St Catherine Labouré - Graces Our Lady wants to give to us!

"Well, what are the graces for which we forget to pray?" he (Father Aladel) asked. "And how would you explain things in a sermon if you were in my place?" 

For a moment Sister Catherine did not reply. Then a soft light crept into her eyes. "Why not put it this way, Father? Tell people to ask the Blessed Virgin for the grace to love God as she did when she was their age."

At these words, so simply spoken, a wave of admiration swept through the priest's heart. Here, surely, was a request that only a few people would ever think of making. Yet certainly it covered everything. Indeed, it was nothing short of a perfect act of love. Why, if one offered this little prayer frequently, while being faithful to the duties of one's state in life, there was no reason to be afraid of anything! Not even of sudden death. For a perfect act of love could bring even the most ordinary soul straight to Heaven. 

- The Miraculous Medal: The Story of Our Lady's Appearances to St. Catherine Labouré by Mary Fabyan Windeatt (Chapter 12: The Graces People Forget to Ask For)

The truth which her humble life had so suddenly revealed to them -- that holiness is not so much a matter of long prayers and great sacrifices as it is of giving oneself completely into God's hands for Him to do with as He wills -- had touched their hearts. What did it matter that probably the only work He would ever ask of many of them would be to raise a family, suffer certain pains, perhaps just to earn a living for themselves? They all realised the same thing: that the secret of being a saint was first to give themselves to God completely, just as Sister Catherine had done, then wait in loving confidence for Him to make known His Will.

- The Miraculous Medal: The Story of Our Lady's Appearances to St. Catherine Labouré by Mary Fabyan Windeatt (Chapter 21: Sister Catherine's Last Request)

Fr Aladel, Servant of Mary

St Catherine Labouré

Adapted from Saint Catherine Labouré of the Miraculous Medal by Joseph I. Dirvin, C.M.

The great apparitions of Virgin Mary by St Catherine Labouré: For these was she born, for these came she into the world, even as Christ came to bear witness to the truth. They are the reason for her being and the wellspring of her holiness. The years of sanctity that went before them, the years of sanctity that followed after, cluster about them like a setting about a gem. Not that St Catherine Labouré was holy because she saw the Blessed Virgin; she was holy because she was faithful to the mission given her to do. God's plan for her life and sanctification was: that she should cultivate a deep devotion to the Mother of God; that she should receive, at first hand, important instructions from this great Lady; that she should carry out these instructions to the letter; and, while doing all this, she should remain hidden, living an ordinary religious life in doing ordinary religious works.

All the graces given her by God worked to this end. St Catherine Labouré corresponded to every grace; she did what was expected of her and did it well. This is why she is a saint.

St Catherine Labouré, please help us all to be able to do what God expects of us, what He wills of us, what He wants to us do. Please help us to ask our Dearest Mother to intercede for us, to shower upon us graces we ought to have asked her. Please help us. Please help us make our way to heaven to be with you and all the Angels and Saints with Jesus and Mary. St Catherine Labouré, ora pro nobis. Amen.

St Catherine Labouré's Incorrupt Body

Our Blessed Mother appears to St Catherine Labouré when she was a novice

St Catherine Labouré (Zoé)

St Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal

St Catherine Labouré's Incorrupt Body for veneration by faithful

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne, Therese, I love You; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis Corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori.