"And about time too", you may say. So far, it is true, there has been nothing in this novena of prayer about the peasant girl who saw a vision at the rock called Massabielle, nor about that other peasant girl whom she said she saw. And yet, in a way, it has all been about them: Bernadette, in the convent at Nevers, said that she was content to be put away, now that her task was done, like a broom in a cupboard. And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord." The job of these two great ladies (and our job too, and would that we did it half as well), was and is to point to the mystery of God, at whom our pilgrimage, through life, as well as in Lourdes, is aimed.
Scripture reading
Luke 1: 26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary for you have found favour with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.