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Friday, Third Week of Easter

So the two disciples set out at once and returned to Jerusalem, where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”

Luke 24:33:34

Remember that this same morning, the women had told the other disciples about the empty tomb. But the disciples thought it was “nonsense and they did not believe them.”

Now they’re all bursting with good news. Before these two disciples can get a word out, they’re told: “The Lord has truly been raised!” Quite a switch in 12 hours.

The two disciples are told that the Lord appeared to Simon. This appearance is not described in any of the Gospels. But Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians (written before any of the Gospels) says that Christ appeared to Kephas (Peter), to the Twelve, and to many others.

“The Lord has truly been raised!” That’s all we have to hear. Which appearance was first, when did this one or that one happen – it doesn’t matter. It’s true! He has appeared!

That’s why the accounts are so different in all four Gospels. The evangelists weren’t interested in tracking a sequence. They’re bursting to tell the good news in all directions: “The Lord has truly been raised!”

These are the last words of the disciples in Luke’s Gospel. Maybe I should spend these last 30 days of the Easter Season letting them echo inside me: “The Lord has truly been raised!”

Spend some quiet time with the Risen Lord.

April 16, 2005

St. Bernadette Soubirous

St. Bernadette was born in 1844 to a poor family in southern France, the oldest of six children. To help support her family, Bernadette worked as a shepherdess.

Our February 11, 1858 (Around the time of her First Communion) the 14-year-old had a vision of the Blessed Mother near a cave along the Gave River in Lourdes. The Blessed Mother appeared to her 18 more times in the next two months.

During one vision, Bernadette was led to a spring of healing waters. During another vision, Mary stated she was the Immaculate Conception, and that a church should be built on the site. Authorities tried to shut down the spring and to delay construction of the chapel. But Empress Eugenie of France, the wife of Napoleon III, interceded and construction continued.

In 1866, Bernadette entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers. After a prolonged illness, Bernadette died on this date in 1879. She was 35. When her body was exhumed 30 years later, it was perfectly preserved.

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Lourdes is second only to Paris in having hotel rooms for visitors to France.

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More than six million people visit Lourdes each year. More than 2,000 sick or crippled people have reported being cured, but only 66 cases have been certified as miraculous by a medical board.