Today feels as if it is the longest day of the pilgrimage, or at least we hope it is. Leaving between 12:30 and 1:00pm Diocese of Gary time on 12 August 2011, we boarded the bus, first at Elizabeth Ann Seton in Valparaiso and followed with a boarding at Our Lady of Sorrows in Portage. Walking onto Air France flight 667, the travellers took their first steps towards a spiritual journey that they have long awaited. For some it is their first pilgrimage, others their first time in Europe and for one the first time in the air.
While already becoming a life changing experience before leaving the gate in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the pilgrimage had only begun. After taking a connecting flight to Pau and then a forty-five minute bus ride, we finally made it to Lourdes, France. What many expected to be a small village and a church in the mountains turned out to be a town of twenty thousand full of bustling European streets and market vendors situated amongst the beautiful Pyrenees mountains.
Soon after getting cleaned up in the Hotel Acadia, we set off towards our first Mass of the pilgrimage. Moving into the area of the grotto, we were surrounded by a great crowd of pilgrims from all over the world, some we spoke to were from Chile, India and others from the United States. Towering over the mob of people stood a massive Basilica of the Immaculate Conception built on the top of the cliff of the grotto. Proceeding onwards, we came upon the baths of Lourdes. Here, hundreds of people line up to bathe in the waters of the spring brought forth by Mary to St. Bernadette in the hope of experiencing its healing powers. It was just beyond here that we celebrated Mass together in a chapel.
The Saturday readings for Mass were from the Book of Joshua and the Gospel of Matthew. I found these readings to really stand out today as they both involved an unquestioning surrender to God. First, as Joshua speaks to the people of Israel telling them that they must choose between the god of their ancestors and the gods of the neighbouring tribes and kingdoms. When confronted, the Israelites respond, saying that they give themselves to worshiping the Lord. We can see here that even as the world around us tells us that we can find happiness in things created by man, the only way that we can find real happiness and truth is through God, even if He may not be as tangible as a gold statue, television or cars. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that we must be as children to enter into the Kingdom of God. Only by acting as a child to a parent and unquestioningly follow them can we truly follow God. While this may sound wonderful and might actually get us to think a little bit, what I really found inspiring was seeing it in practice. Walking out of Mass, we once again passed the baths. Seeing all of these people suffering from ailments of the body, mind and soul with the deepest hope, desire and belief that God can cure them through the conduit of the spring water makes on realize what following Christ is. In putting everything into our belief and will to follow God, we can all be healed body, mind and soul.
Following dinner, our diocese held a candlelight procession down to the grotto while praying the rosary. It was a beautiful prayer and was made even more so as others joined the procession. People would just walk up to others in our line and ask to have their candles lit by ours and then join in our prayer. It truly made the universality of the Catholic Church visible seeing people of all walks of life, regions of the world and cultural backgrounds united in one purpose. As we finished the rosary, it seemed a day well spent ending at 10:00pm in France on 13 August 2011.
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