Today is day 8 of our Marian pilgrimage. We are already in Lourdes, France and we are billeted at Hotel Alba, about a kilometer away from the shrine. We had our wake up call at 7am, had breakfast at 7:30 and started heading towards Our Lady of Lourdes sanctuary at 8:30 am. This time Butch was able to secure a wheel chair for me. He was ready to pay a rent but it was provided to him by the hotel for free and was told all the wheelchairs they have in the hotel were donated by pilgrims who were healed and no longer had a need for them. It was so embarrassing and very humbling and I felt so helpless but my mood started to change when our co pilgrims were cheering and happy to see me no longer limping and perhaps not slowing them down,
We started the tour with a video presentation on the life of St. Bernadette and the various apparitions of the immaculate Conception of Mary. St. Bernadette was a 14 year old girl when out gathering wood, she had her first of 18 visions of a small young lady she called the "thing" on a rock on February 11, 1858. She later on revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception of Mary and she was asked to tell the townspeople to build chapel. In subsequent apparitions, thousands joined St, Bernadette and the water flowing from the spring in the grotto of Massabiele was claimed to have a healing power. Although never encouraged by the church, pilgrims drink and bathe in it as many have claimed to have been cured by it, Butch and I actually filled several small bottles of the Lourdes water as with faith, nothing is impossible to the Virgin Mary of Lourdes.
We also joined the long queue into the grotto and we did it twice since the first time, we forgot to drop all the written petitions we brought with us, not just our own petitions but also from family and friends, We prayed for good health and long lives and we especially prayed also for our younger (than us) Tita Nil Munoz who is stricken with cancer and asked the Lady of Lourdes to extend her healing hands on her. We prayed also for those taking or will be taking their professional exams that they will pass. We especially prayed for our children that they will always be safe and blessed with good health and will make the right choices and priorities in life,
Butch also survived going through the Stations of the Cross. It was so steep and with his aching back and feet, I was worried that he will be the next one to be put on a wheelchair. Praise The Lord, he finished it and by doing it he said, he would have gotten some more brownie points for all our petitions to be granted.
Butch was completely exhausted that we had to go back to the hotel and no longer joined the group in visiting the house of St, Bernadette. He could barely stand so it was my turn to bring him water and food. This trip is perhaps the most gruelling and difficult travel we had done but it is also the most fulfilling and nourishing. I sat inside the chapel at the sanctuary this afternoon while waiting for Butch from the Way of the Cross. I never felt so peaceful, light and serene.
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