Today we observe the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was at Lourdes, France that many have made pilgrimage and through the healing waters of this place have found healing. Thus this day is also known to us as the World Day for the Sick.
Sadly, a part of the human condition is the reality of sickness. Sometimes our sickness can be explained while at other occasions there is no explanation for it. Another sickness that also plagues us is sin.
At Lourdes our Blessed Mother appeared to Saint Bernadette and asked her to “pray for the conversion of sinners.” Of these sinners that our Blessed Mother speaks of we are included. Our Gospel speaks to this reality for we are told “this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
