The little grotto

My little boy dislike being in church but he loves being in the garden where the grotto with Our Lady of Lourdes is. He enjoys the swing, watching the carps in the fish pond and once in a while, he will kneel down and tell Our Lady of Lourdes (aka Mother Mary) secrets.

He noticed that people light candles but I have never brought any candles to the grotto before. As you know, kids and fire don’t mix well. However, today, he found candles being sold in the supermarket and asked to buy a box.

After dinner, when it is dark, he asked if he can go light a candle for Mother Mary. So, we drove to church, with him holding one single candle. It is so cute because he was careful of not breaking the candle into two.

This is the new statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Do you know that thieves carted away a statue earlier? I wonder why. Anyway, in every Catholic church, there is always a grotto or a rock garden. Next to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes (Lourdes is the place in France where the apparition of Mother Mary), kneel another statue, St. Bernadette.

Here’s a short excerpt on St. Bernadette and what she saw :

Bernadette, staring in fascination, saw that the luminous apparition was dressed in a soft white robe, with a broad girdle of blue, and a long white veil that partially covered her hair. Her eyes were blue and gentle. Golden roses gleamed on her bare feet. When the vision smiled and beckoned to Bernadette, the girl’s fear vanished and she came a few steps nearer, then sank reverently to her knees.

You can also view St. Bernadette in her glass coffin on Google Images.

My little boy is fascinated with the candles and at the same time, he will occasionally kneel down and ask Mother Mary to pray for things like ‘give the poor children lots of toys’ or ‘please ask Jesus to let me find Ben 10 toys….’ and other cute requests like that. Usually, he will say it silently, with his eyes closed and the only word he uttered is Amen. But he will tell me much later what he has ‘asked Mother Mary to ask Jesus ….’.

Oh well, if I cannot get him to go and sit down for one hour in boring mass, at least I am happy that he loves being in the garden in church.