Howzit Bernie! JC here my girl…
February 11 1858. The young shepherdess Bernadette Soubirous sees JC in person. At Lourdes, France. Between February and July Bernadette sees JC 18 times. Eighteen times! What is it with God and sheep anyway? Why do God and son always target keepers of sheep? Australia should be some kind of continental shrine, come to think of it.
Terry Pratchett, in Small Gods, muses, “The merest accident of microgeography meant that the first man to hear the voice of (the God) Om, and who gave Om his view of humans, was a shepherd and not a goatherd. They have quite different ways of looking at the world, and the whole of history might have been different. For sheep are stupid and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent and need to be led.”
Anyway, it’s a hundred and fifty years to the day when Bernadette first saw JC and the Catholic Church is bringing its merchandising division to bear. There’ll be festivities until December 8; the Pope will make an appearance (just like JC did – but this time for all to see) and indulgences and candy floss will be on sale.
The shit that people believe!
