Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Benedict XVI: No Suffering, No Love

Reflects on True Message of Lourdes

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 17, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The lesson many learn when they visit the Marian shrine in Lourdes, which is a school of faith, hope and charity, is that true love implies suffering, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today at the weekly general audience in Paul VI Hall when he gave summarized his trip last weekend to Paris and Lourdes. His Sept. 12-15 trip took place in the context of the celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

The Holy Father remarked that it was a "happy coincidence" that his visit to Lourdes coincided with the liturgical memorial of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. He explained that Mary's first gesture upon appearing to Bernadette in the Grotto of Massabielle was to make the Sign of the Cross.

The entire message of Lourdes, the Pontiff said, can be found in that first gesture of Our Lady: "[She] gave a first initiation on the essence of Christianity: The Sign of the Cross is the height of our faith, and doing it with an attentive heart we enter into the full mystery of our salvation."

"In Lourdes, in the school of Mary, first and perfect disciple of Christ, pilgrims learn to regard the crosses of their lives in the light of the glorious cross of Christ," he said. "God has so loved us that he gave himself up for us: This is the message of the Cross, 'mystery of death and of glory.'"
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 3:02 PM