Earlier this year, my family and I visited Lourdes. We were in France for a few weeks (my hubby is French) and were driving around from one place to another. As we headed west from Hossegor yesterday, my hubby noticed signs saying “LOURDES” coming up.
Knowing me as well as he does, he knew there was no way I’d be happy to miss the chance to drop into this famed healing well! So we took a two hour detour which was MORE than worth it.
In case you don’t know, Lourdes is a sacred site, famed because Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared 18 times to a young woman named Bernadette Soubirous. This happened in 1858 and Bernadette was 14 at the time. (Bernadette was later canonised by the Catholic church.)
One thing I noticed was that on arriving in Lourdes, we were all very excited, a bit the way we might be excited to visit, say, Disneyland. Hey, this is a very famous place, and actually the second most visited part of France after Paris!
But our tourist-mentality quickly gave way to something far deeper, once we were moving towards the grotto. The keepers of the grounds ask for silence, and in that silence, you do feel something very sacred. As well, you know that many of the other people there have travelled from all over the world to make this very special visit because they need healing.
Lourdes is famed for it’s healing powers and water. As my hubby said, for many sick people, a visit to Lourdes is their last resort, when all other medical avenues have failed them.
So my hubby, son and I queued for the Grotto. I can’t say I saw anyone getting healed on the spot. But I can report that there is a wonderful energy in the grotto. The first time we went in, my hubby rushed us along a little bit. That’s just him! He didn’t want us to slow everyone else down!
So we dispatched him to please go and buy some containers so we could take away some holy water with us and queued again. This time, a kindly woman, seeing my son who is 8, waved us through direct to the front of the queue so we didn’t have to wait too long.
We went in a second time and instead of rushing to take pictures of the Grotto, this time, we took our time. No one minded. They just walked around us. My son and I had a moment to say a prayer for our family and for our friends, in particular for some friends who have health challenges at this time.
The feeling in there was so warm and loving, just as I have experienced the Divine Mother’s love in other parts of the world, most especially in India. I whispered a Divine Mother chant in my son’s ear and we moved on, running our hands along the cool, wet rocks of the grotto and transferring the wetness there on to our heads and faces. Heavenly.
Once we were out of the grotto a second time, we went to the taps where the holy water flows and drank it up, filled our containers, and splashed the water on our faces and our crown chakras until we were fairly drenched!
That done, we made a quick pitstop at the gift shop where I bought two rosary beads, one for myself and one for my mother, and a wonderful Lourdes bracelet, this one for me and one for my sister. I also bought a gorgeous candle, a peace dove pin and a few other trinkets!
Once we were back in the car and on the road, I found I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. This is really unusual for me. We are seasoned car travellers – we go around France for a few weeks nearly every year and usually I entertain the family by playing songs from my iPod, teaching my son about songs from my own youth as well as downloading new ones that he likes. (We also listen a lot to this – it’s awesome!)
But after our visit to Lourdes, I was just spent. For the first time that I can remember, I felt compelled to recline my passenger seat and just doze. I drifted off into a deep sleep for nearly two hours. I told my BFF about this and she said she felt I was getting a healing, and I think she is right.
When I awoke, I felt something which I can only describe as “I now have the ability to make better choices”. This has a personal meaning for me. This is wonderful because for me, it fits so perfectly with my vision of the Divine Mother.
After all, surely one of the purposes of being a mother is to teach your children to make the best choices possible as they go through life…
