The message of Lourdes is not limited to the words Bernadette heard at the Grotto. It has been
handed down to us, within the fabric of a history woven around situations, characters, events and
acts which have as much and at times even more impact than the actual words themselves. The
apparitions at Massabielle both encompass and surpass the exchanges which took place between
Mary and Bernadette. They point to a wider horizon. They direct us to that fundamental and
indispensable context in the light of which every message from God has to be read; that of the
Gospels. As we follow in Bernadette's footsteps this is where we are led - to the Gospel.
Firstly we discover POVERTY
In spite of her ignorance of the catechism, the light of the apparitions enabled Bernadette to read the
sense and purpose of all the poverty which she and her family experienced. This resembles for us
today, the true God, who, through Jesus, came as a poor man among the poor. This is the first
message of Lourdes.
Then we discover true PRAYER
The friendly meeting with the "Little Lady", as she so often called her, revealed to Bernadette, and
today reveals to us, that a God of love and tenderness is the image of the true God, a God who
searches to embrace and to converse with men within a heart-to-heart encounter. True prayer is our
response to this God and expresses our desire for a dialogue of love in which we too can talk to God
"heart-to-heart". "Virgin of Light, you are the smile of a God who loves us." So begins an evening
hymn to Mary frequently sung at Lourdes. True prayer is this - to go beyond the mere recitation of
words and discover "the smile of a God who loves us", to find ourselves in loving company with a
God of tenderness. This is the second message of Lourdes.
Then we realise the true meaning of PENANCE
The world in which we live is a hard, violent and at times hideous world. The disgusting mud of the
"pig-sty" symbolizes it rather well. Bernadette, with her face disfigured by the mud of the pig-sty,
became a symbol of the deep love that led Jesus to his Passion"for sinners". She invites us today to
become aware of the true nature of sin, to see clearly the ugliness of evil and to courageously seek a
true conversion of heart that goes far beyond the practise of a few occasional penances. True
penance avoids the hypocrisy of the righteous for it enables us to see ourselves as the sinners that
we are, and helps us, as we recognize our mutual misery, to be more compassionate towards each
other. This is the third message of Lourdes.
Anyone who has made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Lourdes will not have missed the opportunity
to pray at the Grotto where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on the 11th of February 1858. A
mystical place, similar to the welcoming “bosom” of a mother, almost a baptismal font, in which to
immerse ourselves and rediscover the unrivalled beauty of being Christians: having God as our
Father and Mary as our Mother! In Lourdes, like the servants at Cana, we too sincerely open our
hearts to the presence of the Mother and, attentive to her words, we are captivated by the mystery of
the Son. Then we see His Will for what it truly is: our path to happiness. For us, pilgrims to
Lourdes, Mary's universal motherhood is a mystery to discover again and again, so she may
accompany us all through life. In Lourdes this Marian light is present everywhere: when we bathe
in the waters, in the evening when we mingle with thousands of others to pray the rosary at the
torchlight procession; in the afternoon when we join crowds of sick persons taking part in the
Blessed Sacrament Procession … Her presence is a mystery to savour in our soul and to learn, with
Mary, to honour her Son, especially in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrament of
Reconciliation.
This year was a very special year because it was the 75th Pilgrimage of The Diocese of Leeds
Pilgrimage to Lourdes. This year the theme was “ A Door Way To Faith”. For me Faith is a gift
from God. A gift to be welcomed. It is a gift that, from the moment of my baptism, constitutes my
relationship with God. But what is present now is meant to grow so that I become closer to God, to
have a closer relationship with the Lord. How does this happen? By believing! Indeed, it is by
believing that our faith is strengthened and deepened and our relationship with God is intensified.
To believe, then, is to have an active attitude. So, when I’m on my journey of faith, it is because I
went through a door that is open in my life and by this door, I immediately entered another world,
and to a different way of living, in the world of God. In my journey as pilgrim, as in every moment
of my Christian life a prayer accompanied by a gesture can help me find the door of faith and go
through it: Within this years theme there were Four steps, the first step being The sign of the cross.
