Relics show us the power of grace, of divine love

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass welcoming the relics of St. Bernadette to South Florida. He celebrated the Mass April 11, 2022, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Miami, where the relics will remain through April 18.

Today is Monday of Holy Week, the week that recalls for us our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We celebrate with faith Jesus’ Passover from death to life. Like the Hebrews who passed over from slavery to freedom by crossing the Red Sea on their journey to the Promised Land, we passed over from death to life, from the slavery of sin to the freedom of the children of God through the waters of Baptism, through which we die with Christ to rise with him to new life, the life of grace.

This Holy Week is made more meaningful for us tonight as we honor the relics of St. Bernadette, the visionary of Lourdes.

Las reliquias de Bernardita nos muestran el poder de la gracia, el poder del amor divino. Honrando estas reliquias del cuerpo de esta Santa, oremos para que lo que María le prometió a Bernardita también podamos obtenerlo: no la felicidad en esta vida sino en la próxima.

For many people, that the Church venerates relics of saints might seem a bit macabre. Yet, we all know of “secular” relics. We keep mementos of our loved ones (some parents even keep the first tooth of their child). We honor fallen heroes at cemeteries. Museums are full of these secular relics, and they assist us to recall these persons and the memories that remind us of who they were and what they did.

“Religious” relics serve the same purpose for the People of God. Relics of the saints are honored in the Church by God’s people because relics are physical, tangible, concrete reminders that heaven is obtainable for us – if we, like the saints whose relics we venerate, follow that path to holiness that the saints walked themselves. The veneration of the relics of the saints also reflects a belief that the saints in heaven intercede for us on earth. A number of cures and miracles have been attributed to relics, not because of their own power, but because of the holiness of the saint they represent and the power of their intercession on our behalf.

Manman Bondye a te chwazi Bènadèt pou li pote yon mesaj ki ensiste sou nesesite lapriyè ak penitans. Mesaj sa a lè nou aksepte l ak lafwa konn pote gerizon. Kòm pèlren Loud yo rapòte souvan, gerizon ki pi enpòtan yo pa fizik men se gerizon espirityèl yo. Pandan tan sa yo, lè tout tè an boulvès ensistans Mari a sou nesesite lapriyè ak penitans pa dwe tonbe nan zòrèy soud. Konsa, presans Bènadèt pami nou aswè a se yon apèl pou nou kase tèt tounen byen ak Bondye.

Nan Semenn Sent, se raple pou nou raple, se grasa blesi Sovè nou ki geri n. Jezikri te ofri tèt li sou kwa a pou delivre nou.

St. Bernadette is a saint, not because she was smart, rich, or beautiful. She is a saint not because she wrote learned books or held high office in the Church. She was a peasant girl, illiterate until she was 14. She was a frail, sickly child – and though the waters of Lourdes have cured thousands of the sick who visit the Shrine that was built at the sight of the apparitions, she herself was not healed. She died a sister in a convent far away from Lourdes at the young age of 35.

But she is a saint, and she is a saint because she was obedient to God and, despite the initial incomprehension of her parents, her parish priest, and her neighbors she let neither fear nor shame deter her from her Catholic faith. The Mother of God chose her to be her intermediary to bring to the world a message that insisted on the necessity of prayer and penance. This message, when accepted in faith, brings healing to souls – and sometimes to bodies. During these times of broken promises and a frail peace, as we face the uncertainties of war in the Ukraine and a relentless persistent virus, Mary’s insistence on prayer and penance must not be allowed to fall on deaf ears.

As pilgrims to Lourdes often report, the most important healings experienced in the waters of Lourdes are not physical but spiritual ones. We remind ourselves this Holy Week that we are healed by his stripes, that is, we are healed by the wounds of our Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, who offered himself on the Cross for our salvation.

Santa Bernardita es una santa, no porque fuera inteligente, rica o hermosa. Ella es santa no porque haya escrito libros eruditos o haya ocupado un alto cargo en la Iglesia. Era una niña campesina, analfabeta hasta los 14 años. Era una niña frágil y enfermiza – y aunque las aguas de Lourdes han curado a miles de enfermos que visitan el Santuario que se construyó al ver las apariciones – ella misma no fue curada. Murió siendo una hermana en un convento lejos de Lourdes a la temprana edad de 35 años. Pero es santa, y es santa porque fue obediente a Dios y, a pesar de la incomprensión inicial de sus padres, su párroco, y sus vecinos no permitió que ni el miedo ni la vergüenza la detuvieran de su fe católica.

Como suelen informar los peregrinos a Lourdes, las curaciones más importantes experimentadas en las aguas de Lourdes no son físicas sino espirituales. Nos recordamos esta Semana Santa que somos curados por sus llagas, es decir, somos curados por las llagas de nuestro Divino Salvador, Jesucristo, quien se ofreció en la Cruz por nuestra salvación.

The relics of Bernadette show us the power of grace, the power of divine love. In honoring these relics of the body of this saint, we pray that what Mary promised Bernadette we may obtain as well: not happiness in this life but in the next.