On Feb. 11, 1858, the Immaculate One appeared to a true anawim, a "blessed poor of the Lord" from the mountain town of Lourdes -- 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous. Beside the River Gave in the grotto of Massabielle, "Aquero" or "that One" -- as Bernadette first referred to her in her local patois dialect -- appeared with rosary in hand to convey a global message of prayer and penance in reparation to God for sin and for the conversion of sinners.

After the instruction by the Lady to dig for water, which caused a stream from which a supernatural generosity of miracles would flow down to our own day, Bernadette received the great Marian self-revelation which would awe the faithful and bewilder the theologian: "I am the Immaculate Conception."

St. Maximilian Kolbe would later explain that for the Mother of Jesus to say "I am the Immaculate Conception" conveys that Mary is mysteriously in her very essence full of grace and free from sin. She is a new creation, the perfect creation of the Father, so as to be the immaculate Mother of God, and also to be the faithful co-redeemer with her Son the Redeemer.

Karol Cardinal Wojtyla preached powerfully on this theme in a Dec. 8, 1973, homily on the Immaculate Conception. The future John Paul II reminded his congregation at Cracow: "Mary was the Co-redemptrix, because she was first the Immaculate Conception."

"Associated with the Sacrifice of Christ, Mary, Mater Dolorosa, who at the foot of the Cross suffers with her divine Son, is felt to be especially near by the Christian community, which gathers around its suffering members who bear the signs of the passion of the Lord. Mary suffers with those who are in affliction, with them she hopes, and she is their comfort, supporting them with her maternal help.

Not only does Our Lady bring to the sick a perfect human example of Christian redemptive suffering, but the Holy Father says further that "Mary suffers with those who are in affliction."

"This complete 'yes' of love is the Immaculate Conception of our dear Mother, Mary, who participated on Calvary as the co-redemptrix with the Savior. [...] Christ on the cross suffered all the pains that his Most Holy Mother suffered. And she in Christ suffers all our pains, she assumes them and knows how to commiserate with us. Our suffering is also her suffering."

The intercessory power of Our Lady of Lourdes is not limited to the geographical confines of a French hamlet in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Where there is suffering and sickness, there is the Mother, hovering in wait to mediate graces of consolation, healing, and courage, all in conformity to the perfect and generous will of the Heavenly Father. She waits only for our fiat in faith, to be freely welcomed into our homes, into our hearts, as she was by the disciple who Jesus loved (John 19:27), to bring to each one of us extraordinary healing graces of the Crucified Christ.

Whatever our present ailment or cross may be, Our Lady of Lourdes is the universal Mediatrix of healing and persevering grace, universally for all humanity, and personally for you and for me.

A symposium hosted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity brought together theologians from various churches to consider future steps for ecumenical dialogue. A Vatican communiqué reported that the three-day symposium, which started Feb. 8, gathered theologians from the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican and Methodist traditions at the invitation of the council's president, Cardinal Walter Kasper.

The symposium aimed not only "to take account of the many elements of agreement produced by forty years of official dialogue, but to consider ways of communicating this remarkable achievement to the members of all the various Christian communities," the council stated.

It expressed the hope that in this way, the communities can demonstrate "more fully in their lives the progress towards unity that has been made."

The theologians made a "detailed examination of the question of reception of joint statements and agreements, the need for the common witness of Christians at every level, and the changed context in which Christianity must undertake its mission."

They also discussed how ecumenical dialogue should take place in the future, and what steps should be made toward the goal of "full and visible communion."

The meeting participants "explored how traditional disagreements might be reassessed if they are looked at in the context of mission and the vision of God's kingdom."

They spoke about ecumenical dialogue in terms of a "new and promising approach," in which it is viewed "as an exchange of gifts."

With a unanimous vote at a special meeting, an Anglican group in Australia has affirmed its gratitude for Benedict XVI's move to allow them to convert to Catholicism, and is directing its council to make it happen.

The Australia branch of Forward in Faith made this vote Monday, affirming its readiness and desire for an ordinariate to be established Down Under.

Ordinariate is the term established in the Nov. 4, 2009, apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus," which allows for groups of Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.

"We're not really wanted any more [in the Anglican Communion]," he said, "our conscience is not being respected." The Pope's apostolic constitution is an answer to just that type of experience, which many Anglicans have expressed as the Communion moves toward greater approval of homosexual behavior -- including openness to active homosexuals in ordained ministry -- and women bishops.