Simple Liturgical Living Ideas to Honor Our Lady of Lourdes on Her Feast Day
We at Pietra Fitness love the Blessed Mother and this month we have an opportunity to honor with the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
We at Pietra Fitness love the Blessed Mother and this month we have an opportunity to honor with the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Below you’ll find some easy liturgical living ideas to celebrate this special feast.
Who is Our Lady of Lourdes?
On February 11, 1858 while gathering firewood with her sister and friend, 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous had an extraordinary vision. A Lady clothed in white, with a blue sash around her waist and yellow roses on her feet appeared in a small cave in a grotto.
This was the first of 18 visits the Blessed Mother would make to young Bernadette.
During her visits, Our Lady of Lourdes encouraged prayer and penitence for the conversion of sinners. She also asked Bernadette to dig in the ground and drink from the spring that emerged. This water brought about many miraculous cures in those who bathed in it.
When asked for her name, Our Lady answered: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Only four years prior, Pope Pius IX dogmatically declared the Immaculate Conception a truth of the Catholic faith. With her education and station in life, young Bernadette could not have been familiar with the title so it helped to prove the legitimacy of the apparition.
Our Lady asked for a chapel to be built on the apparition site. Today, Millions of pilgrims visit the spring today and countless healings and graces have been poured out.
The Church celebrates the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11 and invokes her intercession especially for the sick and suffering.
Celebrating Our Lady of Lourdes
Plan a Marian Garden
Many flowers and herbs–like roses, lilies, and rosemary– also hold a uniquely Marian significance and during the Middle Ages monks and nuns began to gather these flowers together in a garden to honor our Lady.
Despite the colder weather, February is the perfect time to plan your Marian garden for the spring. You can even start seeds inside on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes to plant outside when the ground thaws.
If you want to honor our Lady of Lourdes specifically, consider planting yellow roses or plan to make your own little “grotto” for a Mary statue.
Enjoy some French treats
What’s a feast without food? To honor our Lady of Lourdes try to include some French cuisine.
Keep it simple with a croissant or other pastry from a local bakery or host a more elaborate dinner of crepes or veggie-filled Ratatouille.
Family Movie Night
Several movies tell the miraculous story of Saint Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes, like the 1943 movie The Song of Bernadette or CCC’s Bernadette: The Princess of Lourdes.
Invite your family or friends to join you for a movie night on February 11.
The hymn Immaculate Mary is closely associated with Lourdes.
The earliest version of the hymn written in 1873 by French priest Jean Gaignet was set to a traditional French tune. Gaignet wrote it specifically for pilgrims to Lourdes.
Take some time today to sing the Lourdes Hymn to honor Our Lady.
Pray with Our Lady
Since so many great saints have recognized and encouraged Marian devotion as a way to grow closer to her Son Our Lord Jesus Christ, you have no shortage of Marian prayers from which to choose.
Pope John Paul II declared the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes as World Day of the Sick so you can pray to the Blessed Mother especially for healing or comfort for someone in your life. Send them a card or a text to let them know of your prayers.
Pray a Rosary (with some Ignatian Meditation) or some Lectio Divina on Marian passages of scripture. You can also pray a novena or a Litany of Our Lady of Lourdes.
