Day 8 - Lourdes, Day 2

Today’s day at Lourdes began very early for some.  Mass at the Grotto took place at 6:00 a.m. Several of our pilgrims got an early start for the day and attended the Mass.  Others attended a later mass at the basilica at 9:30 a.m. I concelebrating the later Mass with brother priests from around the world.  It was a beautiful mass in English with travelers from Ireland, England, the United States and other English speaking nations.  I even met up with a couple formerly from Warren, Ohio who moved to Lourdes about a year ago and who now volunteer at the shrine.  We talked for quite a while after the Mass.

We saw a short movie about the history of Lourdes and Bernadette of Souborouis and how the area has grown significantly.  We learned about the 3 million people who visit here every year and how the place has grown as a spiritual pilgrim site for so many looking for healing and wholeness.  We heard about the many popes who have visited here and how many miracles have been documented here.  

After the movie we divided up into two groups to experience the stations of the cross.  Some of us took the high road and some took the level road.  The high road took us up a very steep hill to pray the stations and the others took a very level route for the stations.  I led the group up a very high but scenically breathtaking route.  

After lunch most of us went to the baths.  This was an extraordinary experience.  The Blessed Mother urged Bernadette to drink and to bathe with the water that came from the rock where she appeared.  This water continues to flow today.  Many of us are bringing some of this water home with us.  But people also have the opportunity to bathe in the water.  Today only groups or the severely ill are welcome to bathe.  Our group was fortunate to snag a reservation at 3:30 p.m.  We were divided into groups of 4 by men and women.  We disrobed down to our underwear and then invited one by one into a bathing area, we disrobed completely and had a towel wrapped around us.  We asked what we wished to have prayed for, and then were escorted into the cold waters, helped down into the waters and dipped in, and invited to have water poured over our heads.  The water was both shockingly cold and invigorating at the same time.  The men prayed with me as I asked intercession for all those I brought with me to pray for, my own physical health and all my parishioners.  After all 4 of the men in my area were bathed in the water, the volunteers asked for my blessing and we prayed together.  It was a very beautiful and moving experience.

We end our time together as an entire group in just a few minutes from now.  We will take an hour to pray together, to reflect on this journey we’ve had together and to give thanks to God for what we’ve experienced and learned.  We will also take time to bless any religious articles that folks have purchased throughout the trip.

Some of us will continue on to Paris.  We will visit the chapel of the Miraculous Medal and Notre Dame Cathedral.  Others will head home from here.  But all will have been changed, in some way or form, by what they have experienced here - throughout these blessed days of pilgrimage.

Day 7: Lourdes

There is something extraordinary about Lourdes.  From the first time I came here I was moved by the care and compassion for the sick that I have seen no other place in the world.  It is as if the ill are the most important persons in the world.  There is even a special lane in the streets for wheelchairs and stretchers.  There are people dressed all in white who are special caretakers for the sick and they are cared for with the greatest of love.  Lourdes is a special place of healing - you can feel it in the air.  

Bernadette Soubourois was a simple girl from a poor family.  At one point in time she lived in a small room with her parents and her 9 siblings.  She went to gather wood for their fireplace on 18 February in 1862 when the Blessed Mother appeared to her in an apparition referring to herself as the Immaculate Conception.  Bernadette, uneducated, didn’t even know what that meant.  It was one of the proofs that she was telling the truth because she couldn’t have known the meaning of this church dogma.  

Bernadette was a vessel for Mary’s message.  She told the priest to build a chapel on this site and that the water at the site would be a source of healing.  Today the city of Lourdes hosts over 3 million visitors every year from around the world.  Many thousands of people have experienced healings here. No matter what people experience, you cannot help but experience inspiration, peace and the power of the Holy Spirit in the work of so many people throughout the world who come to experience the power of the presence of God and the comfort of the mother of Jesus.  

Each evening the rosary is prayed and the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes is carried in procession around the grounds.  People carry candles and sing Ave, Ave, Ave Maria and raise their candles high.  The first night our pilgrims walked the procession.  The second night I stood on the bridge above watching the procession   It was a thing of dramatic beauty and ritual dance as light moved ever so serenely though the procession grounds.  The rosary is prayed in dozens of languages, each pilgrim praying it in their native tongue.  It is amazing, and so overwhelmingly moving.  

The water that still flows from the side of the mountain is available for drinking as well as for bathing in.  Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to bathe in the water.  Some of our pilgrims will attend a 6:00 a.m. English mass at the grotto.  Others (myself included) will attend (or, in my case, concelebrate), a 9:30 a.m. English mass at the basilica.  

