We spent over 24 hours getting to Lourdes on the first day...
-Cab from our house to the Metro (left at 11am Thursday)
-Metro to the airport
-Fly from DC to Boston
-Fly overnight from Boston to Rome
-Fly from Rome (through Munich) to Toulouse
-Bus from airport to train station
-Train from Toulouse to Lourdes
-Walk to our hotel (arrived 7pm Friday)
Whew! It felt so good to finally arrive in Lourdes. This crazy journey wouldn't have been possible without packing light - thankfully we were able to carry-on our backpacks and easily transport our luggage. After checking into the hotel we immediately walked to the Grotto. It was dark and so beautiful all lit up. It was very powerful and emotional to be in this holy place. Afterwards we grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to bed!
Saturday, March 27th
Our hotel owner Peter was the sweetest man! He served us a delicious breakfast every morning of croissants, bread, cheese, jam, coffee and orange juice. Lourdes isn't at its "peak" for tourists yet, so there was only one other couple staying in our hotel. It almost felt like we were staying in Peter's home.
This is me in front of the Basilica. (I'm the little pink speck!)
The first thing we did was walk to the baths. We weren't sure how crowded it might be and we knew they had limited hours. At the baths men and women are separated, so my hubby and I went to our separate waiting areas. We were early, but there was already a small group of women waiting. (Since my hubby was finished well before me, he snapped this picture of me still waiting outside.)
As I was sitting outside I read through this lovely reflection that they provided:
It is because of our need to be reborn, forgiven, purified, reconciled... that we come to this water. We come in memory of what Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink."
Let us reflect on this prayer - In calmness, with faith, humility, charity and trust, we will grasp the deeper meaning of the water and will have no need to attribute other powers to it.
God gives his grace freely, out of love.
Do not think that performing a great number of religious acts gives us rights over God. He freely offers us peace of heart, and if he judges it to be good for us, the easing of our sufferings.
As the Blessed Mother said to St. Bernadette, "Wash your face and ask God to purify your heart."
As I was reflecting on this and preparing for the bath I could hear people at the Grotto praying the Rosary in French. It was all very emotional for me. I was curious what it would be like and nervous about the experience. (I knew I'd have to remove all my clothes, so I wasn't sure what to expect!) I was so overwhelmed at finally being in this holy place. I felt a kind of pressure, if that's the right word, at what I was about to experience. I wanted to make sure that I did it "right" or "well." I was moved by the faith of the women around me and at the powerful connection I shared with these strangers. I wondered what their intentions were and what kind of healing they might be seeking.
But mostly I was filled with the emotions of my own prayer intention - my desire to be healed physically, spiritually and emotionally of my infertility. After reading through the reflection they provided, I mostly felt compelled to lay down all of my intentions at the Lord's feet. He knows the desires of my heart and I was filled with the desire to only want what He wants. It was really powerful - the anxiety over "will I be healed?" was gone and all that remained was the desire to do the Lord's will. It's hard to put into words, but it was very powerful.
When my hubby finished and saw me crying in line he was a little worried about what was gone on! I reassured him that I was having an emotional moment and that everything was ok.
When it was my turn I went inside the building to waiting area #2. At this point I waited on a bench with other women and read the signs that explained what was about to happen. Next I moved into waiting area #3. Here a woman helped me get undressed and ready for the bath. I give them a lot of credit for having everything really well-organized. They have tons of volunteers to help and they have a great system to protect your privacy. One of the volunteers held up a large, blue robe behind me while I undressed. As soon as I was finished I wrapped myself in this robe and sat down waiting for my turn. There were about 6 other women in this waiting area with me.
When it was finally my turn I went past the curtain into the "stall" where the bath was. I was still pretty emotional at this point. I had been crying throughout all the different periods of waiting. There were four volunteers in the stall to help me. The first lady tried to figure out what language I spoke, but she couldn't understand me because I was crying so hard! She thought I spoke Spanish, but eventually figured out it was English. She was a lovely woman and tried to console me. She gave me a hug and said, "Our Blessed Mother is with us. She is your mother - talk to her and tell her what is in your heart."
Next they opened my blue robe and discreetly wrapped me in a white sheet. It was already wet from the water and it was freezing! (I have a feeling they wet it to help you adjust to the cold water.) Two women held my hands/arms - one on each side - and helped me into the first step of the water. They told me to think about my intentions and to quietly pray to Mary. When I was finished they help me walk down two more steps into the bath and towards the statue of Mary. I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do, so I kissed the statue. Next they dipped me down into the water - I just sort of sat down and then up quickly. It was pretty cold! Afterwards they helped me walk back up to the top step. They prayed with me and said, "Our Lady of Lourdes - pray for us. St. Bernadette - pray for us." They wrapped me back in the blue robe and took away the white sheet. I walked back through the curtain to waiting area #3 to dry off and get dressed.
