Bernadette Soubirous's Influence On Religion

Introduction

Miracles are often defined as an event that is unbelievable and unexpected, it can be a series of events and it is usually believed to be caused by godly powers or by unexplainable powers because it doesn’t follow the rules of nature. A miracle usually delivers a message in religion but it can also be a natural miracle, as in it would snow in a place that is believed to have never been cold or experienced snow. Or it can also be a health miracle, for example: a woman that had no hope in conceiving gets pregnant without any medication. But in general, Miracles usually cover religion and deliver an important message to the people, either to test their belief in religion or to warn and teach them specific things in the religion.

She is the eldest of eight children and her family became very poor in 1856 due to some work complications. She suffered from asthma and since she was the eldest, she usually stayed home to take care of her younger siblings, also, she barely received any education. On 11th of February 1858, a remarkable incident took place in Lourdes, France near Grotto of Massabielle. When Bernadette was collecting wood with her sister and friend, her sister and friend crossed the cold spring while she stayed behind fearing that if she crossed the spring she would get an asthma attack. She heard the wind blow and saw light from the grotto and suddenly saw the face of a beautiful young woman dressed in white, her beauty struck Bernadette and she started to pray the rosary as the lady joined. The lady asked Bernadette to return to the grotto every day for 15 days. Bernadette told her sister and her sister passed the story to her mother, her mother refused to believe the story and said that she might have imagined them or it might have been the ghost of some relative. (O.F.M.,

These miracles had helped people believe and understand their religion. What can also be understood from these stories is that there are two types of people. People who believe in miracles and are often people of religion, because they believe its caused by the God they worship whereas people of no religion or strong scientific knowledge would either try to interpret these events with scientific causes or would not even consider them as events but rather as a delusion or events that are made up and had never took place. I personally found these two stories very interesting and it reminded me of the story of Maryam, mother of Isa –in Islam- (Virgin Marry, mother of Jesus in Christianity) and had made me realize how beautiful these miracles can be in different religions and how they interpret a similar message of belief and