THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SITE IN HELPING CATHOLICS TO DEEPEN THEIR FAITH
Our Lady of Lourdes is a significant site where Catholics can deepen their faith. "Faith is being sure of what I hope for, and certain of what I cannot see." -Hebrews 11:1. Our Lady of Lourdes is a place where Catholic’s can put their faith into their actions and journey across the pilgrim in order to deepen their faith. The reason Our Lady of Lourdes is significant, is due to the history and the meaning behind Lourdes. The apparitions, miracles and healings applied from Mary Immaculate are what define this sight as a significant place.
Therefore, what makes Our Lady of Lourdes so significant is the relationship between the site and Mary. Mary is not only the chosen mother of Jesus, but she was Mary Immaculate who was born without sin. Mary is the main reason why Lourdes is so significant because it is the site where she appeared to put herself forward to heal people and set miracles.
Catholics today deepen their faith through Mary who appeared near the site in 1858. Bernadette Soubirous a 14 year old was faced with 18 apparitions where she identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. “Hail, Full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Mary gave Bernadette a message for all “Pray and do penance for the conversion of the world.” Then on, for four years the church investigated Bernadette’s claims approving devotion to Lourdes and its Catholic Teachings.
Whilst on the pilgrim at Our Lady of Lourdes, just like other pilgrims, you undertake a series of five steps in order to deepen your faith.
1. The sign of the cross: in every moment of your Christian life a prayer accompanied by a gesture can help you fund the door of faith and go through it in this case is the sign of the cross.
2. The rock of the grotto: Before making the sign of the cross, we reminded ourselves that faith is a gift of God received as a seed in our baptism, so that we can welcome it, live it and let it grow by making us develop.
3. The water from the spring: The sign of the cross, expression of our baptism, is given to us to open the door of faith in an ongoing way. To express our trust in God, as we can do by touching the rock of the Grotto, makes us enter by the door of faith. But, in becoming more effective, our relationship with God immediately sheds light on our relationship with others through our own behaviour in thought, word, and deed.
4. The light of pilgrims: The sign of the cross helps us to find and cross the door of faith. At this level, trust allows us to live more deeply for the first time on the door of faith. Then confidence gives us the desire, not only not to be separated from God, but above all to commit ourselves to a path back to God. In the Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, and will have the light of life “(Jn 8:12).
5. New life: The final step is like the sign of the cross, to be lived always and everywhere. It is the relationship with the other person who, when lived with the Lord, becomes for each person a door of faith because of the experience of love.
1. The sign of the cross: in every moment of your Christian life a prayer accompanied by a gesture can help you fund the door of faith and go through it in this case is the sign of the cross.
2. The rock of the grotto: Before making the sign of the cross, we reminded ourselves that faith is a gift of God received as a seed in our baptism, so that we can welcome it, live it and let it grow by making us develop.
3. The water from the spring: The sign of the cross, expression of our baptism, is given to us to open the door of faith in an ongoing way. To express our trust in God, as we can do by touching the rock of the Grotto, makes us enter by the door of faith. But, in becoming more effective, our relationship with God immediately sheds light on our relationship with others through our own behaviour in thought, word, and deed.
4. The light of pilgrims: The sign of the cross helps us to find and cross the door of faith. At this level, trust allows us to live more deeply for the first time on the door of faith. Then confidence gives us the desire, not only not to be separated from God, but above all to commit ourselves to a path back to God. In the Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, and will have the light of life “(Jn 8:12).
5. New life: The final step is like the sign of the cross, to be lived always and everywhere. It is the relationship with the other person who, when lived with the Lord, becomes for each person a door of faith because of the experience of love.