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Dear Friend,
 Let this Personal Lourdes Candle signify your devotion to Our Blessed Mother.
This is a special opportunity for you – offered only by the Missionary Oblates.
Beginning on February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, one candle will be burned for you at the Sacred Grotto in Lourdes, France, and one candle will be lit for you at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois.
When you return your Personal Lourdes Petitions, you will be joining the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in a special 150th Anniversary Celebration. In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared, on eighteen occasions, in a cave situated below the town of Lourdes.
Since the Oblates’ founding in 1816, we have sought the intercession of Our Blessed Mother as we work to serve the poor. By our very name, we honor Mary Immaculate as the Mother of God and strive to live in faith as she did.
On this special anniversary, I ask you to join us in our work and in our faith. Your donation will help us continue the work that has made us known throughout the world as “Specialists in Difficult Missions.”
In fact, our work takes us to those most in need. We rescue orphaned children from the streets, live among those displaced by war, and comfort the sick and the dying.
In countries like Haiti, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Brazil, Mexico, and here in the United States, we dedicate ourselves to serving the poor, the marginalized, and the abandoned.
 It was to one of the world’s poor that Our Blessed Mother appeared in 1858 in Lourdes, France. Bernadette Soubirous, whose family had barely enough to eat, was looking for firewood when Our Lady appeared to her. During one of her apparitions, Our Lady spoke the most powerful words she could have said.
“Que soy era Immaculada Councepcion.”
Which means, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Bernadette, a poor girl with minimal education, was not familiar with this belief, and the title meant nothing to her.
Even when she was pressured by Church and local leaders – and by her own mother – to confess that she was lying about Mary’s apparitions to her, Bernadette remained faithful to Our Blessed Mother’s request to share the message of God’s healing love with others.
 When she told the Church authorities the holy words Our Lady spoke, they knew Bernadette could not have invented them. With those words, they were convinced Bernadette was indeed in the presence of Mary, the Mother of God.
I hope you will follow Bernadette’s faith-filled life, and share God’s healing with others by joining our work, and by sending your Personal Lourdes Petitions to me by January 30, 2008.
I would like to show my appreciation for your mission donation by sending you one of our Lourdes Anniversary Gifts pictured to the right.
Your Lourdes donation of $25, or whatever you can give, will support our work among the poor in 71 countries worldwide, as well as help us continue our healing ministry in Lourdes, where Missionary Oblates offer spiritual guidance for pilgrims.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter to you. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
 In the love of Our Lady of Lourdes,
Fr. John Madigan, O.M.I.
Director
 Your Lourdes offering will truly make a difference in the lives of those in need. M ore than 4,500 Missionary Oblates are serving the poor in 71 countries. Father Bill Antone, O.M.I., (left) and Bro. Peter Vasquez, O.M.I., (right) are two of those Oblates. As they work among the poor of Mexico, these Oblates help provide for their basic needs while also offering pastoral care.
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