The whole experience was pretty surreal. I ended up going back to the baths again on our last day. I wanted to make sure I really experienced it all since I was so emotional the first time. But I'll tell you about that later! I found a few pictures of the baths online since I didn't have my camera with me:
After the baths, we went to the water spigots to fill up our bottles with water. It was so wonderful to be able to drink this water all day, every day during our time in Lourdes! We each had a big water bottle that we kept filled. We also splashed a little water on our face each time we walked past.
During one of her apparitions the Blessed Mother told St. Bernadette to drink from the spring water. This sign was posted along the wall in many different languages.
Next we visited the Rosary Basilica. (The huge church built above the Grotto actually had three separate churches - the Rosary Basilica, the Lower Basilica and the Upper Basilica.) The Rosary Basilica had beautiful mosaics of all the mysteries.
These beautiful mosaics were around the sides of the Church.
The beautiful altar, mosaics and dome.
The Annunciation
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
Next we visited the Lower Basilica. It was pretty small, but lovely.
One of the side altars had a relic of St. Bernadette.
We attempted to visit the Upper Basilica, but Mass was going on in French. Next we headed to the candle store. In addition to drinking the water and bathing in the water, Lourdes is known for it's many candles. During one of the apparitions Bernadette and others carried candles to the Grotto.
As you can see in this picture, there is only one candelabra that actually sits in the Grotto.
To the right of the Grotto they have a long row of cages filled with candles of all sizes.
Early on my hubby and I had decided we would purchase a large candle. We both enjoy lighting candles in church on a regular basis. It's a beautiful symbol of the light of Christ and of our prayers burning before the altar of God. At Lourdes it says, "This flame continues my prayer" and we definitely wanted our prayers to continue burning after we left!
This is my hubby in the candle store - can you believe how HUGE some of them are?
We didn't get the biggest candle possible, but I'd say it was pretty large.
We loaded all of our intentions onto this candle! They had slips of paper so you could write down your intentions. We also purchased four smaller candles for our family members and our God children. We lugged our huge candle over to the cage area and found this candle-man to help us. (Yes, his full-time job is to manage the candles!)
As he was getting our big candle to light he said, "Oh, you purchased the size that fits at the top of the Grotto candelabra. Would you like your candle to be used in the Grotto tomorrow?" Of course we said that we'd LOVE it! He said to come back the next day at 11:00am and he would be replacing all the candles and would light ours at the top.
Wow. We were so thrilled! Maybe it's not that big of a deal, but we felt so honored that our candle would be the one large one burning at the top all day. As you can see in this picture it burns right next to the statue of Our Lady - in the exact spot where she appeared to St. Bernadette. I'm so glad we happened to buy that size!
This is me in front of our candle burning at the top in the Grotto.
Next we headed into town for the first time. We picked up a simple French lunch: some fresh local cheese, a baguette, salami, fruit and a delicious pastry.
This is the bakery where we got a pastry every day!
We found a bench near the river and enjoyed our lunch outside. It was so wonderful.
We strolled through the town and visited St. Bernadette's birthplace, family home, and the parish church where she was baptized.
St. Bernadette's family home
My hubby checking out some of her belongings. Also portraits of her parents hanging on the wall.
St Bernadette's bedroom.
A replica of the Grotto made by St. Bernadette
The parish church
Baptismal font where St. Bernadette was baptized.
Next we hiked the hill which has the Stations of the Cross. The walk was almost a mile in length and it winds upwards. The 15 large stations had larger than life bronze statues, depicting the various stages of Jesus' walk to Calvary. We brought a booklet of reflections with us, so we took our time and prayed the stations as we walked.
Afterwards we tried to visit the upper basilica again, but another Mass was going on. While we were up there we noticed a bride and groom with their guests and wedding party. It was so sweet to watch them visit the Grotto before their wedding.
Next we crossed the river (The Gave) and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Grotto and Basilica from the other side.
This shot shows you the Grotto (far bottom right) and the Basilica built above it.
Afterwards we had some dinner in town. We had wine with every dinner - both in France and Italy. I was in heaven! We ordered a 1/2 carafe at every restaurant and it always came in a lovely little pitcher.
We decided to visit the Grotto one last time before going back to the hotel. We weren't going to participate in the candlelight procession until the next night, but we ended up watching it anyways. It was so beautiful to watch all the little lights processing behind the lit-up statue of Mary.
