THE ROSARY. Atmosphere in which to breathe Christ and His mysteries through the immaculate heart and eyes of Mary.

Christ is most at home in Her Heart in its freedom from sin and in its total surrender to Him.

He is free to be Himself and to give His love and grace most fully in Her. She most responded to Him.

He gave Her to us as a Mother of how to live ourselves in His mysteries, to understand and experience them.

Lourdes is Our Lady’s but, along with the other great Marian shrines, it is a sign of Christ’s desire for us to come to Him in Mary’s way, the fiat.

GROTTO.

Hugging the cave walls. Touch. No magic or superstition but a longing to be near, to touch Our Lady, like people in Gospel crowded Jesus to touch Him.

External, tangible expression of communion. I did it, too. Put all prayer intentions into the box provided. Sat down and gave to Her all the other ones I carried in my heart for you and your loved ones. Thank you for sharing.

Hiatus moment, I had the sensation of how She was drawing to herself the suffering and fragility of the Body of Her Son, His Mystical Body. Just as She drew Him to Herself when He took on a physical body, He comes to Her again, still suffering, in His Mystical Body. Potent and tangible awareness of unity.

UPPER AND LOWER LOURDES.

Lower area, especially the domaine, brought to the surface this thought: how easy and spontaneous it is to be openly Catholic there. Not in any craven sense of tribalism, but in a grateful and even relieved sort of way. Spontaneous hymns, prayers.

The sick rule in Lourdes! The Cross is on open display in them, but so is the infectious joy and hope of those who are on pilgrimage.

Microcosm of the pain of humanity: physical, mental, emotional.

Just walking around, I was stopped to bless people, objects of devotion, to hear confessions, to counsel people with a broad spectrum of personal and relationship issues.

Seekers and searchers of all ages and conditions. They all seemed to know they would find welcome, acceptance and love there. More than any solution to a problem, the love itself was the solution. Like an island of Christendom.

TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION ONE NIGHT. I watched the sick being drawn in their voitures or wheelchairs (often the ones pushing looked more sick than those in the chairs). Uninhibited expression of faith in the singing of the Credo, and of enthusiastic love for Mary. Prayer intentions brought before her statue. Silence, as if She were there.

ADORATION CHAPEL.

Silence, please. But the silence is really the silence of Christ in the host which is there beneath all our human noises. Coughing and banging walking sticks, the rustling of bags and coats.

Deluge of rain at one point. Amazing how everyone fell still.

CONFESSION CHAPEL. Priests sitting anywhere and everywhere. Door opened out onto the riverside. The sound of children playing, laughing, running. Christina people feeling at home.

Via Crucis, morning Mass at Upper basilica in English at 9.30am. Went out to meet and greet.

THE POOR. Victor, belonging to Roma people, but seemed excluded from the others. Nicholas, Portuguese, far from his family in Nantes, unaware of his plight. Young woman who slept in car and whose mother died in December, and can’t get over it. I asked her a few questions and she poured out her heart. Lonely.

There’s a mansion, too, please God, for all of these people and for ourselves in the Father’s House. Jesus remarks that if we have trouble believing in Him on the basis of His words, we ought to find it easier on the basis of His works. Well, there’s no doubt that the figure of Mary of Nazareth, Mary of Lourdes, is among His greatest works and that through Her He draws many hearts to Himself. May He give us always a deep love for Her and may She draw us ever more deeply into His Heart and into one another’s