Why Lourdes attracts the sick
Lourdes, when you are sick, to believe in the impossible…
From the terrace of the Accueil Notre-Dame where she is staying in the Sanctuary, Sasha, a 26-year-old American woman suffering from terminal brain cancer, is watching helplessly as the level of the Gave de Pau is rising during the flood that is about to ravage Lourdes and the surrounding area. The Grotto was flooded by two metres of water on June 18, 2013. Two days passed. Two days of intense waiting for Sasha, who is staring at the Grotto: will she be able to reach it and kiss the rock before the end of her stay? That is her only desire, her last wish before she dies: that is why she has crossed the Atlantic and gathered what little strength she has left. The water has started to recede. On the evening before her departure, benefiting from a special authorization, Sasha is driven in a wheelchair to the Grotto. She kisses the rock of the Grotto and meditates in silence. The moment lasts only a few minutes, but how intense those minutes are! Sasha leaves Lourdes with the certainty of having fulfilled her last wish. “I am a scientist, she says, I have always believed in medicine more than in miracles. But in my case, medicine can’t do anything more, so…”
Lourdes, when you are sick, to find peace…
“I almost died three times,” says Sylvie Huchet, a 44-year-old French woman from Vendée and a regular guest of the Accueil Notre-Dame. “Once, I came to Lourdes ground up like a grain of wheat. I was on life support, lying on a stretcher with a morphine pump. I asked only one thing when I arrived at the Grotto: Mother Mary, take me to Heaven! In my heart, I still wanted to live, but I no longer had the strength to endure suffering. I wanted to find peace… for ever.” In 1992, further to a traffic accident, Sylvie contracted a nosocomial disease, the “hospital disease”. “I have a staph infection, she explains. I have had 44 operations. Today, I’ve managed to forget the disease… but not the pain!” She continues: “I need to come to Lourdes, I have faith. Every time, I go to the baths and I cry. One day, I received a real healing here: I had an abscess in my heart and it was pierced. I had forgiveness to give and I was finally able to give it: I received a grace of peace.”
Lourdes, when you are sick, to breathe spiritually…
Located near the Sanctuary’s St Joseph’s Gate, the Accueil Marie Saint-Frai, run by nuns, is another place where sick pilgrims can stay. This is where Claire Abou Karam, a 30-year-old Lebanese woman, is staying. “Affected by a neuromuscular disease similar to myopathy, I was able to come from Beirut to Lourdes by plane with the Order of Malta,” she says. I am not seaking to be healed. I am here to stand back and think about my life, meditate on the Word of God and meet the Virgin Mary in her Sanctuary.” Her happiness in life comes from her faith and her family: a mom, a sister and brothers, not forgetting a dad, Edward, who joined Heaven and to whom she feels very close to in Lourdes, in the communion of saints. She adds with a smile: “Love never dies.”
Lourdes, when you are sick, to get out of loneliness…
Some of the sick stay in hotels. This is the case, for example, of Dominique Gardeil, 65 years old. This Frenchman from Grenoble is staying at the Hotel Arcades this year. He came to Lourdes with the pilgrimage for Parkinson’s. “One day I wanted to sign a cheque and I couldn’t do it,” he explains. That was the first symptom of the disease. Two months later, the neurological diagnosis was made: Parkinson’s. I had a deep brain stimulation operation four years ago. It helped to slow down the destructive process of the disease.” Dominique is happy to be still “alive and independent”. He is now the president of the association that organises the pilgrimage, and he sees Lourdes as an opportunity to experience a special time with friends. He says: “The pilgrimage gives me courage and strength to face everyday life. Now, thanks to the experience of Lourdes, I know that I am not alone.”
“We all need to be healed”
“At Lourdes, healing is possible on the physical, spiritual and moral levels. But what Christ desires above all for each of us is spiritual healing. We are all sick in our hearts. Spiritual sickness is sin. We all need to be healed”. Cardinal Béchara Raï, Lebanese Maronite patriarch, in Lourdes.
1 av. Monseigneur Théas
