Wednesday 11th February
9.30am Mass on Wednesday will be celebrated at the altar dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in Athboy Church.
On 11th February 1858, Our Lady appeared to a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous in the town of Lourdes in southern France.
Accompanied by her sister and a friend, Bernadette had gone to the cave of Massabielle on the banks of the river Gave looking for firewood. As she removed her socks to cross the stream, she heard a gust of wind in the stillness, she looked up towards a niche in the cave: “I saw a lady dressed in white, she wore a white dress, an equally white veil, a blue belt and a yellow rose on each foot.”
Bernadette made the Sign of the Cross with the lady and they prayed the Rosary together in silence. When the prayer ended, the lady suddenly vanished.
Eighteen apparitions took place between 11th February – 16th July in 1858, the lady revealed her name to Bernadette on 25th March, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
The feast of our Lady of Lourdes was instituted as World Day of the Sick by Pope John Paul II in 1992. In his message this year Pope Leo has written:
“Let us raise our prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Health of the Sick, asking her to assist all who suffer and are in need of compassion, consolation and a listening ear. Let us seek her intercession with this ancient prayer, that has been invoked in families for those living with illness and pain:
Sweet Mother, do not part from me.
Turn not your eyes away from me.
Walk with me at every moment and never leave me alone.
You who always protect me as a true Mother,
obtain for me the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Pope Leo XIV