December 8, 2015

She Bowed Before the Tabernacle

On this Feast of the Immaculate Conception, it seems fitting to offer the following story involving the Blessed Mother Mary and the Eucharist.

During the years of 1830 and 1831, St. Catherine Laboure was witness to five apparitions of the Blessed Mother in Paris, France. They were to be the cause for the making of the Miraculous Medal, a devotional article well known to Catholics.

The first such vision occurred late at night on July 18, 1830. She was awakened by a small boy, who appeared to be about five or six years of age, dressed all in white. He had a glow about him from an inner light. He insisted she go to the chapel because the Blessed Virgin wanted to see her there.

She followed the child to the chapel. With a touch of his finger, the heavy wooden entry door swung open. Inside, she was surprised to see the chapel brightly illumined, from every candle being lit, as at Christmas.

She went inside and took up a position, as directed by her young guide. Catherine herself wrote of what happened next: “I heard the rustling of a silken robe coming from the side of the sanctuary. The ‘Lady’ bowed before the tabernacle, and then seated herself in M. Richenet’s chair.”1 The Blessed Mother then proceeded to tell Catherine of a mission that was in store for her.

From the description above, it deserves repeating that the Blessed Mother, in this apparition to St. Catherine Laboure, “bowed before the tabernacle.”

(Tomorrow, we will continue this story with the next apparition, in which instructions for making the Miraculous Medal itself were given.

1 Odell, Catherine, Those Who Saw Her (Huntington, Indiana, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. 1995) p. 64.

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