Have Heels Will Travel: Lourdes #3

Saturday, 27 September

Mother Mary comes to me,
Whisper words of wisdom,
Let It Be...

Breakfast at 730am.

Stations of the Cross
at 9.15am.

We were early.

The lady in front of me.

Her name is Noreen.

We kinda got talking whilst waiting for pilgrims to arrive.

So at one point, I asked her,
"Are you from here?"

She replied,
"I live in England,
born in Ireland,
but I've been living in
Lourdes for 21 years."

She dramatised the
twennn-ty one years.

Huh.

You don't say.

My jaw dropped.

Omg.

Seriously.

21 years?

I'm sure I had a silly,
happy smile on my face then.

When it was time to begin the Stations of the Cross, that Noreen Lady 21 asked if I could help her carry the cross.

And that's how I ended up
with the cross.

Bryan was busy texting at that time. He was standing some distance away. He must have gotten a shock when he saw me with the cross. That was totally unexpected.

Hahaha.

We were making our way to the Stations.

This is her. Noreen 21.

Pass it on.

I can't be hogging the cross, I realised.

1. Jesus is condemned to death.

2. Jesus receives his cross.

3. Jesus falls for the first time.

4. Jesus meets his mother.

5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross.

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

7. Jesus falls for the second time

8. The women of Jerusalem mourn for Jesus.

9. Jesus falls a third time.

10. Jesus is stripped off his garments.

11. Jesus is nailed to the cross.

12. Jesus dies on the cross.

13. Jesus is laid in the arms of his mother.

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

15. Jesus rises from the dead.

Traditionally, there are 14 stations but in Lourdes, there are 15. The resurrection is included.

On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross ...

After the Stations, which ended about 10.30am, we attended English Mass at 11am.

From left : Home Priest, Vietnam, Bishop from India, Malta and Kerala.

During the homily, the Home Priest talked about prophets. He started with Moses ... I remember Isaiah and Ezekiel bla bla bla ... when suddenly he said :

"... and Daniel."

I slowly sat up right.

What?

He mentioned the name again in a sentence I don't recall about what now. All in all, he mentioned Daniel 4x.

Not kidding.

Then, during communion, the same Home Priest announced that should there be anybody who needs to take gluten-FREE communion, to let him know.

gluten-FREE?

Haha.

FREE.

I was tickled.

Communion hymn
number 560.

There was nothing extraordinary about the hymn until we started singing paragraph 2.

He will set us - Free.

FREE?

Again?

2x FREE?

Lol.

Awesome.

We so like FREE!

After mass ...

... we went for our fix.

It was a beautiful day today.

Temperature was 22c.

Something to note here.

After mass, we approached that lady, Noreen 21. She was supposed to pass us some info on the Rome website after mass.

So, she was mentioning about this and that and we soon found out she knows Laura and Peter.

Not surprising on hindsight, since Laura and Peter have been in Lourdes for 18 years and Noreen, 21 years.

Noreen 21 then asked,
"Have you been to the bath?"

Uh oh.

I gave her a sheepish look,
and muttered lamely,

"The water is cold, no?"

And in my hour of darkness,

There is still a light

that shines on me ...

Noreen 21 exclaimed,

"Oh no no ... you don't have to dip in the water ... you just have to use your hands ..."

Say what?

Seriously?

Tell me more, 21.

She explained that after Covid, the bath rules changed and they stopped dipping pilgrims in. Now, the first 40 to 45 pilgrims may choose to dip in the tub.

And just like that, Bryan and myself decided immediately (that it was safe) to go for the baths tomorrow. Lol.

The water is icy cold. I couldn't imagine dunking myself in the tub. How on earth did we do it the last time?

It was strange that she suddenly asked about the baths.

Seriously, that Noreen 21 lady was like a messenger.

It suddenly dawned on me that she had asked us earlier, after the Stations walk, whether we found it OK and did we enjoy it.

She said she has never done that before and was just replacing the Sister who was supposed to lead but had to take an emergency flight back to East Timor that morning to attend a family's passing.

Oh my.

So there you go.

My own personal messenger.

"Go for the bath."

And so, we will be doing that tomorrow (Sunday).

The bath.

Message received.

Back at the hotel ...

at 12.30pm.

We helped ourselves to the free coffee.

Guide to Bernadette's life ...

At 2pm.

We were early at ...

the information center meeting point.

At 2 pm, we were only a group of about 10 pilgrims. Then Sister Anne, who was heading the group, announced that a group of pilgrims from India will be joining us. So in the end, we had about 50 pilgrims in our group.

We were not aware we had priests in our group until Sister Anne happened to call out:

"Father Daniel,

Father Daniel,

Here ...

Over here ..."

Omg.

That was unbelievable.

A billion names that could have been uttered, it had to be Daniel ... and right in front of my face too. I was standing right in front of her.

Seriously, what are the chances of hearing Daniel's name mentioned in 2 separate events today?

First, at the 11am mass and now at this 2pm Bernadette Walk.

We didn't plan to go for the 11am mass today. We did go yesterday but Lady 21 Noreen said she would pass us a website for Rome purposes and asked if we would be attending the 11am mass, so she could pass us the information.

So of course, we said yes, we will be at the 11am mass.

There, during Mass,
was the first Daniel call.

After mass, there was an announcement for further activities to do. One of which was the 2pm Bernadette Walk. We did not plan for that but after hearing it mentioned, plus we didn't have any plans in the afternoon, we were eager to follow the 2pm Bernadette walk.

It was at the meeting point, before the walk started, that the second Daniel call was sounded.

Can you imagine my reaction?

Omg.

Seriously.

By the way, we discovered there were 3 priests in our group. They came with the Indian pilgrims. 3 priests ... but only one name was mentioned during the walk.

Sister Anne will suddenly ask,

"Where's Father Daniel?

Where is he?"

"Call Father Daniel to come here..."

Unbelievable.

I felt like calling Father Daniel too ... like where was he ... but I had no idea who he was.

And just like that,
our Bernadette Walk was
- totally upgraded.

We had a Daniel with us.

Sister Anne led the group ...

... into the underground basilica.

Lourdes in 1858 or earlier.

Bernadette Soubirous

The Indian lady in blue on left is Sister Anne. She's talking about Bernadette's life. It really was an eye-opener. We felt privileged learning about Bernadette.

Bernadette was the oldest among 8 children in the family.

Her home.

She would have looked through this window.

Her kitchen.

Bedroom.

One of her homes.

The Soubirous generation still exists.

We passed by a souvenir shop.

Le Cachot. Prison Cell.

Bernadette lived here at one time.

Bernadette wore this shoe ...

... during the apparitions. The other side is missing. I guess I too would lose my shoe if I have to hurry to the Priest to tell him that the lady in the bush has asked for a church to be built ...

Bernadette was illiterate and was of dull mind. She was not a bright child apparently but she was still the chosen one. She later learned to read and write with these sisters of charity in the photo.

The fire place, supposedly her living room, in her family home.

St Bernadette
Patron Saint
for allergies and asthma.

There used to be a church here that Bernadette goes to. She was baptised in that church.

Here is Bernadette ...

... running to tell the priest.

Inside the new church.

We renewed our baptismal vows.

It was about 5pm when we returned to the grotto.

I never did find out who Father Daniel was. He was in our midst for sure and he was part of our group of walkers, but I wasn't curious to find out which guy was he. I was only meant to hear his name (mentioned several times) and feel that zap.