On 11th February we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The mention of Lourdes takes me back to more than 40 years when I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. This blessing came again to me in 2007.
The roads leading to the Shrine – the Grotto – are lined on both sides with stalls selling the tourists’ delight – all kinds of religious items, statues, medals, rosaries, holy pictures, post- cards, empty plastic bottles in all kinds of shapes and sizes to carry back the Holy Waters. It all seemed for me, exciting and interesting, but also the cause of much delay in reaching the Grotto in time for the services.
The aura around the Grotto was prayerful, peaceful and awesome with Rosaries being recited that were a mingle of various languages; bells tolled out the tune of the hymn “Ave, Ave, Ave Maria”; Crutches and walking stick hung near the Grotto, left behind by those who were healed. At night people gathered again at the Grotto to recite the Rosary in different languages – a hair-raising experience.
During the day, separate queues of men and women moved slowly and prayerfully towards the cubicles for a dip in the Holy Water. It was a delight, to be dipped swiftly right into the water in a bath-tub and come up with a gasp, done respectfully by volunteers. Coming out into the cold open air one was immediately dry and wrapped in a warm glow. For want of time, an uphill stations of the cross, done by many on their knees, had to be missed.
Many have had a longing to visit the Shrines where Mother Mary appeared in order to experience her blessings and more especially healing. Some have had this wish fulfilled and sadly some have not. The Shrine throbs with Faith. Numerous disabled in wheelchairs are wheeled by volunteers to the Grotto and to the cubicles for the dip in the Holy Water. The crutches and walking sticks hanging at the Grotto give a sense of Hope that miracles do happen.
For those who really cannot make such a pilgrimage, there is Hope, Healing can happen wherever we are. It is the outcome of faith and forgiveness. As Jesus would say “Your faith has made you well: or “Your sins are forgiven”.
A priest in the Healing Ministry for over 20 years believes that 90% of peoples illness originate from the area of un-forgiveness. Illness which may be physical, mental, psychological, spiritual or of other kinds.
FORGIVENESS is making the CHOICE to release our grasp on the person / persons who have hurt / harmed us. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us to make this CHOICE, Next, we prayerfully commend to Jesus the person / persons who have harmed / hurt us explaining the details of the Disagreement. We ask Jesus “forgive them, for they know not what they do”. This is what Jesus did for us on the Cross. This is an emotionally painful process. Doing it once is not enough. We need to take it up again and again and there find freedom, instead of being discouraged and giving up.
On our part, we ourselves need to admit to Jesus our role in the Disagreement and ask Jesus to forgive us. For this we can approach the sacrament of confession. It may happen that the person concerned may not be sorry at all. We need to ask ourselves if we want to remain in bondage, emotionally tied to that person. Then continue the act of forgiveness, allowing Jesus to give us our Freedom and Healing. Freedom is letting go of anger and having our hope in God. It is important to turn to Jesus rather than suffer in silence.
Un-forgiveness can and does become a habit, making us immune to the damage it causes to our health of mind and body. For me personally it had been a Habit. Over the years I did not think in terms of forgiveness. I considered myself always to be ‘RIGHT’ and the other person ‘WRONG’. About 4 years ago, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my role in a major Disagreement spanning over 50 years in Court. Sitting before Jesus daily I began the above painful process, reluctantly forgiving the person responsible for our financial loss, sleepless nights, anger, resentment, hopelessly waiting for justice from the Court. As the days passed matters began to move towards reconciliation, culminating in a peaceful out –of-court settlement. This person who I had never looked in the eyes for over 50 years, ended up with holding both my hands saying “Let’s forgive and forget”. A heavy load that daily seemed to hang over my head just lifted up. My prayer was answered. I was FREE! Since then I have understood the power of forgiveness and do it again & again in other relationships.
Healing requires forgiveness. Forgiveness is not easy, but it is the richest gift you can give yourself. Forgiveness is selfish, because you are doing it for yourself. YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO FORGIVE – FORCE YOURSELF TO DO IT JUST ONCE. you will want to do it again and again – 70 times 7 – as Jesus commanded, and because of the joy it brings. Jesus is the Source and Author of Forgiveness. Our desire to forgive is one prayer He will always, always answer. The grace of confession will make it permanent.
Let us pray to our Lady of Lourdes, our Blessed Mother, for the healing that comes from forgiveness of the person / persons who have hurt / harmed us, so that forgiveness becomes a Habit and healing a natural outcome.
WISH YOU HEALTH OF MIND AND BODY THROUGH JESUS.
J. Rodrigues