Hispanic Ministry / Felix Navarrete

Beyond its healings, shrine at Lourdes continues to be a place of hope

(En Espanol)
 

Felix Navarrete, coordinator of the archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry, holds a candle at the shrine to Our Lady at Lourdes in France. (Submitted photo)

(As part of his studies to earn a master’s degree in theology at the University of Notre Dame in northern Indiana, archdiocesan coordinator of Hispanic Ministry Felix Navarrete and his classmates traveled to Lourdes, France, this summer. Following is his reflection on their pilgrimage of faith.)
 

It was 11:45 at night as we headed to the grotto at Lourdes, France, after Tuesday’s torchlit procession. We wanted to contemplate in silence the same place where our Blessed Mother, under the name of the Immaculate Conception, appeared 18 times to a peasant girl in the almost unknown town of Lourdes, right in the Pyrenees, where the borders of France end—that is, on the outskirts of French civilization—in 1858.

We arrived thinking, because we were so late, that the grotto would be deserted—or at least that there would be only a few pilgrims. However, many were also there, perhaps seeking the same thing: a quiet moment for prayer and meditation at the foot of the grotto.

Despite the large number of pilgrims, the place was peaceful, and an unusual serenity and peace surrounded us. At night, the grotto is illuminated by the flames of candles, and the dim lights that penetrate allow one to see the statue of the white lady with a blue ribbon around her waist and two golden roses at her feet.

I was overwhelmed by the mist, and tears came to my eyes. I was there, kneeling in the same place where St. Bernadette Soubirous saw the beautiful lady on a winter afternoon in February. Why me, among so many?

Although Lourdes is the most visited Marian shrine in the world, many cannot go. I was there for my academic research, seeking to understand the different theological dimensions of a pilgrimage and the encounter with the divine. However, Mary chose me for that course for a reason: one that involves not only an intellectual component, but the simplicity of spiritual enrichment through the life of St. Bernadette.

I also had with me more than 100 prayer intentions that we had compiled just a few weeks earlier during the archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry’s first Mariology conference held at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis. The Holy Spirit inspired me to ask our participants to write their intentions on a piece of paper for me to take to Lourdes. The stack of notes was in my bag just as a postman was preparing to deliver the mail. This time, all the mail was addressed to the same place and to the same recipients: Jesus and Mary, Lourdes, France.

As our field studies unfolded, we were exposed to different realities and people. Dr. Alessandro de Francisci, president of the Lourdes Medical Observations Office, gladly agreed to meet with our group. He explained the protocols to follow after a miraculous healing is claimed, and how he himself, as a physician, has experienced God’s loving kindness in his life and witnessed God’s grace in the lives of those who claim to have been healed at Lourdes.

I was moved by the number of sick people visiting the place—most of them in wheelchairs—and how the volunteers cared for them so lovingly and helped them reach the grotto or the baths, where they could do what is called “full immersion.”

At Lourdes, the sick and disabled are prioritized not because they are treated differently because of their condition, but because it is written that the last shall be first. The marginalized and the poor of society have a special place at the Lord’s table, and that is the rule at Lourdes.

I’m not sure how many of them have been healed of their illnesses and diseases, but I could see the joy on their faces, the joy of having found someone or something they had longed for so long. I believe God’s gesture of mercy can be understood in that place, that of St. Athanasius, who describes it as God taking the initiative to reach out to humanity out of his infinite love. It is the same love by which he was incarnated in Mary’s womb and became flesh for our sake.

God continues to manifest himself not only in Lourdes, but everywhere when he finds a heart open to his presence and to receiving the graces he has prepared for us. Although many seek signs at Lourdes, I believe that no one leaves that place empty-handed; there is always hope.

When Our Lady appeared to Bernadette for the third time, she made a promise: “I promise to make you happy not in this life, but in the next.” Those words filled Bernadette’s heart with love and hope. This is the promise of eternal life, the perfect communion with the Holy Trinity to which we are all called after our earthly pilgrimage. Bernadette, who suffered in silence until death, never complained of her illness because she believed in Our Lady’s word; she had hope for eternal happiness.

In this Jubilee Year of Hope in which we find ourselves, God wants us to have hope. The hope that cannot be taken away from us despite the difficulties, illnesses and struggles of our lives. Hope in the resurrection, clearly manifested in her only Son, Jesus Christ, after suffering pain and death. Hope as a theological virtue that allows us to yearn for eternity and respond with a fiat to the universal call to holiness; just as Mary did, and Bernadette when the Lady asked her to join her in the grotto each week.

Before concluding our program in Lourdes, we had the privilege of meeting Antonia Raco. She is the 72nd and most recent case of an approved miraculous healing there. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and worsening in 2008, she visited Lourdes and received healing. As she was telling her story, my academic research felt more complete: she was not there to explain the theological significance of her healing, but to express from her heart what she experienced at Lourdes. Yet her testimony was one of the most profound and true lessons in theology.

She said, “First, I heard a sweet voice telling me to have faith … and the second time, the same voice told me to tell my husband I was healed.” Mrs. Raco clearly received the word of hope the first time, and then was encouraged to spread it out, and she responded affirmatively. She continues to spread it to thousands of people around the world.

She is not famous and clearly stated that she doesn’t like people treating her like a celebrity, but her kindness and humility are so powerful that you can easily feel God’s presence in her. And just before concluding the meeting, after graciously answering our questions, one answer in particular stood out to me: “I don’t know why me,” she said, in relation to being chosen by God.

Why me? Why us? Why in Lourdes?

Why here, at this moment? God can act through us here and now, but we must pay close attention to hear his voice. God didn’t speak to Mrs. Raco with code words; he simply asked her for faith, and she believed.

Why do we find it so hard to believe? Are we waiting for a portentous sign to believe? If God poured out his grace on a little girl in the middle of nowhere, who had nothing and understood nothing of theology, then the Gospel idea that God reveals himself to the poor and humble is absolutely true.

Bernadette received a mission that she never imagined would bring so much hope and joy to the entire world. She simply followed Our Lady’s instructions; she never asked why, because she trusted her.

Today, the spring continues to flow like “living water.” Some are healed by drinking it, others by immersing themselves in it, some are healed by drinking the water without visiting Lourdes. But what truly struck me is that some continue to receive healing through the powerful presence of the eucharistic Lord, who is processed every day at 5 p.m. sharp at the shrine there.

Doctors and the sick brought in by volunteers are first in line, followed by the thousands who visit the shrine daily. I felt as if I were portraying one of the Gospel passages: that of Jesus being followed by a multitude; those who heard his voice and decided to follow him, those who were healed, and those who were hunger or thirsty hoping to be quenched by him.

This is where my academic research is completed. Like many places in the world, Lourdes is a place of encounter with the divine, but also a place of communion with the universal Church.

Jesus meets pilgrims in many ways: in the Eucharist, in the spring, but also in each of us, who—moved by the Holy Spirit—reflect God’s countenance of faith, hope and charity. Healed physically or spiritually, or filled with hope, Lourdes is a foretaste of heaven.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

St. Bernadette, pray for us!
 

(Felix Navarrete is archdiocesan coordinator of Hispanic Ministry. He can be reached at fnavarrete@archindy.org.) †