Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes

Today, February 11th is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.  "I am the Immaculate Conception", the woman wearing white with a blue sash told St Bernadette back in 1858 near the grotto in Lourdes, France.  Bernadette was a young girl of 14 years old, yet still she had such an unwavering faith as she continued to believe and follow Mary even when her parents and community thought that she was having hallucinations instead of true visions.

 

Our Lady of Lourdes

I think of the faith of these young women, of St Bernadette seeing a woman in white and being criticized for her belief, or of Mary as a young girl hearing that she would conceive Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  No matter what people around them might think and no matter what else is going on in their life they trusted in God and said "yes".  They do not always understand what God is calling them to, but they still follow Him.  We are all called by God to be a Saint.  What can we do today, tomorrow, to say "yes" to God?

 

Today we have a few fun activities planned for our children to learn more about St Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes.  We will watch the CCC movie Bernadette:  The Princess of Lourdes, which is one of our favorite videos from the Saints and Heroes Series!  We will also make little flowers with tissue paper and pipe cleaners to represent the flowers at Mary's feet.

 

We also LOVE our Our Lady of Lourdes Shining Light Doll!

 

Also, our materials from Seton for our homeschooling have many rich products and stories to learn more about the Saints!  With the pre-kindergarten curriculum you get the Coloring Book about the Saints, which includes a story and image to color of St Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes!  In the kindergarten curriculum we are learning about the different Mysteries of the Rosary, and this is a wonderful feast day to help explain the blessings and importance of prayer and the Rosary!

 

My husband and I started watching The Song of Bernadette last night (and will continue tonight), which is on Amazon Instant Video and also ITunes library if you are looking for a copy last minute!  It is a fantastic movie about the beautiful story of St Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes. 

"Grant us, O merciful God, protection in our weakness, that we, who keep the Memorial of the Immaculate Mother of God, may with the help of her intercession, rise up from our iniquities. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever."