One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1858, a young girl named Bernadette claims to have been visited by a beautiful woman who identified herself as the Virgin Mary. She appeared several times to Bernadette and gave her messages to pass on to the priest. The site has now become the most important Catholic Marian shrine in the world and is visited by millions of pilgrims - and tourists - every year. This year, as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations, the pope is to visit the shrine.
Many of the pilgrims who visit are hoping for miraculous cures. The spring water from the grotto is believed to have healing powers and there have been 68 incidents of healing - out of 7,000 put forward - that have been investigated by the Lourdes Medical Bureau (set up for this purpose) and been declared scientifically inexplicable miracles by both the Bureau and the Catholic Church.
So we went along to see what all the fuss was about.
Lourdes itself is a town of hotels and tacky souvenir shops. 
(In our office we collect holiday tat; I had a very hard job choosing the tackiest souvenir to take back!)Over the cliff and the grotto is built a large church, with a golden crown, but it's the grotto - or hole in the rock - that attracts people. We joined the queue, not knowing really what we were expecting to see; as it turned out it was a bit less than we'd expected. It was just a hole in the rock, a small cave.
People in the queue ahead of us were touching the sides of the cliff, crossing themselves, murmuring prayers. In front of the grotto rows of chairs were set out and they were filled with people, silently contemplating. The silence was impressive; the rest wasn't.I'm not a Catholic but I went along open to being touched, affected by the emotion. I wanted to feel something. I felt nothing.
Except maybe sadness. For so many people for whom this was a last desperate hope. So many people who would go away disappointed.
That was moving but I have to ask: why do people reach out to touch a rock? Why do they fall on their knees and pray to the Virgin Mary? Why do they need to be there in that tiny place in France?
God is omnipresent. He lives in us and with us. He can act in any place and at any time he wants to. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he told them to say, 'Our father', not 'Our mother', 'Our Lady', 'Blessed Virgin'. I don't understand where that has come from.
I suppose some could say that praying to a rock is no less stupid than praying to an omniscient being but he's my omniscient being.
8 comments:
I always wondered what it looked like.
I'm not a church going person so it is all strange to me.
What no picture of the trinket?
I am not a church goer either, but it does sound an unusal place. I used to work in a Catholic Old people's home and the nuns used to go on holiday to Lourdes by bus from Aberdeen. Now that's some pilgrimage. It probably wasn't even a very comfy bus.
I think some places are very spiritual which maybe where this came from. But with so many people around, you won't be able to feel that.
It's very interesting in one way to go there but really sad in another.
I suppose if you go with an historical interest instead of a religious interest it is legitimate but hoping for a miracle that just isn't going to happen seems exploitation.
Since I can't go to Europe this year, I'm touring it vicariously through your travels--thanks for sharing all this wonderful info.
I have the same feelings as you, Liz. When I visited St. Peter's in Rome several years ago, I was in awe, but it was more from the history of the whole place and the beauty of it. Among the strange things (to me) was that Pope John's body is displayed in a clear glass coffin for people to view. People lined up to view it, some out of curiosity, of course, but some to receive a special blessing.
Relics and such seem like medieval beliefs, not part of true Christianity.
And why are there always such tacky souvenir shops in such places!
I thought the same when in Lourdes about the tackiness of the place! All those little virgin Marys to buy (to me equating to golden idols) and people getting water from the taps to take home. ????
Do they still have the loudspeaker that goes "SSSSHHHHHH" every once in a while?
Liz, my response got much too long. So I've transferred it to my blog. Thanks for the inspiration.
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