“Miss, would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?” (25 March 1858)
“Pure Source, Virgin Mary, with you, hope is reborn.” (Hymn in French)
“In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall come, and they shall say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways, and we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Is 2:1-5)
One might doubt the definition of the Immaculate Conception. Around 1993-1995, at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse, during the Master’s cycle, Dominique Cerbelaud OP gave us a Seminar on the Immaculate Conception in which he shattered everything, in the name of history and the so-called historical method.
But at Lourdes, Mary herself comes to confirm the act of Pope Pius IX. Against this fact, nothing can be said! It is difficult for some of us to accept the Immaculate Conception, given the rationalist attitude we often adopt. Yet there is a divine confirmation of something that is truly difficult to understand and to receive, especially today: Lourdes’ Apparitions.
The dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception confronts us with a striking divine intervention in the order of time itself: God applies, in advance, the merits of Christ’s Redemption accomplished on the Cross. In other words, He bends the temporal order so that Mary receives the grace of salvation before the historical moment of Calvary. This is exactly what Ineffabilis Deus teaches when it affirms that she was preserved from original sin “in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race”. But there is much more than that: the very usefulness of the dogmatic definition.
According to the historical documents, on 25 February 1858, at the fourth apparition, Mary showed Bernadette a source of water. Yet this did not happen directly. We can observe here a pedagogical lesson Mary is giving us. She asks Bernadette to make an effort by scratching the ground to find water and to drink from it. At first, the water was muddy. It was sheer madness to drink muddy water, and yet Bernadette did it because Mary asked her to do so. It is only after many trials that the water became clear and drinkable.
This lesson reflects what we ourselves do: we drink muddy water, often without realising it. And how are we to understand the initial stage of what Our Lady asks Bernadette to do? Humanity, human beings, the human modality of our faith, the Church left to its own human forces, cannot produce pure water. Humanity is fallen. The human modality of our faith does not lead to God; “flesh is of no use” says the Lord in the Gospel of St. John (6:63). It comes from below. “You are from below; I am from above,” says the Lord in the Gospel of St John (John 8:23). Pure water comes from Above, it is given by God. This is precisely what Pope Pius IX does when, in a moment of profound distress in the life of the Church, during the upheavals of 1848–49, persecuted and forced into exile, he turns decisively to help from Above. A few years later, in 1854, he will solemnly define Mary as the “Immaculate Conception.” In 1858, Our Lady will appear at Lourdes to Bernadette to confirm what the Pope has proclaimed.
The Immaculate Conception, as it is made explicit at Lourdes in 1858 by Our Lady, is a maternity, a washing, a communication of Mary’s faith to the people, to lift them up! “Go drink the water and wash yourself.” Here, the water is not only the miraculous water that works miracles for the body! Here, the water is essentially Mary’s faith, it is Mary’s purity, and the purity of Mary’s faith—a purity that comes from the Saviour who saved her in anticipation. This is why the Angel will greet her by naming her: “full-of-grace” (Luke 1). The water of Mary’s faith is shared, communicated to us. At this very important turning point in history (the French Revolution spreading in Europe and America), we are invited to drink it, and if we do so, it becomes part of us! Are we not made up of 80% water, so to speak? But which water? The initial muddy water? Or rather, Mary’s Water? Mary’s modality is communicated to us, Mary’s purity is communicated to us! We are initially muddy, and then we become like this water—pure, beautiful, from Above!
Mary’s purity is one thing. And one can concentrate on it while forgetting the next step: the fact that it is communicated to us also. But that her purity purifies us, that is another matter. That her purity is communicated to us (“go and drink”) is another matter entirely. The clarification here is very important. The tragic moment through which the Church passes in Italy in 1848 (the effects of the diabolical French Revolution) crushes the Church! “Crush the infamous one.” (Voltaire) This was indeed the aim of Freemasonry and of the Carbonari, the Italian revolutionaries (the republicans), who even killed the Pope’s prime minister, Pellegrino Rossi. The principles of the Revolution were not as “pure” as we often imagine. It is this mud that spreads like wildfire across Europe from France. And it is from France, and in France, but in a remote corner, that God’s response will come.
Rather, we should say that the real mud is in the Church—it is our human faith, our faith in its human modality, incapable of reaching God. “You are from below; I am from above,” says the Lord in the Gospel of St John (John 8:23). In fact, the head of the Church at that time felt not only the danger but also the weakness of faith, and the necessity, at this tragic moment in the life of the Church, to turn to Our Lady, to the “mountain” from where salvation comes (Is 2:1-5)! “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” (Is 2:3)
The Church could have sought help from human forces; the Pope had his estates; the Church could have sought assistance through human means. Yet the Church, in the Person of the Pope, felt its weakness, the weakness of its faith: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) In Luke 17:5 the apostles say to the Lord: “Increase our faith.”
Our Lady invited the entire Church to “Go drink the water and wash yourself.” Our Lady meant the water of the source Bernadette scooped up and uncovered. But what is the real source? Better said: who is the real “source” meant here?! Some might say: Mary is the Source. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, I mentioned a French hymn verse: “Pure Source, Virgin Mary, with you, hope is reborn.” To see Mary as a “source” of pure water is unusual. To perceive her mystery of being the “Immaculate Conception” as a source is entirely unexpected. Not only that, to see the mystery of Mary (the mystery of the Immaculate Conception) as water that purifies, or as providing a pure water is truly “new”! Water that is to be drunk—that is revolutionary.
Note: This is God’s answer to the French Revolution, in a very remote and poor place in the country of the French Revolution -a divine counter-revolution! And it begins with a very poor and sick girl, Bernadette, in an unknown town, lost in the depths of south-west France. France, country of the Revolution!
Our faith, indeed, needs to be washed (purified), our hope needs to be washed (purified)! The human modality is like that initial mud that Bernadette scoops up. Salvation does not come from us! No human effort can obtain salvation, cannot obtain divine purity. And salvation is not suspended in the air; salvation is given to Mary and, through Mary, to us all! This is God’s Plan. There is here a spiritual maternity we need to deepen. We forget through whom salvation is communicated to us: “here is your mother” (John 19), here is the one who begets you. I have made her your mother, by my grace, by my Redemption, and it is from her that you will receive Life, the Life I gave her. In this subordinate sense, Mary is the Source, the Mother of Grace, the one who communicates to us God’s Divine Water—the Water that cleanses us. She transmits to us her own faith, the purity of her own faith!
This is confirmed to us by the titles found in the Missal of the Devotional Marian Masses: Mass 30: “Mary, Virgin, Mother and Mediatrix of Grace”; Mass 31: “Mary, Virgin, Source of Salvation”; Mass 35: “Mary, Virgin, Support and Defence of our Faith”; Mass 36: “Mary, Virgin, Mother of Beautiful Love”; Mass 37: “Mary, Virgin, Mother of Holy Hope.”
See: Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Volume I: Missal, Catholic Book Publishing Corp. (for the English translation), 2012 (revised to conform to the Third Edition of the Roman Missal). Hardcover; 304 pages. It provides the formularies for the 46 Masses in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, arranged throughout the liturgical year.
But, strangely, Mary seems to present her mystery as water, or rather as a source of pure water! And that this water purifies, is communicated to us. This act of purification is maternal! Bathing is an act of purification. This recalls Baptism.
But strangely, it is as if God reminds us of an aspect of Baptism that we tend to forget, namely that Baptism brings about the recovery of innocence. Through this bathing we live a renewal of our Baptism, we recover the original innocence of Baptism.
It is true that the sacrament of Reconciliation purifies. But here, Mary purifies! Mary is a source of water that purifies!
When John shows us the water at Cana (John 2), he does not say that this water is made “to drink”, but rather “to wash” as it is being contained in jars used for the Jewish rituals of ablutions and purification. At Cana, towards whom do we turn? Towards the “woman”, Ishsha. The mother of all the purified! The new Eve
“Who are you?” Bernadette asks her. “Madam, please be kind enough to tell me who you are and what is your name?” Mary replies: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” And she does it in Bigourdan patois, a variant of Gascon! That is to say, the Immaculate can be “translated” (lived) into patois, ie in our daily life!
Here is a being totally coming from the heart of Christ, the Woman! Pure. From God. Flesh from his Flesh, bone of his bones (see Gen 2) She is not divine, that is clear! But she has divine purity. It is something else entirely! She is a creature, but she is a creature not only who is not fallen (or rather fallen but saved from the very first moment of her creation. This is the point that caused debate and delayed the declaration or recognition of the Immaculate Conception, for centuries) but she is the first of the saved, and it is through her that we are reborn, that we are purified, for we are initially born muddy!
