Feast Of the Immaculate Conception - Monday, December 8, 2014

On Thursday, March 25, 1858, "[t]he vision [Bernadette Soubirous saw] finally revealed her name, but the wild rose bush, on which she stood during the Apparitions, did not bloom. Bernadette recounted; 'She lifted up her eyes to heaven, joined her hands as though in prayer, that were held out and open towards the ground and said to me: Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou (I am the Immaculate Conception) .'  The young visionary left and, running all the way, repeated continuously the words that she did not understand. These words troubled the brave Parish Priest. Bernadette was ignorant of the fact that this theological expression was assigned to the Blessed Virgin.Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX declared this a truth of the Catholic Faith (a dogma)[.]" [1]

Every apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary that had been reported had been spectacular.  Of the ones I know of, I like the apparition in Lourdes, France, the best because in a way, I was "called" to go there--not the actual Grotto but a local replica.  That evening, St. Dominic's church was showing a film of the Grotto in Lourdes and Mass was celebrated afterward.  Actual water from the Lourdes Grotto was brought to Mass during which everyone was invited to put his/her hand into the big bowl of Lourdes water.  I was a bit tentative when it was my turn and the lady holding the bowl of water asked me to swirl my hand around in the water.  I did just that and experienced something very unusual--a healing of sorts, but that could not be documented by extrinsic evidence.  It would be something I could tell but it would never be believed by anyone.

Tonight [2] I went to pray the rosary in front of the replica.  After praying the rosary, and after some spending some quiet time in thought and in prayer, there was a faint smell of lilac for a minute or so.  I smelled that fragrance before at the same place because there was lilac on the side of the "grotto" but that was during the summer.  It is now winter.  I went around to the side (both sides) to see if there was any lilac in bloom.  There was none.  In fact, I did not see any lilac plant but to be absolutely objective, it was too dark for me to tell if the plants on the side were or were not lilac.  What was certain was that those plants had no flowers, whatever species they were.  I immediately got goosebumps.  I again was wondering where the lilac fragrance came from, not unlike the kind of questioning I had when I saw the light show on Saturday, December 6, 2014, during the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in The Star of the Sea church's side chapel.  If the smell of lilac was an acknowledgement of sorts, I am grateful, however undeserving, whatever its meaning [3].


[1] http://en.lourdes-france.org/deepen/bernadette-soubirous/the-apparitions
[2] It is now past midnight so by the time I publish this, it would technically be last night.
[3] A word of caution: Wherever God is near, Satan and those under Its influence are never far away--sometimes, the evil is so near that It is already inhabited within the self.  That parasite can be challenging to recognize but it is important to recognize It and rid oneself of It.  Seeing It is the first step.  Devising a strategy to strengthen oneself and excise It is the next.  Continuous execution of the strategy to eliminate It from one's entire being is the final step.  This is not easy to do.