My Journey, Grotto of Immaculate Conception at National Shrine Parish Divine Mercy

📔 October 17, 2026

The first day of my Basic Bible Seminar study. I arrived so early, and the PPC Hall was still quiet — no one else had come yet. I decided to step outside for a little walk before the program started.

As I strolled around the grounds, I saw the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. The grotto around it wasn't finished yet — they're still building it — but there she was, standing so peacefully even while the work goes on nearby. Not far from there, I noticed a simple prayer board dedicated to Saint Teresa, waiting for her own grotto to be built one day. It made me smile — like she was patiently watching over the place even in the simplest way.

I walked a little further and found the Grotto of the Immaculate Conception. Curious, I went up to see the statue more closely. There, in front of Our Lady, was a little child kneeling in quiet prayer. My heart felt so soft seeing that small, faithful figure before her.

At first I wondered — is this Our Lady of Lourdes, or the Immaculate Conception? I had to pause and remind myself of the beautiful truth I've come to learn: all these beautiful titles — Our Lady of Fatima, Lourdes, Immaculate Conception, Mount Carmel, the Miraculous Medal — they all belong to the same loving Mother.

Different places, different times, different names — but it's always Her. She reveals herself in different ways to different people, always with one gentle purpose: to lead us closer to her Son, Jesus. She comes to remind us that God is real, He is near, and He holds our future in His loving hands. Each apparition is a gift of hope — a light to guide us through whatever may come.

I walked back to the seminar hall with a lighter heart. It wasn't just my Bible study that was beginning today — it felt like Mother Mary herself was welcoming me, before I even opened my Bible. 💙

Here the story of Bernadette Apparition to Our Lady Of Lourdes

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes (born Marie-Bernarde Soubirous) was a 14-year-old impoverished miller's daughter from Lourdes, France, who experienced 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1858 at the Massabielle Grotto. 

Early Life and Background

• Origins: Born on January 7, 1844, in Lourdes, she grew up in extreme poverty with frail health, having survived a cholera epidemic at age 10 and suffering from chronic asthma.

• Uneducated: Before the events of 1858, she was uneducated, illiterate, and spoke local dialect rather than standard French. 

The Apparitions (1858)

• First Vision: On February 11, 1858, while gathering firewood with her sister and a friend near the Massabielle Grotto, Bernadette saw a "young lady" dressed in white with a blue sash. 

• The Miraculous Spring: During the ninth apparition, the Lady instructed Bernadette to dig into the dry ground at a specific spot; a spring of water emerged, which continues to flow and is associated with reported healings. 

• "I am the Immaculate Conception": On March 25, 1858, after Bernadette repeatedly asked who she was, the Lady identified herself using this theological term—words 14-year-old Bernadette did not understand until she repeated them to the local parish priest. 

• Core Messages: The apparitions called for prayer, penance, conversion of sinners, and the construction of a chapel at the grotto. 

Skepticism and Church Investigation

• Interrogations: Bernadette faced intense skepticism, questioning, and harassment from her parents, local police, and civil authorities who doubted her claims. 

• Church Approval: Following a rigorous investigation, local Church authorities and Pope Pius IX formally authenticated the supernatural character of the apparitions in 1862. 

Religious Life and Later Years

• Sisters of Charity: To escape public attention, Bernadette went to school with the Sisters of Charity and later joined their novitiate at the motherhouse in Nevers, France, in 1866, taking the name Sister Marie-Bernarde. 

• Suffering and Death: She spent her remaining years in prayer, nursing the sick, and enduring painful illnesses, including tuberculosis of the bone. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35. 

Legacy and Sainthood

• Sanctuary of Lourdes: The grotto became one of the world's most visited Roman Catholic pilgrimage centers for the sick and faithful.

• Incorrupt Body: Exhumed multiple times during the canonization process, her body was found to be remarkably preserved (incorrupt) and is enshrined in a glass reliquary at the Convent of St. Gildard in Nevers.

• Canonization: She was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XI on December 8, 1933, and is recognized as the patron saint of the sick, the poor, shepherds, and those ridiculed for their faith. 

Until Next Time

💋Yuna