11 February 2026 - Our Lady of Lourdes - homily for Wednesday of the 5th week in Ordinary time - Mark 7:14-23

Today, we celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. Last September, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Lourdes a second time, the first time being in 2018.  In December 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception to the world, stating that from the moment of Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother, Mary, by the grace of God, and by the merits of her yet unborn son, was kept free from the stain of original sin.Just three years later, starting on February 11, 1858, a beautiful lady appeared in apparitions to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, a young girl from a poor family in the village of Lourdes in the mountains of France. In this series of apparitions, on March 25, the beautiful lady identified herself to Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception. At the time of the apparitions, Bernadette’s family was not fully immersed in the Catholic faith and Bernadette did not even understand the concept, so she would not have been aware of this title that had been given to Mary. In 1862, the local Bishop approved of these apparitions as truly being our Blessed Mother Mary. Pope John Paul II, very strong in his devotion to Mary, visited Lourdes in 1983 and in 2004 during his pontificate. Bernadette herself became a nun with the Sisters of Charity. She died at the age of 35 after a life of very fragile health. She was canonized a saint in 1933. 

Lourdes is one of the major Marian pilgrimage sites in the world, attracting millions of pilgrims each year.  Many miraculous cures are attributed to Our Lady of Lourdes and the blessed waters that come from a stream that was revealed to St Bernadette during one of the apparitions. In my two visits to Lourdes, I felt a strong sense holiness in both the place and in the pilgrims who go there. As we commemorate Our Lady of Lourdes today, let us present our prayers through our Blessed Mother as she approaches her son on our behalf. 

Jesus today speaks about those things that come from the human heart which defile us, things like murder, greed, malice, and deceit.  The message of Our Lady of Lourdes is a message of God’s immense love and mercy for us, It is a call of conversion through prayer, penance and humility. Like the Gospel message today, the message of Our Lady of Lourdes looks at those things that reside in our heart.