On the grounds there is an underground basilica that seats over 20,000 people.  It is one of the largest basilicas in the world.  During a terrible flood in 2013 the basilica had almost 20 feet of water in it and underwent significant damage.  But today it is an amazing edifice that testifies to the continued crowds that come to Lourdes and continue to be welcomed no matter what they weather - rain or shine.

Day 6.- Loyola

A  trip through Spain isn’t complete without stopping at Loyola - birthplace of St. Ignatius.  Ignatius grew up in a wealthy, noble family.  Since he was a child Ignatius wanted read and dreamed about chivalry.  He wanted to be a soldier and he entered the battle of Pamplona convinced he was answering God’s call for his life. However, when he was injured by a canon ball in battle everything changed.  He was laid low for 9 months recovering from his injuries.  He almost died.  His leg was re-set when he insisted his leg be re-broken so that he could walk without I a limp (in order to appear better suited for the ladies!).  During his recuperation his brother gave him two books to read - one on the life of Christ; the other on the lives of the saints.  Indigo became consumed by these recede and turned his life over to Jesus.  He read of St. Francis and Dominic and became desirous to become a saint.  He hadn’t been much of a student but then wanted to study in Paris and went back to school in his 30’s.  He was ordained and had a strong desire to serve the poor.  His life had completely changed and he was passionate to serve God and to create a “company” of men who would dedicate their lives to God, live to educate young people, and be obedient to the holy father.  Ignatius’ missionary efforts would bring the Catholic Church to the far reaching places of the world like India and China and his community today continues to support leaders and educators throughout the world. It all began here - in the city of Loyola, Spain and we were blessed enough to have Mass in Indigo’s bedroom - the “room where it happened,”. The room where it all began.”

Celebrating Mass in the room of Ignatius’ conversion.  

A mask made from the corpse of St. Ignatius immediately after his death.

A depiction of St. Ignatius conversion moment.

Cathedral at Loyola.  Notice the moorish influence of the pillars.

The outside of the Loyola home.  Bottom layer for protection from intrusion.  

Top layers for living quarters. 

St. Ignatius depicted with education texts in hand.

Our lady of Montseratt

Day 5: Burgos - The Camino

 Burgos is a beautiful city situated in an important and strategic place on the Camino de Santiago - the “way” of St. James.  It is known for its beautiful UNESCO listed Gothic Cathedral and the birthplace of the mystical hero El Cid and has served as the capital of the unified kingdom of Castile and Leon for five centuries.  We had the opportunity to visit both the old and new Cathedrals here and stayed overnight on our journey to Lourdes.  Our visit to both Cathedrals was no less than amazing and we stood in awe of the amazing stonework and the mastery of building these two edifices - one from the 12th century and the other from the 15th.  

Day 5: Avila and St. Theresa

This morning we departed from Salamanca and drove approximately one hour to the city of Avila.  It is an amazing place - a walled city filled with baroque beauty and intrigue.  St. Theresa was born here in 1515.  She was born into a relatively wealthy family and became a significant figure in the renewal of monastic spiritual life.  Her mother died when she was only 12 years old and she turned to Mary to be her spiritual mother.  She fled her family home to run off to the convent.  There she led an austere life but became very sickly and spent nearly an entire year in bed.  At one point they even thought she had died and sealed her eyes with wax.  They had even prepared her tomb.  But she wasn’t dead.  She would go on to live a full life and worked with St. John of the Cross to found 17 Carmelite communities throughout Spain and worked diligently with him to reform the Carmelite rule of life.  She was so well respected as a writer and theologian that she became a doctor of the Church.  Her fascinating life is forever noted in her autobiographies The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection.  Avila has now become an important stop on any pilgrimage to Fatima as St. Theresa and St. John of the Cross have played a significant role in the life of religious communities and in the history of the Catholic faith.

Part of the gigantic wall surrounding the city of Avila.

A statue in front of the chapel of St. Therese of Avila and the small apartment where she lived.

A relic from the finger bone of St. Therese of Avila

Day Four - Salamanca

 Salmanca is a beautiful university town of just under 150,000 residents.  It is unique with a town center like no other.  The beautiful stone begins in a lighter color and eventually fades into an orange like tone that give it a unique one-of-a-kind hue that is characteristic of this area.  It is one of the four earliest places in the world where universities began and was associated with the church.  The cathedra was the chair of learning and the cathedral was the place where learning was associated.  

There are actually two Cathedrals here - the old, dating from the 1100’s and the new, dating from the 1500’s.  Both are stunningly beautiful yet very different.  The town itself definitely throws off a youthful vibe with many cafes, shops and plenty of places to hang out, visit and shop.  It took approximately 4 hours on the bus to arrive here and, after a few hours for lunch, touring and mass, the weary pilgrims were ready to turn in for a late dinner (8:00 p.m.) and get to sleep for our trip to Avila in the morning.