It is as if God gives us Mary’s faith, her purity, the purity of Mary’s faith. He washes us. “Go wash yourself in Mary’s water.” Maternity washes. A maternity communicates life (“go and drink”). A purification that comes from above! Water that comes from above. The act of washing is very important at Lourdes (whoever goes to Lourdes knows about the pools). It is a matter of purity from Above. The act of drinking is very important. It transforms us from within! The contrast between the initial mud and the pure water is striking. Purity and life – our goal in the spiritual life.
The source of the water continues to this day. We see it, under a glass on the ground (see the picture above), near the cavity in the rock where Mary appeared, and we hear it flowing.
Not only that, but Mary is the one who comes and offers purification. Through the declaration she herself made of her Immaculate Conception.
The water—is it Mary? The water—it is certainly the Holy Spirit. It is also Mary’s maternity—her maternity, given to her by Christ on the Cross (John 19). Christ, on the Cross, realising our Redemption, makes of her our Mother and communicates to her motherhood, saving her first and then saving us in her, with her, and through her! She is the washer, the one who washes.
In Lourdes, God confirms the Immaculate Conception for whoever may doubt, but he uses the physical, almost sacramental, symbol of water! In fact, the Immaculate Conception is given to us! Mary is given to us, her faith is given to us, her purity is given to us! Her purity is pure, and her purity is a maternal purity; it purifies. By the action of the Holy Spirit. “O beloved Mother, despite my littleness / Like you I possess The All-Powerful within me / But I don’t tremble in seeing my weakness / The treasures of a mother belong to her child / And I am your child, O my dearest Mother / Aren’t your virtues and your love mine too? / So when the white Host comes into my heart / Jesus, your Sweet Lamb, thinks he is resting in you!” (St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Poem 54, stanza 5)
When Pope Pius IX saw the Church experiencing her utter weakness, he lifted his head and heart towards Heaven, from where help would come. “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) He prayed at Mary’s chapel (Capella di Oro at Gaeta, south of Italy). He was in exile! The Church’s human faith and strength was like this mud shown by Mary. It will not get out on its own.
When we reflect on it, we can say that Vatican II, by placing the Immaculate Mary at the final chapter of the document describing the Church (Lumen Gentium, chapter 8), presents the fruit of the declarations of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption.
We must go up to the mountain of the Lord. “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) “Many peoples shall come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3)
This year is the year on Hope. Let us lift up our eyes to the Hills, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, the Immaculate Conception. She is the “Mother of Holy Hope”.
In fact, when Hope was fading in November 1848, Pope Pius IX, praying and asking God for help during his nine months of exile at Gaeta – his life under threat in Rome – understood that the only help was the Immaculate Conception not first as a dogmatic definition but as a deeper understanding of who Mary is and what she can do to help the Church and to help each one of her children. It was necessary to understand how this help from the Immaculate Conception could take place. It is at Lourdes, four years later, that Mary would explain how we must make use of this revelation of the Immaculate Conception, of who she is.
Bernadette repeatedly asked the Damsel to tell her who she is. The apparitions started the 11th February and it is only on the 25th March, at the 17th apparition (the penultimate), that Mary reveals who she is. In the Annunciation the Angel names her “full-of-grace” and in 1858 Mary will say: “I am the Immaculate Conception”.
Bernadette’s question was not spontaneous; she asked it following the priests’ advice, but Mary did not answer immediately, showing her usual pedagogical manner before revealing her identity. She (the Lady or Damsel) first explains the issue of the water, which becomes a source, and the necessity to build a sanctuary. After several apparitions, the parish priests and local clergy had grown curious to know the identity of the Lady and instructed Bernadette to ask during the next apparition. On 25 March 1858, following the priests’ advice, Bernadette asked three times: “Mademoiselle, would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?” Initially, the Lady did not answer verbally, only smiling. Only after this persistence did she finally declare: “Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou” (“I am the Immaculate Conception”).
See Also
Our Lady of Fatima Centenary History and Bible (videos)
The Immaculate Conception in the Light of Christ our Saviour
The Sign of the Times: Understanding Modernity from a Catholic Perspective (The Birth of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception)
The Practical use of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
In Her Light: The Immaculate Heart and the Reception of the Word