Our Lady of Lourdes

God's healing presence through Mary is not always obvious. God used Eve's weakness through Mary to crush the head of the serpent and that part of how she crushes the serpent is through bearing new (spiritual) children. God used a woman's loving concern of making sure that the disciples had some loaves to set up Jesus' miracle which in turn set up his teaching. God still uses the weak and wounded to crush the head of the snake and often his healing is behind the scenes as it has been at Lourdes.

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Title

The Hiddenness of Healing

Outline

Sometimes it is difficult to find Mary - but she is there

It is not obviously always in healing

It is not obviously always in her presence

Look at our readings

First, in Genesis the woman seems to be the problem

She has listened to the serpent, whatever he looked like, and has been persuaded to overreach, whether she actually wanted to be like God or not, but the Man was there with her and does not do anything to stop her, nor does he refuse the fruit when her experience seems to indicate it was desirable.

But that does not stop him from blaming her: “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”

One reads Genesis and then realizes why Paul focuses on Adam

But the woman receives both the effects of the rebellion and grace.

The enmity between the demonic and her and her seed is not surprising: the demonic world is built on power, lies, and hate - demons do not even like each other, let alone their “tools”

It is also not surprising that the two areas of the woman’s life that are effected (besides eventual death, which is in part a grace) are her unique area of childbearing and her relationship to her husband that becomes conflicted between her needs and his control - no longer partners. (I dare not start into that, for both by training and experience I know it could be endless)

What is surprising is that her/her seed (which in Hebrew has indeterminate gender and can be collective or singular), while in a real battle, will strike or crush the head of the serpent.

And what is more healing than realizing that in the New Eve’s bearing children there is not only difficulty (new birth is not always easy), but that that very action crushes the power of the serpent?

Second, Our Lady’s contribution is often hidden

Look at the feeding of the 4000, which sets the disciples up for a teaching about God’s provision and avoiding the “leaven of the Pharisees.”

Jesus sets up the miracle, not be responding to the crowd, but by bringing a practical issue up to the disciples: 3 days of teaching, no food during that time, too far from home to get food before collapsing. They missed the situation, but, when asked, they did have some bread and a few fish. I bet they had not baked it. I bet that some woman or women had not only baked it but had made sure that those buns had been taken by the disciples. There was hidden provision for a need the disciples did not know, provision that was enough for Jesus and in particular enough for him to make the points he needed to make.

Sisters, we can learn from this

It is not only that we can learn the source of interpersonal conflict in our lives.

It is more that we can see Jesus using the weak and wounded (certainly in the eyes of the world) to crush the fearsome head of the snake. And that is what Jesus does.

It is that often the apparently weaker and more wounded are the healers.

And it is even more often that behind the scenes Jesus has used some woman to input the teaching, the care, the right words, and, yes, the physical bread that he will use to bring about deep healing.

A friend of ours with MS went to Lourdes. She experienced healing, but not much of it was physical. She left no crutches or wheelchair there. It was the care of a number of women working there - unnamed ones - who assisted, encouraged, counseled, and just were with her in an atmosphere of prayer that was healing.

I suspect that Our Lady of Lourdes smiled and gave a glance towards Jesus as if to say, “Yes, the serpent’s head is being crush; healing is going on right on schedule.”

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 2-11-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

From Saturday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

Genesis 3:9–24

9 The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat? 12 The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.” 13 The LORD God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it.”

14 Then the LORD God said to the snake:

Because you have done this,

cursed are you

among all the animals, tame or wild;

On your belly you shall crawl,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

They will strike at your head,

while you strike at their heel.

16 To the woman he said:

I will intensify your toil in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Yet your urge shall be for your husband,

and he shall rule over you.

17 To the man he said: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You shall not eat from it,

Cursed is the ground because of you!

In toil you shall eat its yield

all the days of your life.

18 Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you,

and you shall eat the grass of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow

you shall eat bread,

Until you return to the ground,

from which you were taken;

For you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.

20 The man gave his wife the name “Eve,” because she was the mother of all the living.

21 The LORD God made for the man and his wife garments of skin, with which he clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said: See! The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever? 23 The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. 24 He expelled the man, stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Catholic Daily Readings 2-11-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 90:1

1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, you have been our refuge

through all generations.

PSALM

Psalm 90:2–4c, 5–6, 12–13

2 Before the mountains were born,

the earth and the world brought forth,

from eternity to eternity you are God.

3 You turn humanity back into dust,

saying, “Return, you children of Adam!”

4 A thousand years in your eyes

are merely a day gone by,

Before a watch passes in the night,

5 you wash them away;

They sleep,

and in the morning they sprout again like an herb.

6 In the morning it blooms only to pass away;

in the evening it is wilted and withered.

12 Teach us to count our days aright,

that we may gain wisdom of heart.

13 Relent, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

Catholic Daily Readings 2-11-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Matthew 4:4b

4 He said in reply, “It is written:

‘One does not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’ ”

GOSPEL

Mark 8:1–10

1 In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, he summoned the disciples and said, 2 “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” 4 His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” 5 Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied. 6 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. 8 They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets. 9 There were about four thousand people.

He dismissed them 10 and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 2-11-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

ON THE SAME DATE | OPTIONAL MEMORIAL

OUR LADY OF LOURDES

YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

On the same date: Saturday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

From Saturday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading Genesis 3:9–24

Response Psalm 90:1

Psalm Psalm 90:2–4c, 5–6, 12–13

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 4:4b

Gospel Mark 8:1–10

WHITE

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