Finally, the end of our first day in Lourdes. As we were heading to bed our hotel owner Peter informed us that night was spring forward. I'm so glad he told us! Although we were not happy to lose another hour of sleep. :)
Sunday, March 28th
We started our day with the International Mass for Palm Sunday. They have Masses in all different languages throughout the week - but every Sunday morning they have an international Mass. They did a great job incorporating all the major languages into the service.
We got our palm branches and visited the Grotto before Mass began.
Mass began outside, in the square.
A ton of priests and a few bishops concelebrated the Mass.
We all processed down into the underground basilica. This place is huge!
(So, I have a funny story about the guy wearing glasses and the purple hood in that picture. About halfway through Mass the older woman next to my husband frantically tapped the guy's mother on the shoulder and pointed out that his butt crack was showing. Not only was it showing, but it was big and very hairy. It doesn't appear that he was wearing any underwear either. ;) Sorry for the TMI, but it was a pretty hilarious moment. The funniest part is that the older woman didn't tap HIM on the shoulder, but his mother. Ha ha!)
Ok, back to the Holy Mass. I knew that we were going to hear the reading of the Passion and I was curious what language they would use. It turns out that they used words, music, and drama to tell the Passion story. It was great! The young adults who were acting did an incredible job.
It was beautiful to celebrate Mass with so many people from all over the world. Throughout this pilgrimage I was overwhelmed by the universality of our faith. No matter what country or what language, we are all united in the Mass. Even the Rosary too! I loved hearing all of our beautiful prayers prayed in various languages.
After Mass we went back to the Grotto to watch our big candle get placed in the candelabra. (I've already blogged about this, but it happened on Sunday after Mass.) The candle guy was so sweet! I wasn't sure if he saw us sit down or if he would even remember us. But while he was removing the old candles and placing ours at the top he looked over at us, smiled and winked. It was a special moment. Here is a picture of our candle right next to the statue of the Blessed Mother.
It was during this visit to the Grotto that I went through my list of intentions and offered up a Rosary for all of you. I had 66 people/intentions that I prayed for! It was so beautiful to go through my list and offer up prayers for so many friends, family and bloggers. Again, it was another moment where I felt the universality of our faith and the powerful connection of prayer.
Before lunch we stopped into our hotel quickly. Our hotel owner had picked up procession candles for us to use that night. How sweet is he??
Next we went into town, walked along the river and had another delicious French lunch of baguette, brie cheese, hard salami, fruit and amazing pastries!
We strolled some shops and I purchased a beautiful statue of Our Lady. We went back towards the Grotto area and filled up our water bottles. It was so great to drink Lourdes water all day!
This beautiful statue of Mary is in the center of the square.
Finally we were able to visit the Upper Basilica, although it was pretty dark because no Masses were going on. (We found this a lot, even in Rome - many churches keep the lights pretty low when no services are going on. I'm not sure if this is a way to be "green" and save electricity, or possibly it helps preserve the artwork in the church.)
After we left we could hear a group of people singing. We looked around and saw a group of young seminarians walking towards the Grotto, holding their Rosary's and singing a version of Ave Maria. It was really sweet. We ended up seeing them a lot that day and the next. Again, another beautiful witness to our faith. It reminded me that we need to pray for holy priests!
Next we grabbed a cup of coffee at the "Little Flower Tea Room." I love that everything in Lourdes has a religious name! The cafe was right near the Rose hotel, the Liseaux hotel, and the Joan d'Arc hotel. I was reminded how many wonderful saints came from France!
Next we made our way to where the Eucharistic procession was starting. While the Marian procession takes place at night, this one began at 5pm in a tent area outside. It was such a beautiful way to pray. Like many things in Lourdes, this event is especially for the sick and infirm people. Many people in wheelchairs were being pushed by the Lourdes volunteers and they led the procession.
Starting the walk with the Blessed Sacrament.
Across the bridge and toward the underground Basilica.
It was so beautiful to again be united with all these people in prayer and adoration of Jesus. I was really impressed with the set-up. Throughout our walk to the Basilica they had pillars of incense burning and small speakers with music playing (the singers and instruments were inside the Basilica.) There was a huge group of pilgrims from Germany, so many of the songs were in German.
Once we entered the underground Basilica we had adoration and benediction. They had a special prayer for the sick in which they took the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance around the room and individually blessed those in wheelchairs.
It was the biggest monstrance and host I had ever seen!
Next we went to have some dinner. The only thing left to do for the night after dinner was the Marian procession at 9:00pm, so we were glad to have a relaxing dinner. I don't remember why we ended up getting a whole bottle of wine instead of just a 1/2 carafe, but it was so delicious. (Pay no attention to my bright red cheeks!)
