly disavowing Her “small demands” of reparatory devotion, co-redemptive for the conversion of « poor sinners ». The Pope in fact writes:

« There used to be a form of devotion – perhaps less practised today but quite widespread not long ago – that included the idea of “offering up” the minor daily hardships that continually strike at us like irritating “jabs”, thereby giving them a meaning. »

To be precise, it was “widespread” until the Second Vatican Council, which put an end to it. The Pope, who was one of the architects of the “reform” of this « form of devotion », as theological adviser to Cardinal Frings, continues:

« Of course, there were some exaggerations and perhaps unhealthy applications of this devotion… »

The whole « spirit of the [Second Vatican] Council » is contained in this incredible judgement, which explains the stubborn refusal to recommend the reparatory devotion of the first Saturdays of the month. What was the reason for this? It was solely the concern to please the Protestant “observers”.

An apparent correction immediately follows, re-establishing the « continuity » with the tradition « …but we need to ask ourselves whether there may not after all have been something essential and helpful contained within it. »

We are in the middle of a practical exercise of “ecumenical dialogue”. Let us be attentive:

« What does it mean to offer something up? » For a Protestant, that does not mean anything. The Pope tries to make him admit at least the principle of this “co-redemption”:

« Those who did so were convinced that they could insert their little trials into Christ’s great compassion so that they somehow became part of the treasury of compassion so greatly needed by the human race. In this way, even the small inconveniences of daily life could acquire meaning… » – The Pope should say « merit », but Protestants admit neither the word nor the reality – « and contribute to the economy of good and of love among men. Maybe we should consider whether it might not be judicious to revive this practice ourselves. »

Thus goes the pontifical hermeneutic of continuity, but the harm is done and it is irreparable, once one permits himself to describe as « exaggerated » and « unhealthy » that which is the very substance of the message of the Angel of Fatima, first, and then of Our Lady in Person:

« Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. […]. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings that the Lord will send you. »(summer 1916)

« Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners? »

– Yes, we are willing.

– Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort. » (June 1917)

The homily of the Cardinal Legate re-establishes everything, on the part of the Pope! It is a greater miracle than opening the eyes of the blind or unbinding the tongue of the mute:

« We are gathered here at the feet of the Virgin Mary in order to inaugurate the Jubilee Year in preparation for the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the apparitions in this blessed place. I bring you a very cordial salutation from His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who has charged me with expressing to you his paternal love and solicitude, assuring you of his prayers, and giving you his apostolic benediction.

« As pilgrims gathered in the love of Christ, we want to recall with gratitude and affection the apparitions that took place here in Lourdes in 1858. Together let us seek to feel the maternal heartbeats of our dear heavenly Mother, to recall the Her words, and to hear the message that She still proposes to us today.

« We are well acquainted with the history of these apparitions. The Blessed Virgin descended from Heaven as a Mother very concerned for Her sons and daughters who were living in sin, far from Her Son Jesus. She appeared in the Grotto of Massabielle, which, at that time, was a marsh where pigs grazed, and this is precisely where She wanted to have a sanctuary built, in order to indicate that the grace and mercy of God must triumph over the wretched marsh of human sins. Very close to the place of the apparitions, the Virgin brought forth a spring of abundant and pure water, which the pilgrims drink and carry throughout the whole world with such devotion, indicating the desire of our affectionate Mother to pour forth Her love and the salvation of Her Son to the ends of the earth. Finally, from this blessed Grotto the Virgin Mary launched a pressing appeal to all to pray and do penance in order to obtain the conversion of poor sinners. »

THE MESSAGE OF THE VIRGIN TODAY.

