Meditations given by the Rev, Bede Jarrett, O.P., during the Novena preached in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in preparation for the celebration of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Apparitions at Lourdes, February 2nd - February 10th, 1933
"Thy will be done. Do with me according to Thy word.” Are you content? Can you dare say that to God, surely meaning it? If you can, nothing can ever disturb you in life again. If you can really kneel down, and keeping her by you in your memory, say to God, "May it be done unto me according to Thy word;” if you can reach these heights that she reached, you also will share her valiancy. You can go through life and nothing can make you afraid. If you can say to others as she said, "Whatever He shall say to you, do ye;” trusting Him absolutely, sure that He will uphold you, then you also have found the secret of life. You live. You are afraid of nothing. The earth cannot hurt you, nor the sky above.
Have you poverty? Then it makes you nearer to her life and His life. Poverty is no bar. Afraid of poverty, and you call yourself a follower of Christ? "Follow Me,” He called to us. Well to follow Him, is that to meet poverty, or no? Are you nearer to Him in your days of comfort or your days of poverty? To which has Christ called us? Which is the way of Christ? "But,” you say, "these times are hard.” Yes, they are hard and our ways seemed cast in evil places. Are they evil ? Is it evil to be as Christ was ?
Is that really evil? Then what does our religion mean to us? What is Christianity? What does it all mean? If we are afraid of what St. Paul calls, "the fellowship of His suffering,” if we are afraid to be a fellow with Christ in what He went through, it is foolish for us to talk of the love of God. We do not love God: we love comfort, we love ourselves; we love ten thousand petty things. But God we do not love. "May it be done unto me according to Thy word.” If we keep with her, and, as we say our rosary, think of her, we shall share something of her greatness. She will be for us life, sweetness, hope! Poverty will be sweetened, will make life keener to us. In spite of it and life’s uncertainty, we shall hope.
She was great, and she was great because of her absolute reliance upon an unchanging love about her: an island stationed in a vast sea. All about her the vast ocean of God’s love, and there was she in its midst, like some island in the tropic seas, rich, smiling, radiant. If we keep by her she will share her life with us, that life begotten of the love of God. She will share her sweetness with us; for if our faith be real, it can sweeten all life for us. With her we shall learn to hope. She saw the Crucifixion. She hoped in the Resurrection. She saw it — her hope fulfilled. She can do the same for us, make us hope on beyond our crises. Not, I mean so that God will give us back prosperity. But He will give us the greatness not to care. Would you like to have that greatness, or are you afraid of it? We are human, we cry for sympathy. We are afraid. Yet if we are devout to her, she will beat that fear from us, lift us above it to life, and sweetness, and unbroken hope.
"Thy will be done. Do with me according to Thy word.” Are you content? Can you dare say that to God, surely meaning it? If you can, nothing can ever disturb you in life again. If you can really kneel down, and keeping her by you in your memory, say to God, "May it be done unto me according to Thy word;” if you can reach these heights that she reached, you also will share her valiancy. You can go through life and nothing can make you afraid. If you can say to others as she said, "Whatever He shall say to you, do ye;” trusting Him absolutely, sure that He will uphold you, then you also have found the secret of life. You live. You are afraid of nothing. The earth cannot hurt you, nor the sky above.
Have you poverty? Then it makes you nearer to her life and His life. Poverty is no bar. Afraid of poverty, and you call yourself a follower of Christ? "Follow Me,” He called to us. Well to follow Him, is that to meet poverty, or no? Are you nearer to Him in your days of comfort or your days of poverty? To which has Christ called us? Which is the way of Christ? "But,” you say, "these times are hard.” Yes, they are hard and our ways seemed cast in evil places. Are they evil ? Is it evil to be as Christ was ?
Is that really evil? Then what does our religion mean to us? What is Christianity? What does it all mean? If we are afraid of what St. Paul calls, "the fellowship of His suffering,” if we are afraid to be a fellow with Christ in what He went through, it is foolish for us to talk of the love of God. We do not love God: we love comfort, we love ourselves; we love ten thousand petty things. But God we do not love. "May it be done unto me according to Thy word.” If we keep with her, and, as we say our rosary, think of her, we shall share something of her greatness. She will be for us life, sweetness, hope! Poverty will be sweetened, will make life keener to us. In spite of it and life’s uncertainty, we shall hope.
She was great, and she was great because of her absolute reliance upon an unchanging love about her: an island stationed in a vast sea. All about her the vast ocean of God’s love, and there was she in its midst, like some island in the tropic seas, rich, smiling, radiant. If we keep by her she will share her life with us, that life begotten of the love of God. She will share her sweetness with us; for if our faith be real, it can sweeten all life for us. With her we shall learn to hope. She saw the Crucifixion. She hoped in the Resurrection. She saw it — her hope fulfilled. She can do the same for us, make us hope on beyond our crises. Not, I mean so that God will give us back prosperity. But He will give us the greatness not to care. Would you like to have that greatness, or are you afraid of it? We are human, we cry for sympathy. We are afraid. Yet if we are devout to her, she will beat that fear from us, lift us above it to life, and sweetness, and unbroken hope.
