Song of Bernadette
Tomorrow is celebrated as the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Catholic Church. St. Bernadette saw an apparition of Mary at Lourdes. Today, the shrine is a place of pilgrimage especially for those who are sick.
It is sometimes surprising to find Bernadette appear in unusual ways even today. I have in my music library a wonderful little song that is part of Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat" album of Leonard Cohen songs. The "Song of Bernadette" proclaims with fresh lyrics the redemptive love revealed by St. Bernadette's faith and trust. The words are beautiful and the song is a collaboration between Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes:
There was a child named Bernadette
I heard the story long ago
She saw the queen of heaven once
And kept the vision in her soul
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
But there were sorrows to be healed
And mercy, mercy in this world
So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we have done and can't undo
I just want to hold you, won't you let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do
We've been around, we fall, we fly
We mostly fall, we mostly run
And every now and then we try
To mend the damage that we've done
Tonight, tonight I just can't rest
I've got this joy in my breast
To Think that I did not forget that child
That song of Bernadette
So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we've done and can't undo
I just want to hold you, won't you let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do.
It is wonderful poetry and the music on the album is matched very nicely to the words. We are all hoping and sometimes we find it hard to sustain that hope. This certainly is what was challenging in Bernadette's simple trust. People were afraid to hope. What she told them was too fantastic.
In our day, it is sometimes hard to admit that we need healing. The social mythologies we live with so often tell us that we can be whatever we want to be and that whatever we think and feel is good, even when we have a nagging feeling that this is not always the case.
We do need healing so much in our world. There is great suffering. And the truth is that there is hope, but it is not a naive hope. It is a hope that meets life as it is. We are torn, and we can't undo all the hurts by ourselves. We need to accept help. There is mercy in and for this world.
It is sometimes surprising to find Bernadette appear in unusual ways even today. I have in my music library a wonderful little song that is part of Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat" album of Leonard Cohen songs. The "Song of Bernadette" proclaims with fresh lyrics the redemptive love revealed by St. Bernadette's faith and trust. The words are beautiful and the song is a collaboration between Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes:
There was a child named Bernadette
I heard the story long ago
She saw the queen of heaven once
And kept the vision in her soul
No one believed what she had seen
No one believed what she heard
But there were sorrows to be healed
And mercy, mercy in this world
So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we have done and can't undo
I just want to hold you, won't you let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do
We've been around, we fall, we fly
We mostly fall, we mostly run
And every now and then we try
To mend the damage that we've done
Tonight, tonight I just can't rest
I've got this joy in my breast
To Think that I did not forget that child
That song of Bernadette
So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine
Torn by what we've done and can't undo
I just want to hold you, won't you let me hold you
Like Bernadette would do.
It is wonderful poetry and the music on the album is matched very nicely to the words. We are all hoping and sometimes we find it hard to sustain that hope. This certainly is what was challenging in Bernadette's simple trust. People were afraid to hope. What she told them was too fantastic.
In our day, it is sometimes hard to admit that we need healing. The social mythologies we live with so often tell us that we can be whatever we want to be and that whatever we think and feel is good, even when we have a nagging feeling that this is not always the case.
We do need healing so much in our world. There is great suffering. And the truth is that there is hope, but it is not a naive hope. It is a hope that meets life as it is. We are torn, and we can't undo all the hurts by ourselves. We need to accept help. There is mercy in and for this world.
