The Night Saint Bernadette Came to Visit me!
By Joe McClane
I had an interesting dream last night/this morning…. I dreamt I was in an old theater room. It was a room like the old town hall rooms you would find in 100 plus year old New England buildings, with wooden floors, old beams, and a stage like in a school, about 3 and half feet off the ground. The lighting in the room was reddish brown… like the wood floors, walls, and stage; sort of a warm glow. I didn’t look out any windows but it felt as though it was cold and dark outside. There was something going on the stage, but I don’t know what it was as I never looked to see. I was in the back right corner looking on the entire room as if I were on the outside looking in. There was an audience sitting in old wooden fold up chairs in front of the stage, in the center of the large room, with a roof support pillar sitting in the middle of the chairs, which blocked part of the view. To my right, along the wall, was a couch and on it was sitting my mother.
In the audience I saw a woman that caught my eye so I started to walk forward a few feet to get a better look. She was right next to that roof support pillar so I couldn’t see where I was standing. When I moved up I saw her… I said to myself its Bernadette Soubirous! I immediately got on my knees. It was her face… I recognized her face as Bernadette from pictures I had seen a few weeks ago of her incorruptible body. I turned around to my mother on the couch, and said, “I just saw Bernadette Soubirous “! Bernadette was holding the Christ child, wearing a cream colored shawl with what looked like her hair in a bun wrapped in a white cloth of some kind. I don’t recall exactly the color of her dress but I seem to think it was a brown or grey color, and floor length. I sat there on my knees just staring at her with the child and being enamored with them. Then what ever was going on stage ended and the audience got up to leave. Bernadette, who never looked my way, got up and headed toward the stage. She then exited the stage through a door, on the right, that led into a side hallway, on my side of the room, and stood in a long, dark hallway, with a soft light coming from the other end, with her back to me, and the room.
She then turned around, the child was no longer in her arms, or with her, and she looked into the room, from the door well of the darkened hallway, as if looking for someone. I ran over and fell on my knees, grabbed her hand, and began to cry. I begged her to ask Jesus to have mercy on me. I recall her voice was pleasant and soft but I cannot recall her words… my sense was that she would ask Jesus for mercy. Her peace was overwhelming. It was then that I woke up.
I do not think this was a vision from heaven, in the since of Our Lady of Fatima, or Lourdes, etc. This does not make me a visionary or a mystic. Rather, I have been contemplating my sinfulness and lamenting how much purging I will require to enter into the beatific vision as nothing “unclean can enter it” (Rev. 21:27). I thank God for the opportunity to be purged however; Saint Paul doesn’t make it sound all that pleasant in 1 Cor. 3:15-17. My wife and I have also been defending the Catholic Church’s doctrines with a group of Protestants on Facebook, especially on the communion of the saints, and the texts were fresh in my mind. So I think all of this, with the images of Saint Bernadette from a few weeks back, was weighing on me when I laid down last night.
To some degree, it is truly a gift from heaven to allow my sub-conscience, to pull together these images in order to receive a wonderful message. The message is this…. God desires all people, to be in communion, and to be saved. This is pleasing to him (1 Tim. 2:1-4) as he sent his only Son to be the one mediator (vs. 5), the ransom for all, to become the vine that connects the branches, weather on earth or in heaven (St. John ch.15), the communion of Saints (Hebrews 12:1&2).
I have heard it said that when we die we will not care about anything, or anyone, on earth however, this is simply not true. The truth of the matter is that when we die will not just care… we will care more! Our desires will be those of God and not our own. Just as the righteous martyrs, In Revelation 6:9-11, cried out for God’s Justice, or the “rich man”, from Luke 16:19-31, who begged Father Abraham to send Lazarus back so that his brothers might know salvation. In the separation of soul and body, our desires will cease, and God’s desires will be manifest. This is magnified in the relationship of the Father to the family.
God is the TRUE Father where as I am a horrible example of a Father. He loves perfectly, with charity, mercy, and justice where as I do not. In recognizing my own sinfulness, my soul can be honest in its assessment, and therefore beg God for Mercy… to ask the “great cloud of witnesses” to also beg God for Mercy on me. God; in his infinite wisdom, and love, has provided for us the Church triumphant who want nothing more than what God wants…. To seek God’s justice, and beg God for mercy upon the people on earth who are too foolish to ask for it.
St. Bernadette, while on earth, found it all joy to participate in the “one mediator-ship” of Christ by praying for the salvation of others.
As Saint Paul wrote in 1Timothy 2: “2First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time.”
Now, that she enjoys the most intimate union with God, her bride, our Lord Jesus Christ, she does not desire to intercede less…. She desires it more! Like God, she desires for the salvation on my soul! Emulating our Mother, Mary, she took my hand, like she took the Christ Child, comforted me with her soft voice, and radiant glow of the peace of God! My tears streaming down my face, as I clutched on to her and begged her to ask Jesus for mercy! It was as if I felt this was my only chance at obtaining this favor and I did not want to let go! She was anxious to do just what I asked her for. To intercede for the Church Militant is the enjoyment of the Church Triumphant. I awoke from my dream in peace…. Even if it was only a dream I know that Saint Bernadette is interceding for me, and you, right now in Heaven. What a gift our Father has given to us…. A Family to see us through!
About the Author:
Joe McClane – The Catholic Hack! – is the director and events coordinator for Fullness of Truth Catholic Evangelization Ministries, as well as an a Catholic New Media producer & Evangelist. He is married to his lovely wife Michelle and they have five children. The Catholic Hack | Catholic Apologetics, Theology & More!