Suffering is something that the modern world, including many Catholics, finds very difficult to endure or even to understand. What is the point of it? Why would a good God allow it? The Christian response to these questions is one of the underlying messages from Our Lady's apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, not least through the life of Bernadette Soubirous, the seer of Lourdes, who endured so much suffering in her short life.

This classic text by Mgr Vernon Johnson, and updated by Donal Foley for the 150th anniversary of the Lourdes apparitions in 2008, encourages readers to meditate deeply on the cross and the meaning and value of illness and suffering.