‘Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world. It is a prescription often given and too rarely taken.’ ~Author Unknown

Today is the feast of Our Lady Of Lourdes and it is also World Day for sick people. It is more than 150 years since Bernadette Soubirous saw the first apparitions at Lourdes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. Her family were particularly poor and Bernadette was almost a ‘nobody’. But God had other ideas and chose her as the one to be a link with earth and heaven. This happened 18 times and changed her life forever. Significantly it has also changed the lives of so many people down through the years who have been privileged to visit this special place.

Five million pilgrims visit Lourdes each year. Anyone who has been there will know it’s more than just a special place. Love bubbles everywhere in Lourdes. Its effects are felt by everyone. It is contagious, life giving, refreshing and so alive. Anyone who has been to Lourdes will often say, “If only I could bottle what’s here and bring it home”. It is at home but it may not always be as evident as it is in Lourdes. Today is a day to make sure that God’s greatest medicine called love gets shared. All of us are instruments of God’s healing love. We pray today for all who are sick and we include doctors, nurses, carers and anyone who needs our prayers on this special day.