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.
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