TWO SPLENDID WOMEN

TWO SPLENDID WOMEN Almost 260 years ago, traveling through the bush of what is now central Canada, a man stopped at a spot which eventually grew into a settlement and then a village named Combermere. Almost a century later a married couple arrived from the United States where they had served the poor in the inner cities and began to serve the poor in the hills and valleys surrounding Combermere. Almost twenty years later the title by which they, and the men, women, priests who joined them in their apostolate, prayed for the intercession and guidance of Our Blessed Mother, was officially recognized by the Church and so little by little devotion has spread to Our Lady of Combermere, whose feast the Madonna House Apostolate celebrates each June 8th, the day on which new members of what is now a worldwide apostolate, take their promises of poverty, chastity and obedience. The full story can be found at: http://www.madonnahouse.org/ourlady/index.html What is remarkable about this, as with the more familiar stories of Our Blessed Mother appearing in places now large and famous, such as Lourdes and Fatima, is how, not unlike Bethlehem, Nazareth in their day, Our Lady clearly prefers to appear in little places, to seemingly little and unimportant people. I find great comfort in that, especially when tempted to want to be noticed myself – there is a great blessing in being hidden. Much easier to serve the poor, everyone, just as Our Blessed Mother did while on earth, does still for everyone on earth, when we are not in the limelight! Some twenty years or so after the original statue of Our Lady of Combermere was blessed a girl was born who today as a woman celebrates her birthday, for she was born on this day and when visiting a shrine of Our Blessed Mother in another country and seeking to be led to meet a good Catholic man to fulfill the vocation of holy marriage, unbeknownst to her at the time when she was born of the feast of Our Lady of Combermere, a boy had been born on the feast of the Presentation of Our Blessed Mother. He would be the man she would meet, love, marry, and with him build the domestic church.[ See: http://catholiclove.com/] Two splendid women, Our Lady and Lucille, the woman born on Our Lady of Combermere’s feast day. Two women whom I love and trust, whose guidance and prayer I rely upon.