ST BERNARDETTE SOUBIROUS.

HIK. HIDANGAN ISTIMEWA KRISTIANI.
HARAPAN IMAN KASIH.
WALKING WITH SAINT:
16 APRIL / ST BERNARDETTE SOUBIROUS.
Santa Bernadette (Marie-Bernarde Soubirous) lahir 7 Januari 1844 – wafat 16 April 1879. Setelah wafatnya, jenazah Bernadette tidak membusuk sampai sekarang, dan tempat penampakan Bunda Maria kepada Bernadette di Lourdes menjadi pusat peziarahan yang menarik perhatian jutaan umat Katolik setiap tahun. Bernadette di kanonisasikan pada tanggal 08 Desember 1933.
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Today, April 16, we celebrate the feast day of *Saint Bernadette Soubirous* (1844-1879), the visionary of Lourdes.
Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844, the first child of an extremely poor miller in the town of Lourdes in southern France. The family was living in the basement of a dilapidated building when on February 11,1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette in a cave above the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes.
Bernadette, 14 years old, was known as a virtuous girl though a dull student who had not even made her first Holy Communion. In poor health, she had suffered from asthma from an early age.
There were 18 appearances in all, the final one occurring on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, July 16. Although Bernadette's initial reports provoked skepticism, her daily visions of "the Lady" brought great crowds of the curious. The Lady, Bernadette explained, had instructed her to have a chapel built on the spot of the visions. There the people were to come to wash in and drink of the water of the spring that had welled up from the very spot where Bernadette had been instructed to dig.
According to Bernadette, the Lady of her visions was a girl of 16 or 17 who wore a white robe with a blue sash. Yellow roses covered her feet, a large rosary was on her right arm. During the 16th visitation, upon Bernadette’s repeated questioning, our Blessed Mother revealed her name. She said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”It was only when the words were explained to her that Bernadette came to realize who the Lady was. Throughout the 18 visitations, the Blessed Virgin brought a message of prayer, penance, poverty, and participation to all people. Our Lady of Lourdes implored us all, saying, “Penance, Penance, Penance. Pray to God for sinners.”
Few visions have ever undergone the scrutiny that these appearances of the Immaculate Virgin were subject to. Lourdes became one of the most popular Marian shrines in the world, attracting millions of visitors. Miracles were reported at the shrine and in the waters of the spring. After thorough investigation Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862.
During her life Bernadette suffered much. She was hounded by the public as well as by civic officials until at last she was protected in a convent of nuns. Five years later she petitioned to enter the Sisters of Notre Dame. After a period of illness she was able to make the journey from Lourdes and enter the novitiate. But within four months of her arrival she was given the last rites of the Church and allowed to profess her vows. She recovered enough to become infirmarian and then sacristan, but chronic health problems persisted.
By the age of 31, Bernadette was confined to her bed, too ill to leave the infirmary, which she referred to as her “white chapel.” In letters to her family, she wrote that it was her “vocation to be sick,” joining her suffering with that of Jesus, and continuing to spend any energy granted her by the Lord in prayer for sinners. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35.
Her body, laid to rest in the Chapel of Saint Joseph in the convent remains incorrupt. She was canonized by Pope Piuis XI in December 1933. She is the patron of illness, sick people, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, and of Lourdes.
*Saint Bernadette, pray for us.*
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🌷 *SAINT BERNADETTE - TEACH US TO SERVE AND TO PRAY*
Feast today: 16 April
In Lourdes
You experienced the joys and trials of family life
You saw Mary eighteen times at the rock
You called the sinners to penance
The priests to edify the Church of God
The pilgrims to come in procession
You reported the name of Mary, the Immaculate Conception,
You desired ardently to receive the Body of the Lord, and to live of it
You knew shame and suspicion, mockery and humiliation
You bore witness to what you saw and believed with such determination
You answered the call of the Lord.
With you Bernadette, WE go to the Grotto,
To contemplate Mary, full of grace,
To hear her say 'Do whatever he tells you'.
With you Bernadette, WE reply I promise, I will.
Saint Bernadette teach us to receive the good news.
With you Bernadette, WE wish to hear the call of penance,
To walk in the path of conversion, To live in humility.
With you Bernadette, WE take up our Cross,
We say 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners'.
With you Bernadette, WE go and wash at the springs of mercy.
With you Bernadette, WE say Yes to the will of God, by becoming
servants of the little ones, the poor and the sick.
With you Bernadette, WE look on the other as a person.
Saint Bernadette, teach us to love and to serve.
