The Cure Believes

Dear Diary,

This evening I read more from Our Lady of Lourdes, and the chapter stayed with me very quietly after I closed the book.

Bernadette went again to the Curé of Lourdes, just as the Lady had asked her. She told him, “She wishes a chapel to be erected, and processions to the Grotto to be organized.”

As I read, I could almost see it in my mind. I felt as if I were standing in the doorway with Mini beside me, watching it happen. Bernadette looked so small before the priest’s desk, with her hands folded and her face lifted up to him. But the message she carried was not small at all. It was from Heaven.

Mini seemed to be watching too, as if she knew we had stepped into something holy. I stayed quiet in my imagining, because it did not feel like a place for whispering or asking questions. It felt like a place where a little girl was obeying Our Lady, and a priest was beginning to understand.

This time the Curé did not ask for more proof. The spring had already come from the ground, and cures had begun, and God had placed His own signs beside Bernadette’s words. The Curé believed her. He still did not know the Lady’s name, but his heart seemed to know. I liked that very much. Sometimes a holy thing is known before it is spoken.

It made me think of Father LeRoy. Once, after Mass, he said that St. Bernadette did not make herself important, even when Heaven had chosen her. He said she only carried the message and left the rest to God.

“That is why she is so safe to follow,” Father LeRoy said. “She points away from herself.”

I thought of that while imagining Bernadette in the Curé’s room. She did not push or argue. She only came because she had been sent. And even when the Curé believed, he was still careful. He told her that what she asked did not depend on him, but on the Bishop. He would go and tell him.

Sister Mary Claire said true faith is not noisy or hurried. It can be very strong and still wait patiently. I thought of Bernadette, the Curé, and Father LeRoy all at once. Each one had to listen, obey, and trust God’s time.

Tonight, I keep thinking of the chapel Our Lady asked for, and of the processions to the Grotto. A little girl brought the message, a priest believed, and Heaven began to gather people there.

Evening Prayer

Dear Jesus, help me to listen when You speak quietly. Help me to be humble like Bernadette, careful like the Curé, and faithful like Father LeRoy teaches us to be. Let me carry whatever little message You give me without pride, and leave the rest in Your hands.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Resolution: Tomorrow I will try to obey quietly and not make myself important.

Girls of The Gave

 

Dear Diary,

This evening I sat again on the porch steps with Our Lady of Lourdes open on my knees. The sun was going down behind the trees, and the boards of the porch still held a little warmth from the day. Mini came at once and sat right beside me, as if she had made up her mind that I was not to read even one page without her.

Only I am not so sure she came for me.

She kept looking past the book, with her ears lifted and her eyes full of that soft, wondering look she gets when she sees something I almost think I can see too. I told her softly, “Mini, are you listening to Bernadette?” and then I felt as if the story had stepped right out of the pages and sat down beside us.

Tonight the chapter told how the three children left the town behind them and crossed the bridge to the left bank of the Gave. They passed the mill and went down through the meadow, hunting for little pieces of wood to make a small bundle for the fire at home. Bernadette walked behind the others, frail and small, with her apron still empty while the other girls already had gathered chips and branches.

I could see her so plainly as I read—the worn black dress, the white capulet falling over her shoulders, the coarse sabots on her feet, and that poor little figure walking through the meadow with such quiet grace. The book said she was not beautiful in the proud way people sometimes mean, but there was something sweeter and higher in her. Her eyes were calm and pure, and her whole face showed goodness, pity, and innocence.

The words that stayed with me most were “the Majesty of Innocence.”

I stopped reading there for a minute.

It made me think that God sees beauty so differently from the world. Bernadette had no fine clothes and no important place. She was poor, ignorant of many things, and only gathering wood because her family needed warmth. Yet Heaven must have been looking at her already. Maybe Our Lady saw what others would never notice—a little soul without pride, walking humbly behind the rest.

Mini leaned closer then, looking up with such love that I smiled. Perhaps she knew the best part of the story before I did. Perhaps she was not only keeping me company after all. Perhaps she had found a friend on the porch steps too.

And I thought how strange and lovely it is that Bernadette, who had nothing, is remembered now by so many hearts.

Tonight I will try to remember that innocence is a treasure greater than anything one can hold in the hand.

Evening Prayer

Dear Jesus,
please keep my heart simple and clean.
Teach me to love You in little hidden ways,
and help me never to think small things are unimportant
when they are done for You.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for me.
Saint Bernadette, pray for me.

Amen.

