The Marianists
August 2024
Dear Friends,
Bernadette Soubirous was a nobody. Her family was so poor that they moved into the local jail, and she and her sister had to walk to the garbage dump outside their village to collect sticks to burn for firewood. Her parents sent her away to work as a shepherdess, but the lady whom she worked for looked down on her. No one thought Bernadette was particularly bright, and by the time she was 14, she still had not made her first Holy Communion because she did not know her Catechism. Bernadette Soubirous was an unremarkable peasant from an unremarkable family in an unremarkable village in France.
Why is it, then, that last month I found myself with twenty students from Kellenberg Memorial, standing in that same ex-jail-cell where Bernadette lived and praying the Marianist Three O’Clock Prayer? I think the answer is quite simple, but all of us have a really hard time believing it. St. Paul puts it this way: “God chooses what is weak in the world to shame the strong,” and in another place, he says, “God’s power is made perfect in weakness.” If I can summarize the Apostle succinctly, I’d say “You don’t have to do great things in order to be great in God’s eyes.”
When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in February 1858, she asked the teenager to “do me the favor of coming back here for fifteen days.” Imagine that! The Mother of God asked a girl who was so sick, poor, and seemingly unintelligent to do her a favor! It was a simple request – please come back here to spend time with me. Eventually, Mary asked her to dig a little hole and drink from a fresh spring of water, and finally, she asked Bernadette to go to the priests and ask them to build a chapel and have the faithful come there to pray.
I was blessed to be one of those faithful making a procession to the Grotto in Lourdes last month. It’s hard to describe the feeling you have when you are standing in the same place that the Blessed Virgin Mary also stood. You know, there was nothing wonderful about Bernadette, yet Mary saw something beautiful in her. She found a willingness to serve and a heart open to God. If you find yourself rather unremarkable at times, or you think you are too deep in a sinful pattern to stop now, or you have missed going to Mass recently, take St. Bernadette’s example to heart. Respond to Mary’s request for a favor. Spend some time with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and let her help you find Him again.
This month, we celebrate the beautiful feast of the Assumption of Mary. (Don’t forget to go to Mass on August 15!) Mary of Nazareth, too, was an unknown peasant girl for whom God did great things. But here is the thing: no one is unremarkable in God’s eyes. Usually in the summer months, we have a little bit more free time on our hands. I invite you to pick your rosary back up and pray it faithfully. Have trust that you are quite remarkable in God’s eyes, and God will do great things for you too.
May Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette watch over you and intercede for you with Our Lord, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer! Be sure of my prayers for all of you.
In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Bro. Patrick Cahill, S.M.
