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In the fourth year after the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, on the 11th February, 1858, began the series of wonderful visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which were seen, in a grotto near the French town of Lourdes, by the humble maiden St. Bernadette Soubirous. A sanctuary was established there, pilgrims came and God worked many miracles. To commemorate these divine favours, Pope St. Pius X, in 1908, ordered the celebration of this feast throughout the Church.
Feasts like today's remind us of the superabundance of God's grace, which precedes and accompanies us on our life's journey in the Church. Like many Catholics, Our Lady of Lourdes has played a special part in our earthly pilgrimage. Looking back, I can see that She has certainly led me and taught me a lot.
Regular readers may recall that reading Fr. Gabriel Harty's simple little book Make the Wild Rose Bloom in my late-teens, around 1992, played a key part in my conversion. Â
I first went to Lourdes as a seminarian, in July 1997, to serve as a brancardier with the Liverpool Archdiocesan annual pilgrimage. When we arrived, my friend Ron took me to the far side of the River Gave for my first look at the Grotto from the vantage point pictured above.
Even from that range, there was an intensity of peace and holiness radiating out from the Grotto to where we were silently standing. When I eventually turned to Ron, he just smiled and said: ''See what I mean?''Â
We recrossed the river and joined the long queue which was waiting patiently in the summer heat to enter the Grotto. When we finally entered that holy place, I laid my head against the cool Massabielle rock and looked up at the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. The ensuing peace cannot be described. I had a profound sense that, through all the years of my life, I had been meant to come there at that time. The Motherhood of Our Lady was tangible.Â
Working for the sick, and seeing the hundreds of buggies, stretchers and wheelchairs laid out in the shade of the trees for the Blessing with the Blessed Sacrament, taught me the centrality of the sick, vulnerable and weak in the Church.Â
It is an indisputable fact of history that no other single institution has cared for so many poor, sick and vulnerable people, throughout so many cultures, and for such a long period of time as the Catholic Church has done. This alone is an important facet of Her Truth claims.
At that point, I was in my mid-twenties. I'd grown up in 'Thatcher's Britain,' and, prior to joining the seminary, had worked for almost 9 years in a high-street bank. Although I had been a Catholic for 4 years, and had always been pro-life, I still needed to be weaned from my attachment to status, strength and physical vitality. In Lourdes, kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, near to the many rows of suffering people awaiting Christ's blessing, Our Lady of Lourdes helped me to see that, in Christ's Kingdom, the elderly, suffering, poor and weak have a high place and are treated like royalty.
In the summer of 1998, I returned to Lourdes to work for a whole month as a pilgrim-guide for English speaking pilgrims.
Living and working so close to the Grotto for all that time was an immense blessing. In my whole life, I have never felt myself to be so emotionally, physically and spiritually healthy as I did then. I now realize that I was being built up for subsequent crosses. The maternity of Our Lady is indeed tangible. Â
That summer, Our Lady of Lourdes broadened my horizons to glimpse the universality of the Catholic Church. Four whole weeks were spent living, praying and working with priests from Ireland and South Africa, and seminarians from Cameroon, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Vietnam. The international camararderie was superb. In the English-speaking section, I was assigned to serve pilgrims from the UK, Ireland, America, Africa, the Middle East, India and the Philippines. It was great to feel oneself to be an active member of the Body of Christ in unity with Catholics from all of these disparate cultures.Â
During that month, several of the English dioceses came over to Lourdes for their annual pilgrimages. I even met my own cousin in the Domain at one point! One day I spotted the late Bishop Ambrose Griffiths giving a blessing to a holy little gentleman. The humility and tenderness of this image expresses something to me of the mystery of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette.
As pilgrim-guides we assisted people to find their way to Mass, Confession and the Baths; gave talks on the history of Lourdes; led groups on the hill-side Stations of the Cross; led pilgrims in the Blessed Sacrament and Torchlight Processions; and gave tours of the churches, museum and town.Â
During that time, my own faith was nourished by meeting so many committed Catholics from across the globe. Several had amazing stories of 'little-miracles' and blessings which had surrounded their pilgrimages. I met some amazingly humble and holy families from the Middle East and from the Kerala community in India. One of the most moving memories was of an Australian 'surfer-dude' and his girlfriend who came up to our stand one day and asked me: ''Hey mate, what is this place. Me and my girlfriend are backpacking across Europe. We just came out of the mountains and we've never seen anything like it!'' It was marvellous when this wide-eyed couple joined us on the Blessed Sacrament Procession. May God bless them.
Although my faith was strengthened that summer, I also began to sense that I may, after all, actually be called to marriage. Although this was profoundly unsettling, looking back today, I can sense that Our Lady was guiding and looking after me all the time.
In the summer of 1999, I returned to Lourdes with Mum and Dad for a very different type of pilgrimage. This time I was not there to work, but to receive. I was reaching the point where I really sensed that marriage was to be my vocation. At the same time, the culture of sacrilegious irreverence and radical dissent in the seminary was badly damaging my health.
During our stay, a devout old Irish lady at breakfast noted quietly to me that she could see that my face was smiling, but my eyes were sad. She asked if I had once been training to be a priest. Amazed at her discernment, I agreed to let her pray for me and to tell me her own story. It turned out that, although now a mother and grandmother to many, she had once been a young postulant in a convent. During that time it had become clear to her that the Lord wanted her to get married. She had had to suffer for a while, but eventually met her husband and they had been married and practiced the Faith together for about 50 years. She told me to have great trust in God. Â Â
Although it was a pilgrimage marked by inner suffering, it was very beautiful to be able to show Mum and Dad all the places and things I had shown to pilgrims the year before. This was the only time dear Dad ever travelled overseas. He was faithful to his Rosary for all the years he was a Catholic. May God rest his soul. At the very end of our pilgrimage, we went to the Grotto before heading to the airport at Tarbes. I received at the Grotto a very clear direction regarding my vocation. Truly the maternal motherhood of Our Lady is tangible! After several more weeks of pacing Crosby beach to talk it all through with Dad, I wrote to the Archbishop and that part of my pilgrim journey came to an end.
Those who know us will recall that I met Angie at a mutual friend's wedding in the late summer of 2000. By God's grace we had each found our soul-mate in Christ and we were married by Canon Albert Shaw in 2002. Six-and-a-half years after our wedding we went to Lourdes together for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in December 2008. This would be my fourth visit.Â
This was a time of special blessings for us. When the feast day was over, the town of Lourdes practically closed down for the winter. Unlike my previous visits in the summer months, we were able to return again and again to the Grotto without queuing. Apart from some French school girls singing beautiful chant by candlelight, there was hardly anyone around. Having helped us in so many ways, it now seems that Our Lady of Lourdes was helping us to see the value of withdrawing from the crowd and bustle into great silence.
Truly the maternity of Our Lady of Lourdes is tangible!
