Hail, O Lady, unique gateway through whom the Lord alone has passed! Hail, O you who, through your maternity, have shattered the locks of Hades! Hail, divine access towards salvation for the saved, O you so perfectly worthy of our praise!
From the Akathist hymn to Our Lady written by Saint Romanus in Constantinople around 530 A.D. Here’s more
Hail, immaculate Lady who have brought pardon to the world! Hail, O ladder who through grace have lifted us from the earth! Hail, O bridge who in truth do lead from death to life all those who sing your praise!
The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel is a wonderful book about the miracle and mystery that happened at Lourdes, France, when Our Lady appeared to a young girl. Werfel was a Jew from Prague, forced to flee for his life at the beginning of World War II. He sheltered in Lourdes in southern France for a time, and was so impressed by the story of Mary’s appearance that he made a vow to write a book about it if he lived. He did escape and did write the book.
What I loved about the book is that Werfel talks about Bernadette’s subsequent life. She had to testify over and over to what had happened. Eventually it became clear that if the authorities believed her they would force her to join a convent, which was not in her original plan of life. Werfel explains the reasons for this, but points out also that Bernadette never wavered.
After Bernadette joined/was sent to a convent there were more very difficult moments. Some of the nuns were utterly annoyed at having to take her in, and they made her life problematic. The day she heard that her mother had died one of the nuns insisted that she dance for joy. Absolutely grotesque. It is characteristic of her story that the nun who did this became one of her greatest champions later. After an intervention from the church men who had sent Bernadette to the convent, Bernadette became the sacristan, a situation and assignment that was much more to her taste. She even designed vestments (according to Werfel, but I don’t have pictures and a quick search didn’t find images).
I highly recommend the book. There’s also a movie but I haven’t seen it. I know that, good or bad, a movie doesn’t convey all that a book does.
Here’s a Korean image of Our Lady for meditation purposes.
O-Sek Bang, Korean artist
from an exhibit at the Marian Library at University of Dayton, in 2006.
Janey's blog 