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.
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