A00144 - A Day with Bernadette ... and the Lady

 


It has been an eventful day here at Lourdes. I went to the 9:30 am Good Friday mass. It was held in the open air on the plaza in front of the basilica. I suppose there may have been two to three hundred people there. They had a line of people in wheelchairs as well as many others who appeared to be ailing from one malady or another. After the end of the service, the people began to form a tiered grouping to take a photo of all those who attended. Those in wheelchairs were in the front while the more able bodied were in the back. I initially stayed away from the group, however, a man in the group saw me and beckoned me to come join the photo. Somewhere, in the digital universe, there now exists a photo of me in the back row of the attendees of the Good Friday mass at Lourdes on April 7, 2023. Wow!

After the photo, I went to the grotto of Massabielle where the apparitions of the Lady of Lourdes manifested for Bernadette. I walked into the cave and touched the walls. Some of the walls were damp as though they had been weeping. After making the procession through the cave, I went to the area in front of the cave where there is seating. I sat for a while and prayed ... and then for some reason I began to cry.

I do not know why that happened. Indeed, I do not know why, while I am writing this, I have begun to cry again. I suppose this pilgrimage has been more than even I expected.

It is almost 11:00 pm now and I need to go out back to the grotto. I need to get some water for myself and for many others. I do not know if I will make it back here again. So I must take advantage of this opportunity to take a little bit of the miracle back with me.

Take care.

Peace, .


Everett "Skip" Jenkins 
Lourdes, France 
April 7, 2023





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