FRANCE: The 66th Montfortian Pilgrimage To Lourdes
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Lourdes is a small town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the South-Western France. It is famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady which occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her on eighteen occasions and since then; Lourdes has become a major place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and of miraculous healings.
The montfortian province of France has a tradition of organizing pilgrimage to Lourdes every year in honor of Our Lady. This year was the 66th montfortian pilgrimage; the first of which took place on 25th April, 1949. The theme was: la joie de la conversion, “the joy of conversion”. It all started by the Eucharistic celebration presided by Bishop Raymond Centène of Vannes diocese on 23th April. The gospel reading was about the two disciples of Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). After recognizing Jesus, they were converted and went back to Jerusalem. During the homily, bishop Centène told the pilgrims that conversion is a turning back of oneself in order to discover the risen Christ as the two disciples did.
For a first timer like me, this pilgrimage was extremely wonderful. Many interesting things happened there. Here are some of those I witnessed: there were about five thousand montfortian pilgrims, among them the superiors/members of the different communities of the montfortian family (SMM, DW, and FSG), the sick, the handicap, lay volunteers, the youth… Each one contributed according to the place assigned to him or her.
There were two other important moments which touched me. The first one was during the anointing of the sick. After the homily, bishop Centène together with the priests gave the sacrament of anointing to the sick. They were assisted by deacons and SMM seminarians. There were different emotions seen in this; tears of joy, of sadness, of hope and love... I came across of a woman who after being anointed, started singing with the choir while her son, was crying. I heard her saying to her son: “Stop crying, we need to rejoice in the risen Lord as the bishop has said.” I was really touched by the courage and the witness of the sick woman.
The second important moment was during the “Marian Procession”. I have never seen anything like this before; it was not only the five thousand montfortian pilgrims, but all the pilgrims who were there in Lourdes participated in the procession that day. In all quarters of the holy place, there were people carrying their lighted candles and saying the rosary. The choir was extremely well organized and despite the cold weather (about 2°C); indeed the Blessed Virgin Mary was with us.
Other important things one can discover in Lourdes are the traditions of drinking water and washing of oneself in the piscine. This happened on the 9th apparition that took place on 25th February, when Our Lady directed Bernadette to a place in the grotto where she discovered a spring: “Go drink from the spring and wash yourself”. This has become a practice for each pilgrim who goes to Lourdes to drink water from the spring and carry it to his/her own country; and also the washing of oneself in the piscine. With faith, pilgrims are purified and converted.
The next thing is the grotto, where hundreds of thousands of people meet to honor Our Lady of Lourdes through the intercessions of Saint Bernadette. This is the place where the 16th apparition took place on 25th March, during which at the fourth request of Bernadette, Our Lady, finally revealed her name: “Que soy era immaculada councepciou”, meaning “I am the Immaculate Conception”. We are told that Bernadette ran to repeat the message to the parish priest and he was convinced of the apparition because the little Bernadette, who wasn’t able to retain the simplest catechism lesson, could not have found those words on herself.
Our pilgrimage culminated with the sending off mass, which father Jorge Enrique, representing Fr. Santino Brembilla, the Superior General of the company of Mary, made an impact to the pilgrims through his homily. Father Enrique told the faithful that by our conversion, we can change the world and the lives of our brothers and sisters; by our simple look at them, our smile, attitude, generosity and so forth. He then assured all the participants that the pilgrimage has not ended but it has just started.
Certainly, the 66th Montfortian pilgrimage to Lourdes ended in a spirit of fraternity, joy, service, happiness, love and witness to one another. Thus, my personal invitation to all who have the Marian spirituality is found in this comparison. Every Muslim goes to Mecca for a pilgrimage, why don’t we go to Lourdes which is considered the world’s capital city of Marian apparitions?
Lourdes 27th April, 2014
Didoh Bomalose, SMM
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