In Lourdes, Mary appeared to Bernadette. This miracle was followed by seventeen visions, in which Bernadette was gradually told how the appearance of Mary was connected to the grotto and the healing spring that would there emerge.
Bernadette took it all in, and when the time came to speak, she consistently referred to Mary as aquero — that one there.
That one there. That one who seems to appear and disappear with the suddenness of a firecracker. The one who speaks in riddles. With whom you can’t have a normal conversation. For instance: can’t ask her what she really means by I am the Immaculate Conception. It gets you nowhere. She won’t answer. Nothing of it.
The same goes for her not being particularly thrilled when you tell her you biked through a green wave of traffic lights twice today and would love to take on a trial capoeira class together.
On February 12, Paulien Oltheten’s film Lourdes TV will be screened in Groningen, at Forum Groningen.