The Story Begins

Dear Diary,
 
This evening I read further in Our Lady of Lourdes, and it seemed the quiet beginning of Bernadette’s great story had opened before me.

It was February 11, 1858, in Lourdes. The day was cold and gray, with only a few drops of rain, and while many people were getting ready for the pleasures before Lent, the Soubirous family had almost nothing. They were so poor that there was not even wood enough to cook their little meal.

Bernadette had only been home with her family about two weeks. She had been living in Bartrès, watching sheep and praying her Rosary in the lonely fields. She was fourteen, but small and weak from asthma, and she still had not made her First Communion. She could not read or write, and she knew very little catechism, except the simple prayers of the Chaplet.

Still, there was something beautiful about her. She was poor and hidden, but pure and gentle, like the smallest lamb she loved best.

When her mother told Bernadette's sister Marie to go gather wood by the Gave, Bernadette begged to go too. Her mother was afraid the cold would make her cough worse, but at last she let her go. Bernadette put on her white capulet, and then she, Marie, and Jeanne Abadie started out to find wood.

That is where the story begins — not with anything grand, but with poor girls going out because there was no firewood at home. I kept thinking how Heaven must have been watching that little walk. Bernadette did not know that this ordinary errand would lead her to the Grotto, and that everything in her life was about to change.

As I read, I almost felt Bernadette beside me on the step. Not frightening, but quiet and kind, like an imaginary friend who understands little prayers, poor places, and the feeling of being small. I felt a kinship with her, as if she were not so far away after all.

Maybe Our Lady loves to come close to the humble, and maybe Jesus sees the hidden children first.

Evening Prayer

Dear Jesus,

please give me a simple heart like Bernadette’s.

Help me to love Our Lady,
to say my prayers faithfully,
and to trust that You are near
even on ordinary days.

Bless Sister Mary Claire, Father LeRoy, Robert, Mini,
and all of us at Camp Littlemore tonight.

Amen.

Bernadette's Four Prayers

Bernadette’s Little Prayers

Dear Diary,

Today I read more from Our Lady of Lourdes, and this part made me love Bernadette even more.

The book said she had never really been taught the catechism yet, and that she knew only a few prayers: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Glory Be, which she prayed in her chaplet. That was nearly all she knew.

At first I felt sorry for her, because I have Sister Mary Claire to explain so many holy things to me. She tells me what Father LeRoy means in his homilies, and she helps me understand the catechism when the words seem too large for my head. But Bernadette did not have all that yet. She was poor, weak, and little, and she had not even made her First Communion.

Then I thought how beautiful it was that Our Lady came to her anyway.

Heaven did not wait until Bernadette knew many lessons. Our Lady did not choose her because she could explain everything. She chose a humble girl who knew how to kneel, how to make the Sign of the Cross, and how to say the little prayers she had been taught.

That made me think a long while.

Sometimes I want to know everything all at once, especially when Sister Mary Claire reads from her old books and the words seem so high and holy. But maybe Jesus is pleased when we give Him the little we have, if we give it with our whole heart.

Bernadette’s family brought her back to Lourdes because they wanted her to learn her catechism and prepare for her First Communion, even though they were very poor. I think that is so touching. They did not have much to give her, but they wanted her to have Jesus.

That is the greatest gift.

Tonight I am thinking of Bernadette saying her Our Father, Hail Mary, I believe in God, and Glory Be. Maybe those prayers sounded very sweet in Heaven because they came from a simple heart.

Bernadette's Four Prayers

The God of the Living

Dear Diary,

This morning the rain had finally let up, and it felt almost like the whole farm had taken a deep breath. Everything was wet and shining, and the fields were turning greener by the minute, as if God had brushed them with fresh paint during the night.

Robert did not pick us up today because the road was still soft in places, so Sister Mary Claire said we would walk to Church again. I was glad, and Mini was gladder than anybody. She trotted ahead with her little Corgi bottom going back and forth, stopping every so often to sniff the wet grass and look back to make sure Sister and I were coming.

The ditches still held little puddles, and the fence posts were dark from the rain. The air smelled like mud, grass, and spring all mixed together. Sister Mary Claire said that after so much rain, the earth seems to wake up all at once. Then she smiled and said, “Next time, Robert will have to join us.” I liked that thought very much, because it would be nice to have Robert walking along with us instead of always being the one to drive us.

At Holy Mass, Father LeRoy read the Gospel about the Sadducees asking Jesus a question about the resurrection. They thought they could trick Him with their story about the woman and the seven brothers. But Jesus showed them that they did not understand the Scriptures or the power of God.