« One may wonder: What meaning can the message of Our Lady of Lourdes have for us today? I like to situate these apparitions in the broader context of the ongoing and ferocious struggle that has existed between the forces of good and evil from the beginning of the history of humanity in the Garden of Paradise, and that will continue until the end of time. The apparitions of Lourdes are, in fact, among the first of the long series of apparitions of Our Lady that began twenty-eight years earlier in 1830 at rue du Bac in Paris, heralding the decisive entry of the Virgin Mary in the midst of the hostilities between Her and the Devil, as it is described in the Bible, in the books of Genesis and the Apocalypse. The Medal, known as Miraculous, that the Virgin had engraved on this occasion, represents Her with open arms from which came rays of light, signifying the graces that She distributed to the whole world. Her feet rested on the globe and crushed the head of the Serpent, the Devil, indicating the victory that the Virgin was gaining over the Devil and the forces of evil. Around the image we read the invocation: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.” It is noteworthy that this great truth of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was thus affirmed twenty-four years before Pope Pius IX defined it as a dogma of faith (1854): four years later, here in Lourdes, Our Lady Herself wanted to reveal to Bernadette that She was the Immaculate Conception.

« After the apparitions of Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin has not ceased to manifest Her great maternal concern for the fate of humanity in Her various apparitions in the whole world. Everywhere She has demanded prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners, for She foresaw the spiritual ruin of certain countries, the sufferings that the Holy Father would have to undergo, the general weakening of the Christian Faith, the difficulties of the Church, the rise of the Antichrist and his attempts to replace God in the life of men: attempts which, despite their resounding success, will nevertheless be doomed to fail.

« Here in Lourdes, as everywhere on earth, the Virgin Mary is at work weaving an immense network of Her spiritual sons and daughters throughout the whole world in order to launch a powerful offensive against the forces of the Devil, in order to shut him away and thus prepare the final victory of Her divine Son, Jesus Christ.

« The Virgin Mary invites us once again today to join Her combat legion against the forces of evil. As an indication of our participation in Her offensive, She asks, among other things, the conversion of heart, a great devotion to the Holy Eucharist, daily recitation of the Rosary, unending prayer without hypocrisy, acceptation of sufferings for the salvation of the world. These might seem like small things, but they are mighty in the hands of God to whom nothing is impossible. Like young David who, with a pebble and a sling, struck down the giant Goliath who had come to meet him armed with a sword, a spear and a javelin (cf. 1 S 17.4-51), we also, with the small beads of our Rosary, can heroically confront the assaults of our fearsome adversary and defeat him.

SPE SALVI, « IN HOPE WE ARE SAVED. »

« The fight between God and His enemy is still raging, still more today than in the time of Bernadette a hundred and fifty years ago. For the world is terribly engulfed in the swamp of a secularism that wants to create a godless world; of a relativism that stifles the permanent and unchangeable values of the Gospel; and of a religious indifference that remains unshakable in the face of the superior good of the things that concern God and the Church. This battle claims many victims in our families and among our youth. A few months before he became Pope John Paul II (9 November 1976), Cardinal Karol Wojtyla said: “Today we are facing the greatest combat that humanity has ever seen. I do not think that the Christian community has fully understood it. Today we are faced with the final struggle between the Church and the Anti-Church, between the Gospel and the Anti-Gospel.” Nevertheless, one thing is certain: the final victory belongs to God and this will be confirmed thanks to Mary, the Woman of Genesis and of the Apocalypse, who will fight at the head of the army of Her sons and daughters against the enemy forces of Satan and will crush the head of the Serpent.

« At the Grotto of Massabielle the Virgin Mary taught us that true happiness is only found in Heaven. “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other”, She said to Bernadette. The life of Bernadette illustrated this clearly enough: she, who had had the singular privilege of seeing the Blessed Virgin, was profoundly marked by the cross of Jesus; she was entirely consumed by tuberculosis, and she died young, at the age of thirty-five.

« In this Jubilee Year, let us thank the Lord for all the corporal and spiritual graces that He has deigned to grant to hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in this holy place, and through the intercession of St. Bernadette, let us pray to the Blessed Virgin in order to fortify ourselves in the spiritual combat of each day so that we may live to the full our Christian Faith by practicing the virtues that distinguished the Virgin Mary, Fiat, Magnificat and Stabat: that is to say, an intrepid faith (Fiat), a boundless joy (Magnificat), and uncompromising fidelity (Stabat).

« O Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us poor sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen »