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The Blessed Virgin taught Bernadette with what she could see, touch and experience. “Bernadette is invited to enter a grotto, to drink spring water, to wash from it and to carry the light,” says Father de La Teyssonnière. “Rock, water and light are parts of the human experience, of the religious experience and of Christian revelation.

Drawn by faith or curiosity, people from all parts of the world go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, the most visited Marian shrine in Europe. When all is said and done, many pilgrims will measure their experience not by how far they travel but by how close they come to God.

Mary cares for our souls in a way that no human mother ever could—even the most wonderful, loving one! It is that burning charity that motivates her to work tirelessly for our salvation. She wants our salvation so desperately that she appeared many times over the centuries, sharing messages of hope and calling for prayer and conversion. When she appeared to two children on September 19, 1846, in La Salette, France, our Lady told them, “I want that everybody be saved, the good as well as the bad. I am the Mother of Love, the Mother of all; you are all my children.

The story of St. Josephine Bakhita remains a very moving testament to God’s providential hand on all who are called to do God’s great work. Although God’s work is often found in what some may call menial tasks, all work done in the name of the Lord is work of great magnitude in the eyes of God.

The past can only hurt you if you let it. Sounds simple in principle, but it is complicated to apply. The counselor taught me something he called “mindfulness.” In a nutshell, it is a method of focusing on the here and now and separating the past from the present and the other from the self. Here is what it looks like in action. When a bad memory surfaced and my emotions began to get out of control, I was to stop, call upon God’s grace, and focus on something in my immediate environment, preferably something pleasant. The idea was to pause and separate what was then from what is now.

Saint Cassian of Tangier models the ultimate Christian act of brotherhood and friendship. His decision to speak up for what is right clearly left him standing alone in the courtroom and later on at his beheading. There were no groups or persons with him to support his choice. There were no character witnesses to speak up for this one who embraced the unpopular Christian faith. Except for the unconditional love of our redeemer, Cassian was alone. With the simple utterance of “I am a Christian,” he was condemned. One might ask why he didn’t remain quiet.

Francis never wanted anyone to follow him, he wanted them to follow the one he followed. “The Lord has shown me what is mine to do. May he show you what is yours.” In this humility, we realize that it is not our strength, our ingenuity, our love, or our care that is going to shape the world. It is Jesus that the world needs, working through us. The world does not need us. It needs someone who will bring it Jesus. Thank God. Because, really, we could never do anything well on our own. As hard as we try and no matter the intentions we have, the truth of the matter is that sometimes we fail.