For me, and after spending a whole week there, Lourdes I feel is about miracles. Things which have no explanation but that completely changes peoples lives. I’m going to try my best to describe to you what Lourdes is and what it is about.
First of all, Lourdes is a place that I think you have to go to, all of you, whenever you get the chance even if it is not with the school, it is probably one of the most worthwhile weeks I’ve ever been on. Having been in the school for many years, this being my 9th, I have sat and listened every year to the other girls recounting how they found Lourdes and after applying to go I can now say it was a miracle I was chosen, along with Alice, Roz, Megan, Lisa and Fleur. We found they don’t look for the same qualities in each person and from the six of us that were chosen we are all very different and even still we do not know exactly what they were looking for. Some of you may not know but the reason Lourdes is famous and why people keep going back there is because in 1858 the apparitions of Our Lady began. Our Lady appeared to a 14 year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous in the Grotto of Massabielle and she has appeared seventeen time since that.
I was lucky enough to get ward duty, which was one of the most demanding but enjoyable jobs. For the school groups, there were different jobs, there was stewarding which was helping people getting to and from the activities, there was wards, reception and water support.
Myself, Megan and Fleur were based in the hospitals each in a separate ward. I was put working on a ward with six women, all of whom had been in Lourdes before, so I was the only one new to what was happening.
We had very early starts. Most mornings waking up at half five to start work at six. At the beginning we all found we were very tired but as the days went by going on only four hours sleep didn’t matter. We would usually work from 6.00 a.m. until the hospital closed in the night at 10.00 p.m. After that all the school groups got together for prairie. This was usually at about half ten at night. Each school was given at night a theme. Ours was ‘Hope’ and everyone sat around with candles, listening to the other schools usually singing songs.
During the day I was based in the wards where I spent the day helping some of the jobs would have been cleaning, making the beds (which was so specific and precise, everyone had to go to a bed making demonstration, as they were all checked to perfection by the French nuns at the end of the week but a lot of time I would spend going around sitting and chatting with the pilgrims. They all loved to see new faces, as they were just bursting to tell you a story or some joke they had heard earlier.
In my ward there was Betty, Phylis, Rita, Ann and two Joans. Unfortunately, some of them were quite ill and needed full time care but to them they were all the same. One of the women, Betty, suffered from a condition that made her completely dependant on others. Sadly she could not walk or sit up by herself but this in no way stopped her from enjoying her holiday in Lourdes. Another woman in the ward was Phylis. She just loved to sing. At half six in the morning on the way down for breakfast she would often burst into song, which would usually result in the whole ward joining in with her.
Another woman in my ward was Joan. She suffered from quite bad Parkinson’s disease which at times left her quite confused. But she would often tell me how she would love to just be able to stay in Lourdes forever, if she could do anything to avoid going home she would. She explained to me how she has managed to deal / live with her disease for het past ten years. That it was her fourth time coming to Lourdes. She told me no matter if her disease was to get worse than it already was she would still make an effort to come back each September.
Throughout the week it is hard to describe but all the pilgrims become very relaxed and open with the helpers. As a helper you don’t finish helping until every pilgrim meets back with their family in Dublin Airport. But while everyone was waiting for the baggage to come through I sat down with a woman it was my first time to meet this particular woman but within the few minutes of me telling her my name she felt comfortable enough to tell me how she ended up coming to Lourdes. She explained to me that about a year ago she was sleep walking during the night and sadly fell down her flight of stairs and broke her neck. She explained that it was an absolute nightmare to go through and was an extremely slow recovery. She said it was a miracle that she lived. She was sad her week in Lourdes was over but even more sad that she was going to have to wait another twelve months to go back.
But for me the real wonder about Lourdes happened when I came home. It is something I can only describe as a miracle, one that shows exactly the type of power Lourdes has.
One of my Mum’s friends has a nine year old boy called Adam. Adam was born with a serious heart defect and when he was younger was very ill and had numerous operations. For the past few years he has been well and able to go to school but, unfortunately, the week before I went to Lourdes he became very sick again. He was taken into hospital and after a five hour operation to try to fix the problem it was also found that both his lungs collapsed. Adam was then put onto a life support machine and was unable to breath by himself. The family were very upset but knew that it was out the medics hands. They were ready to say goodbye. I brought home with me some of the blessed water from the grotto and I filled a small bottle with water and my mum gave it to the family. They left the little bottle beside Adam’s hospital bed. At this stage Adam couldn’t speak or talk at all but could use some sign language to communicate. It was only about two days later that he started pointing to his lips so his mum thought he was thirsty so she dabbed of the water on his lips. He then started to point to his stomach where his scar was so his mum lifted up his top and dabbed some water on the scar.
It was some time the following day the doctors were checking him and found he was able to be taken off life support. His lungs were able to be fixed and within thirty six hours he was breathing by himself. He is at the moment recovering and nearly better.
But it is this story which shows me the power of a place like Lourdes and the only work I can put to it is a miracle.
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