We enjoyed a lovely meal, yummy wine and great conversation. While we were having dinner I recognized the family sitting next us from the Eucharistic procession. One of their daughters is in a wheelchair and I saw her during the blessing of the sick. I figured they were with the German group, but when I overheard them talking I could tell they were Americans. The crazy thing is that we literally had just commented how we hadn't run across any other Americans yet. They ended up being the only ones we saw. At the end of dinner I went over to their table and said hello. It turns out they're from New Jersey and were visiting Lourdes for the first time. They weren't going anywhere else in Europe, just Lourdes. They were a really sweet family.
It was one of many moments where I was overwhelmed at seeing other pilgrims. It reminded me that we all come before the Lord needing some kind of healing - physical, spiritual, emotional, etc. We all have burdens and suffering, some worse than others, but we all have something. It's yet another way that we are united. While my situation cannot compare to this little girl in a wheelchair, in a way I felt connected to her and her family. Our faith led us both to this holy place to seek healing and peace. It was really powerful.
After leaving the restaurant we realized it had been raining. We walked back toward the square for the Marian pilgrimage. Amazingly the rain stopped right as our procession began!
Everyone carried these beautiful candles. (Sidenote: ours are now on the shelf in Tommy's room.)
The statue of Mary was lit up and carried around the square as we prayed the Rosary.
It was a beautiful procession. It began with a song and then we prayed the Rosary as we walked. A group of singers used microphones near the Basilica and we could hear them through the speakers as we processed around and back. The Rosary was prayed in 10 different languages and Immaculate Mary was sung in various languages between the different decades. Every time we sang the chorus, "Ave, Ave, Ave Maria" everyone lifted their candles high in the air. It was so beautiful!
When we returned to the square and finished the Rosary we sang the Salve Regina and the bright lights on the Basilica tower turned on. (You can still see the lit-up Mary statue at the very bottom of this picture.)
And that was the end of another beautiful, grace-filled day in Lourdes.
Monday, March 29
Today is our last day in Lourdes. We had decided to visit the baths again. Hey, why not? It was so wonderful to drink the spring water all day, every day. We figured that we may as well do the baths again too. I figured I would probably be a little less emotional than the first time, so hopefully I could pray a little more this time.
There was a smaller group of ladies waiting this time. I noticed two young gals waiting ahead of me who were deaf. They were chatting away in sign language while we waited. It reminded me that we all come to the water broken, suffering and in need of healing. We all come before the Lord in need of his grace, mercy, healing and peace. I had already thought about this during our time in Lourdes, but I was reminded of it again. You just never know what is going on in the lives of the people around you. I felt less pressure to pray for my own healing/infertility and more at peace with praying for God's will. He uses the brokenness in all of our lives to bring us to Him.
The baths were a little different this time. Before they even opened the doors we had a little prayer service - mostly in French. We sang the Salve Regina and prayed the Our Father. It was nice. They played music while we were waiting inside and I got a little teary-eyed. I was overwhelmed (again!) by the power of this place and the connection to the others around me.
There were four volunteers inside the bath area who helped me. None of them spoke English, so it made me very grateful to have had the lovely woman who spoke English the first time. I was glad to get "dipped" again and be more intentional about praying during that time.
My hubby and I prayed briefly at the Grotto afterwards. I had to post a picture of this sign reminding people to be quiet at the Grotto. I thought it was too funny!
(Actually, these kinds of signs are very helpful in an international setting!)
Next we visited the Rosary basilica again and they were setting up for Mass. We decided to stay, even though it was entirely in French. It's so beautiful to be able to pray the Mass without understanding the language.
We went back to our hotel to pack up and get ready to leave.
As we were saying goodbye to Peter we learned that as soon as we left he was driving to pick-up his wife in Spain. It was only a 3 hour drive through the Pyranese Mountains to get her and then he was coming back. I jokingly said, "How fun! Can we go?" He replied, "Sure! We'll be back tonight, you can stay in the hotel and catch your train tomorrow morning." We couldn't believe he was serious! He proceeded to try and convince us to join him, but we politely told him we couldn't. He was such a sweet man. Can you imagine if we HAD gone? What a story that would be... oh yeah, we just got in the car with our hotel owner and drove to Spain for the day. Ha ha!
We walked into town to have lunch. We made our last visit to the square and the Grotto. It was so peaceful to just sit and pray. It's hard to articulate, but I was grateful for the gift of this surreal peace. The candles were being changed out, but our large one was still burning as we walked away. I knew that my prayers were still being lifted up to the Lord through Our Lady.
We filled up our water bottles one last time and walked to the train station. We passed some beautiful flowers on our walk.
This is me at the train station - you can see that I'm carrying all of my belongings in my backpack and my messenger bag. It wasn't much!
Waiting for the train.
Beautiful views from the train of the French countryside and Pyrenese Mountains!
