In 1858, when Bernadette was 14, Our Blessed Mother chose to make an appearance to her in a humble and lowly grotto. These apparitions, 18 in total, culminated in the discovery of a spring of miraculous water and a pithy affirmation of some doctrine.

In the grotto where the apparition occured, there was an undiscovered muddy spring: “Go and drink from the spring and wash yourself there.” St. Bernadette obeyed and upon that rock, a chapel and shrine were built to commemorate these apparitions, which now draws a large number of pilgrims to receive healing for their ailments, whether physical or spiritual.

In one of the last apparitions, the woman, whose identity was unknown to Bernadette until this time, revealed her name through a theological doctrine: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is one I have wrestled with, largely due to my Protestant background, but upon meditating on this statement with St. Bernadette, I have come to see that it is a doctrine to teach us how we may grow our love for God!

Christ is the revelation of divine love and Mary is the right response to Him. It is because of her Immaculate Conception that Our Lady becomes the Theotokos, the first person to love God in a way that is right and just. Our salvation is about receiving the same Holy Spirit, which lived in Mary, by our faith, so that the characteristics of her Immaculate heart can be born and formed in each of us, so our love for God can be perfected! It is only as this love grows, that suffering will cease.

Saint Bernadette died when she was 35, but her death was no tragedy. Her true healing was seen many years later when they discovered her corpse bearing no signs of decay—a sign of consummate sanctity. Whatever pain a saint experiences becomes transfigured into hope because of one’s love. St. Bernadette’s story tells the truth: that sainthood is not a sullen repression of our capacity to experience life, but rather, sainthood is the way Christ has made for us to overcome suffering and death by perfecting our love.
 
Dedicated to Michael Knott, commissioned by Stormie Knott Fraser.