Lourdes - Paul Tora U.6.

.........brash, vulgar and money-grabbing..." was how Paula Davies described Lourdes in a recent article in the Catholic Herald. Whilst this, an obvious exaggeration, may hold an element of truth, it can only be expected of a town which not only caters for a large tourist trade, but has done so for over a hundred years. In any case, this is only one side of the story.

There are two worlds within the small town of Lourdes; the first is the world to which I have just referred - a world of brightly painted hotels often complete with plushly furnished bars and lounges; of packed streets and busy roads; of cafes and souvenir shops where "Monsieur" can buy anything from engraved Dinky Toys, no doubt blessed, to luminous statues of Our Lady. In short a highly commercialised and typically continental town catering for the avid tourist.

On entering the area of the Grotto one leaves behind the festive atmosphere of a holiday and enters a new world - a world of silence and procession, of Mass and prayer. The Grotto and its surroundings have been left as untouched as would be expected. The stream -more like a river - has been cut back from the edge of the Grotto, the spring water tapped off to supply the baths and the numerous faucets which have been inserted along the face of the hill of which the actual Grotto is part. To the left of the Grotto hang the crutches and walking sticks of cured pilgrims, at a rough guess many hundreds, and while cures do not come very often they certainly do come in style. An attempt to dismiss cure after cure, for which modern science can give no rational explanation, as 'faith-healing' (a convenient term, which together with that of mass-hallucination, provides a perfect loophole for those who prefer not to believe) seems a little feeble. It may well be that on occasion there may be a perfectly natural cause for these 'miracles' - one can only judge by the evidence.


The Grotto at Lourdes .		 Two events stand out from this daily diet of Mass and Processions; these are the visit to the baths (strangely one does not have to wipe off the soft ice-cold water - one seems to dry almost immediately) and the Stations of the Cross. This latter is a deliberate imitation of Our Lord's journey to His crucifixion. The stations each marked by larger than life statues which depict the various stages in Our Lord's long and agonizing trip to his death, are arranged along a steeply ascending mountain path. It is a great effort to heave the handicapped in their wheelchairs up this slope; it is equally arduous to bring them down safely on the other side. It is, most certainly one way of giving the Stations more meaning and relevance.

To summarise Lourdes in a few words would be impossible, but for me the essence of the pilgrimage can be summed up in two words 'unity' and 'atmosphere', the latter being the result of the former. Unity is ever-present - in faith, in worship, in co-operation, in common purpose - and is easily detectable. It is this unity which gives Lourdes the atmosphere of which so many speak.

For that alone it is worth a visit.

Paul Tora U.6.


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