By calling upon the Father who created me, the Son who gives me his Life and the Holy Spirit who
makes me enter into the relationship of love of the Father and of the Son, I repeat the contents of
my baptism. By tracing the sign of the cross on myself, I thank God for the cross through which
Jesus gave me faith and I let myself be immersed by Jesus into the mystery of faith. Thus, the sign
of the cross traced on me at the time of my baptism is for me a door of faith,as it is when I myself
perform this gesture by invoking with all my heart God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact, in
making the sign of the cross, I express the faith of the Church because, as Pope Benedict XVI said,
“the sign of the cross is like a summary of our faith. After the sign of the cross, the first act of the
pilgrimage that allowed me to cross again the door of faith, was the passage through the Grotto. In
the Grotto, at some point, almost all reach out their hand to touch the rock. It is not a magical
gesture. No. It is a human gesture that depended on my attitude for that simple gesture that was to
become for me a door of faith, that is to say, a door that I was able to cross because it was opened
for me. To accomplish this it was necessary and sufficient for me to make this gesture in prayer,
that is to say expressing to God what it means for me. The third step is the Water of The Spring. At
Lourdes, Mary said to Bernadette: “Pray for the conversion of sinners. Penance. Penance. Penance.
Go to the spring, drink and wash yourself there. In allowing the water flowing from the pierced side
of Christ on the cross to cleanse me, I became a new creation. This is what the water of baptism and
each encounter with Jesus achieves. Between sin and new life, there is always the conversion which
involves abandoning my way, turning from my error, in order to return to God. This is the door of
faith I discover open at the heart of each of my conversions. During the pilgrimage, I discovered
that in the history of humanity, as in my own heart, “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the
more,” (Rom 5:20). Like Bernadette, like many pilgrims, I can prepare my heart to perform these
gestures of the pilgrimage with reverence and so go through the door of faith. The Fourth step is
The Light of Pilgrims. During the pilgrimage to Lourdes my own life became clearer to me. It is in
this light that I started to truly consider the situation which is mine, in order to make choices and
decisions. This light reminded me that I had crossed the door of faith. It was the light of faith. The
final step is New Life. The fifth step of the pilgrimage to Lourdes is, like the sign of the cross, to be
lived always and everywhere. It is the relationship with the other person who, when lived with the
Lord, becomes for each person a door of faith because of the experience of love. What Lourdes
gives today is not only something to be seen, but also to experience, to live. In the relationship of
the sick, disabled, injured person with the one who accompanies and welcomes them, it is the world
of faith, which is made visible. This world, the other world, this is the world beyond the cross, that
Jesus alone in the mystery of the cross, can make present. Thus, in the mystery of the cross, the
relationship with the other person is the door of faith. Just as a meeting, an encounter with Jesus is
always an experience of the mystery of the cross, so too, the experience of the relationship with the
other, when it is charity, is an encounter with Jesus. In one case as in the other it is passing through
the door of faith. During the pilgrimage to Lourdes, everyone receives the Lord’s grace, that is to
say the capacity they need to see and go through the door of faith. If every grace is unique, it is
always about our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves, that is to say, these three
relationships that faith inspires, unites and irrigates in order to help us enter a different way of
living, and of experiencing a new life, beyond the door of faith.
Travelling to Lourdes as a Carer is about putting your faith into action. Being a carer enabled me to
use my faith to make a difference to others. I was able to care for those people who are sick and
infirm and who are very limited in what they can do. To be told by the people I was caring for that
in their eyes I had gone over and beyond what they thought carers were expected to do makes being
a carer so worthwhile. To see the pilgrims smiling was the biggest reward for me. As carers we
travel to Lourdes year in year out to put Faith into action and to help bring our pilgrims closer to
Christ. Lourdes is a very special place not just for the pilgrims but also for us as carers and young
people trying to deepen our relationships with Christ by helping others. Lourdes is also a very
spiritual place and for me a powerful place in terms of emotions. Going to Lourdes has given me
the chance to build on my own faith and to deepen my own relationship with Jesus. Going to
Lourdes is also about finding the balance in our own lives and reminding ourselves of the focal
point that we can all so easily forget in our daily lives. That focal point being Christ as the centre of
our lives. This is something I had forgotten until now so going to Lourdes has reminded me of this
and it will help me from now on to remind myself of the one thing that for me is so important.
Here's a quote I'm sure many of you will recognise. Christ said to Martha: “Martha Martha, you are
worried and anxious about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the
better part and it will not be taken away from her”. Through this quote the message I am trying to
relay is that “Being Comes Before Doing”. This is what Lourdes is all about. As in any pilgrimage,
it is not without sadness that one leaves such a holy place, but like the burning flames, it only takes
a spark to invoke the spirit of God and the intercession of Our Lady. I hope that someday you can
also go to or return to Lourdes. For me Lourdes is and always will be a very special place and it is
somewhere I will definitely return to for many years to come.