Happy Feast of #OurLadyOfLourdes! Did you know that when the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette, it was in a grotto that was used as a garbage dump? Our Lady also spoke to Bernadette in the local patois, Lourdais, rather than French. And she appeared not as a woman... 
but as a young girl, a "demoiselle," as Bernadette reported. In fact, Bernadette never liked the famous statue placed in the grotto for this reason: Our Lady was depicted as a mature woman, not as the adolescent girl whom Bernadette encountered.
Finally, when Bernadette, a poor girl, reported her visions to the local priest, she was thrown out of the rectory for lying. In 1858, Our Lady came to be with those who are sick, like Bernadette was, but also with those who are poor, marginalized or excluded in any way.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!
