According to Jesus, the Devil cannot heal people.
When it was said to Jesus that he healed and cast out demons by the power of Satan, he said that if Satan is casting out Satan he is overthrown, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
Obviously, according to Jesus in the Gospels, Satan cannot HEAL anybody, although he can apparently do OTHER signs and wonders, which Jesus (and various prophets) warned us about.
So, when I see the specific nature of the miracles at Lourdes, that they are HEALINGS, there is no doubt whatever in my own mind that this is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And, the fact that it happens at LOURDES, and only there in such profusion, is important because LOURDES is a spring that bubbled up after a purported series of Marian apparitions. So, the Holy Spirit is healing people, public miracles in our day, at one place, and IT'S A MARIAN SHRINE!
What does this tell us?
Well, it tells me that the Christian sect that most greatly venerates Mary has the favor of God. And which sect is THAT? Catholicism (and Orthodoxy). Because of the nature of the miracles at Lourdes, it cannot be demonic: the Devil cannot heal, only God can do that. It is God. God is doing this under statues and icons of Mary. THEREFORE, God is not offended by statues or icons of Mary, and the whole argument against statues in Catholic Churches as "idols" is blown to pieces by the direct action of GOD HIMSELF!
Further, of all the places for God to erupt with healing miracles, a Shrine to MARY, where MARY appeared, narrows down the range of Christianity to one-and-a-half Churches: Catholicism/Orthodoxy. Everybody else rejects the special saintliness of Mary, except for the Catholics and the Orthodox...and God, who does public miracles still, but ONLY THERE, in Mary's Shrine, at least in that profusion (of course there are individual miracles all around the world, but Lourdes is the only ongoing fountain of them).
So, that's the importance of the Shrine and Lourdes, and the fact that the miracles are HEALING miracles and not anything else.
Our separated brethren are trapped by their traditions into seeing what goes on at Lourdes as possibly demonic, and to oppose the veneration of Mary. By posing the questions as I do, I am forcing thought on the problem of blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the face of what obviously ARE healing miracles, lots of them. They will not be persuaded to venerate Mary or become Catholics in this way, but some WILL be persuaded to leave Mary alone, and that is a good thing, both from the perspective of their own souls at the end, and from the perspective of those of us who wince every time we hear Mary slimed.
Well, it tells me that the Christian sect that most greatly venerates Mary has the favor of God. And which sect is THAT? Catholicism (and Orthodoxy).
SECT, RELIGIOUS. An organized body of dissenters from an established or older form of faith, commonly applied to all religious bodies where State churches are established. In countries where many churches are recognized by law, sects are generally identified as religious groups that lack much organization or structure and that are not likely to endure. (Etym. Latin sequi, to follow, secta, a following.)
*Since WHEN has the Church Jesus established become a SECT?
*You know, you have spent a lot of bandwith criticising the Church for never adopting as Doctrine your pet idea that Hell and Purgatory are the same identical place.
Theological physician, heal thyself. You have more than enough of your own errors to correct than to waste your time criticising the Church for its non errors.