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Touching the rock face, contemplating the grotto of more than 150 years ago and offering a prayer—these actions help visitors connect to that point in time when Bernadette hurried to this obscure cave. More importantly, they connect pilgrims to the spoken and unspoken messages that Our Lady conveyed to the young girl. As Mary bore the Son of God in her womb, she carries with her his message of love, which knows no obstacles and overcomes all shortcomings. Our lives, much like the grotto in Bernadette’s time, may be disordered, but God nonetheless comes calling.

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.