A few of the indoor plants in the living room.

The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Many people feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to go and travel on an actual pilgrimage to the Holy grotto of Lourdes in France. I myself have not travelled there, but my late Catholic friend Joan travelled there. Many Christians devoted to Mother Mary and Lord Jesus, and some non religious people, visit the place where Mother Mary appeared to the 14 year old very poor and ill, St Bernadette. Many healing miracles happen there and it needs saying that some people are not healed in the form they best hope. God has a specific Divine Plan. We are able to ask for miracles and to pray in alignment with God's Holy Will, respecting His Decision.
The whole brilliant true Apparitions and the revelation of the Holy Spring of water, are heavenly to learn of and rejoice in. Mother Mary asked specifically for penance for all the sins she knew of from Her Heavenly perspective. Not very far from where we live, in Preston, there is a less well known Holy well that has a story connected with Mother Mary and it has a sacred space for Holy Mass and it is years since I visited the beautiful site. In this Time on Earth there is a spiritual battle going on and there is a fierce battle, all be it mostly invisible, for souls. The subtleties of the world or the Holy Sacraments of the Church presented to our children, can result in Heaven or Hell. As a parent of two children now grown up, much loved and prayed for son and daughter, I failed many times to voice up the more awkward conversations because I feared alienating them, and the tensions of the time in the 80s and 90s seem less bad now than the pandemic time all of us have been educated by. We shall live and gain wisdom from our tests and our daily times of humble devotion to Jesus and His Mother.
Mother Mary is, in my estimation, a unique example of a specific once in a lifetime Universal Mother. None of us would want to crucify anyone,
especially our dear children. It is hard saying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary on a Tuesday and Friday because it means devoting time and thought to Christ Jesus's Passion and the acute suffering it embraced. Yet it is meaningful and not a waste of time to implore Him for souls stuck in the dark evil Satanic patterns.
The gift of prayer is liberating and unites us to Christ and His sufferings, in a world where the spiritual darkness in many spheres of life are apparent. Addictions being one. We decide for Heaven if we are not wanting an eternity of hell. Goodness, beauty and truth reign in Heaven. Cruelty, torment and endless suffering and worse than we can imagine remorse, is Hell. Some saints have visited in spirit these spiritual realms. I am impressed with the visits to Heaven and Hell and purgatory by St Maria Faustina as she wrote of them in her diary and is published as a very heart wrenching book, worth reading.
Mother Mary has appeared in many Apparitions around the Earth for many centuries. Her powerful messages ask of us to pray, say rosaries, fast and do penance. It is your choice. No one shall force you! You need to be very sure why anyone would do these spiritual practices. The Medjugorje Apparitions since 1981is a great place to find out about, if you have any interest. Google has a good source of research for this.
Take care and thank you for dropping by. It was very cold and blue skied here in Rishton.