18 How the Church Has Changed the World parish priest Saint John Vianney, patron saint of students who have trouble with their exams. Think of Bernadette. And think of the thousands and millions of people who came to Lourdes. Think of the spiritual miracle of conversion of heart. Which is more difficult, to heal a clotted artery, or to soften a lifelong hardening of the heart in sin? Even in the earliest days, sinners came to Lourdes to sneer, and left in tears of joyful repentance. The fact is, we all need the water from Lourdes. It isn’t like the Ganges, one of the most polluted rivers in the world, but which harbors a germ that eats the germs on your flesh. Lourdes water has no such germs. Or it does have germs: the germinal seeds of faith, hope, and charity. Lourdes is available to us at all times. Christ the Healer is ready with the living water. We have only to submit, and to ask—and not heed what the scoffers will say. Some of them too will one day come down to the everlasting spring. ••
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