With you Bernadette, WE go to meet the Lord in the Eucharist.
WE go to drink at the Spring of the Living Water of the Word of God.
WE go in procession, together as a Church in the footsteps of Christ.
With you Bernadette, WE shall go and repeat the Name of the Lady
to the World, 'I am the Immaculate Conception'.
Saint Bernadette, teach us to pray to Mary each day,
Mother of God and our Mother: 'Hail Mary, full of Grace'.
O Mary conceived without sin
Pray for us who have recourse to you.
Our Lady of Lourdes
Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette
Pray for us.
NB:
REPOST:
St. Bernadette Soubirous:
Gadis Bersahaja yang Memandang Wajah Bunda Maria
Semua orang tahu bagaimana rasanya jika sedang sakit. Tidak enak'kan? Karenanya, tidak seorang pun yang mau sakit! Inilah kisah tentang seorang gadis yang hampir sepanjang hidupnya menderita sakit.
Namun ia menanggung segala penderitaannya itu dengan tabah dan penuh sukacita. Sekarang ia diangkat menjadi santa pelindung orang-orang sakit. Namanya ialah Bernadette.
Pada tanggal 7 Januari 1844, dari pasangan Francois Soubirous -seorang pengusaha penggilingan gandum yang jatuh miskin- dan isterinya, Louise Casterot, lahirlah seorang bayi, anak mereka yang sulung.
Bayi itu mereka beri nama Marie Bernarde. Karena perawakannya yang kecil mungil, anak itu kemudian biasa dipanggil Bernadette (Bernarde kecil).
Sejak bayi kesehatan Bernadette kurang baik. Ia selalu saja menderita sakit, terutama asma. Bukannya mengeluh, tetapi Bernadette mempersembahkan semua penderitaannya kepada Tuhan sebagai silih demi pertobatan orang-orang berdosa.
Bagi Bernadette, sakit juga bukan berarti bebas dari segala tugas dan kewajiban. Ia tetap harus membantu ibunya mengasuh kelima adiknya. Dan ketika Bernadette telah dianggap cukup umur, ia pun harus bekerja sebagai pembantu dan penggembala ternak.
Suatu hari, pada tanggal 11 Februari 1858, suatu peristiwa yang luar biasa terjadi. Ketika ia bersama seorang adik dan seorang temannya sedang mencari kayu bakar di padang, Bunda Maria menampakkan diri kepadanya di sebuah gua yang disebut Massabielle (=Batu Besar), di tepi sungai Gave dekat kota Lourdes. Bernadette tidak tahu siapa wanita cantik itu dan apa yang ia inginkan.
Bunda Maria menampakkan diri kepadanya sebanyak 18 kali. Pada tanggal 25 Maret 1858, pada penampakannya yang ke-16, Bunda Maria mengungkapkan siapa dirinya, "Akulah yang Dikandung Tanpa Dosa." ('Que Soy Era Immaculada Conceptiou' atau 'I Am The Immaculate Conception').
Setelah peristiwa penampakan itu Bernadette semakin banyak menderita, baik karena kecurigaan orang-orang yang tidak mau percaya, oleh perhatian berlebihan dari mereka yang percaya serta ancaman dari penguasa setempat. Semuanya itu ditanggungnya dengan tabah dan sabar.
Pada usia 22 tahun, Bernadette menggabungkan diri dengan Suster-suster Karitas di Nevers, Perancis. Tiga belas tahun lamanya ia tinggal di biara dan sebagian besar dari waktu tersebut dihabiskannya di tempat tidur karena sakit yang dideritanya.
"Pekerjaanku semakin maju," kata Bernadette.
"Pekerjaan apa?" tanya seorang suster keheranan.
"Pekerjaan bersakit-sakit!" jawabnya sambil tersenyum.
Bernadette seorang yang sangat rendah hati. Lebih dari apa pun, ia tidak ingin dipuji. Suatu ketika seorang suster bertanya kepadanya apakah ia merasa bangga karena dipilih oleh Bunda Maria. "Bagaimana mungkin," Bernadette cepat-cepat menjawab, "Bunda Maria memilih saya justru karena saya inilah yang paling hina." Suatu jawaban dari kerendahan hati yang paling dalam!
Bernadette wafat pada tanggal 16 April 1879 dalam usia 35 tahun karena penyakit tuberculosis. Tubuhnya masih utuh hingga kini meskipun ia telah meninggal lebih dari seabad yang lalu. Pada tahun 1933 Bernadette diangkat sebagai santa oleh Paus Pius XI. Pestanya dirayakan pada tanggal 16 April.