Father LeRoy said the most important part was when Jesus said, “He is not God of the dead but of the living.” I kept thinking about that. It made heaven seem closer somehow, not like a faraway place, but like a real home where the saints are alive with God. Sister Mary Claire whispered afterward that our Lord was teaching them that God’s love does not end at the grave.

On the walk home, the green fields looked even brighter than before. Mini splashed through one puddle before I could stop her, and Sister laughed softly. I thought about the grass coming back after the rain, and how Jesus said the dead will rise. The whole world seemed to be giving a little lesson of its own.

Tonight I am thankful for the rain, the green fields, the walk to Church, and for Jesus teaching us that God is the God of the living. I hope I can remember that when things seem sad or gone forever.

Dear Jesus, please help me believe more deeply in Your power and Your promise of everlasting life. Watch over Father LeRoy, Robert, Sister Mary Claire, Mini, and all of us at Camp Littlemore tonight. Keep our hearts alive with love for You. Amen.

Love,
Kathy


A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 12:18-27

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Dear Diary,

Today Robert could not pick us up for Holy Mass because he had a cold and was staying home. Sister Mary Claire said we must pray for him, and I hoped he was tucked in warm and resting quietly, with a cup of something hot nearby.

So Sister Mary Claire, Mini, and I walked to Church together. The morning air felt fresh, and Mini trotted ahead like she was the little leader of our procession. Every so often she looked back to see if Sister and I were coming along properly. I told her she was not the pastor of the road, but she did not seem to believe me.

At Mass, Father LeRoy read the Gospel about the Pharisees and Herodians trying to trap Jesus with their question about paying the tax to Caesar. They acted polite, but Jesus saw right through them. Father said that Jesus was not fooled by fine words when the heart was crooked underneath.

Then Father LeRoy explained the part where Jesus asked whose image was on the coin. It belonged to Caesar, so Jesus said to give Caesar what belonged to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Father said our coins may have an earthly ruler’s image on them, but our souls have God’s image upon them. That made me sit very still.

On the walk home, Sister Mary Claire said we must be honest in ordinary duties, but never forget that our hearts belong first to God. I thought of all the little things that belong to Him: my prayers, my obedience, my work, my love, my violin music, and even the way I treat Mini when she wants her way too much.

Mini walked proudly beside us, and I wondered if she knew that she belongs to God too, even with her short legs and serious Corgi thoughts.

Tonight I will pray for Robert to get better from his cold, and I will try to remember that God made His image in my soul. I want to give Him back what already belongs to Him.

Evening Prayer

Dear Jesus, please bless Robert tonight and help him feel better soon. Please bless Sister Mary Claire, Father LeRoy, Mini, and all of us at Camp Littlemore. Help me to give You my whole heart, because it belongs to You first of all. Keep Your holy image safe in my soul, and make me truthful, simple, and good.

Amen.

Love, Kathy


A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 12:13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

The Rain and the Vineyard

Monday's Morning Offering

Dear Diary,

Today there was no Church because heavy rain and storms kept rolling over Camp Littlemore. I missed Holy Mass, and I know Sister Mary Claire did too. The rain is always welcome on a farm, because the fields and garden need it, but the storms can stay away please.

Most of the day was spent inside, with the windows blurry from rain. Mini stayed close when the thunder came. Since we could not hear Father LeRoy explain the Gospel at Church, Sister Mary Claire read it to me. It was about the man who planted a vineyard and sent servants to collect its fruit, but the wicked tenants treated them cruelly. Last of all, he sent his beloved son, and they rejected him too.

Sister Mary Claire said the vineyard made her think of all the good things God gives us, and how He expects fruit from our souls. I thought about that when I went out to care for the chickens. My boots sank into the soft ground, and the hens were tucked inside, clucking safely. I gave them feed, checked their water, and made sure their nests were dry.

The saddest part of the Gospel was how the tenants rejected the beloved son. Sister Mary Claire said that was Our Lord Jesus. But the beautiful part was, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” That means Jesus is still the strong stone everything holy is built upon.

Tonight the rain is still tapping on the roof, but the worst thunder has gone farther away. I am thankful for the rain, but more thankful that Jesus is our cornerstone.

Evening Prayer

Dear Jesus, help me give You the fruit of my heart. Please bless Sister Mary Claire, Robert, Father LeRoy, Mini, Omelette, all the chickens, Shaggycoat, and all the creek critters tonight. Thank You for the rain, but please keep the storms away. Stay close to us through the night.

Love,
Kathy

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 12:1-12

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture passage:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes”?

They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

The Gospel of the Lord.