Watching Lourdes from the Apple Tree

 
Dear Diary,

This morning after Holy Mass, our Reading Club met again beneath the apple tree behind St. Mary’s. The shade was cool, the leaves were rustling, and Mini took her usual place beside me as if she had been appointed guardian of the meeting.

Robert surprised everyone by coming with a box of fresh doughnuts with chocolate frosting.

“These are to make up for the day-olds,” he said.

Father LeRoy laughed and said, “A penance well performed, Robert.”

After we settled down, Father asked me to read my little chapter introduction.

Today’s chapter began with a change in the weather at Lourdes. For many days the Apparitions had been favored with beautiful sunshine, but on March fifth, snow came and fewer people could go to the Grotto. Yet the miracles did not stop. In fact, the cures increased.

I told about Benoîte Cazeaux, who had been sick in bed for three years and was considered incurable. After drinking the water from the Grotto and using it with faith, she was suddenly well. I also told about Blaisette Soupenne, whose eyes had suffered terribly for years. Doctors and remedies had failed her, but after she turned to Our Lady and used the water, she was cured.

When I finished, Sister Mary Claire said softly, “The snow slowed the footsteps of the people, but it could not stop the mercy of God.”

Father LeRoy nodded. “That is the lesson. God’s grace does not depend on sunshine. Sometimes His greatest works appear when everything outwardly looks cold and discouraging.”

Robert said he kept thinking about how the doctors had done all they could. “But what men could not do,” he said, “God did.”

Father answered, “True miracles do not insult reason. They remind reason that God is greater than nature, because He made nature.”

We were all quiet after that. Even Mini seemed thoughtful, though she may have been thinking about the doughnuts.

Before we finished, Father asked me to read the prayer I had written yesterday. So I unfolded my paper and read:

Afterward, Father made the Sign of the Cross and said, “That is a good prayer,  it will be our official Readers Club Prayer.  

I tucked the paper back inside my book. Beneath the apple tree, with the pages of Our Lady of Lourdes open before us, it felt as if the Grotto had come a little nearer.

Love,
Kathy