An Experience in
Lourdes from 2011 (written 12th August 2012)
I have been reminded of my experience in Lourdes with an
Italian man from the Knights of Malta and as I have now begun to write about my
spiritual journey I thought I should include this.
The meeting occurred whilst
in Lourdes with pupils from school during the Easter holidays of 2011; it was
the night of my 25th birthday (actually the early hours of the
following day). Meeting with him (I can no longer remember his name) was
probably the most spiritual event of my life.
I had gone down to the grotto
once the pupils were in bed, and I was the only one there; I settled down and
began saying the Rosary. Whilst I was there this gentleman came over and simply
said ‘rosario’. I replied yes and we said the rosary together, with my parts in
English and his in Italian. Afterwards we sang a few hymns, both of us choosing
Marian hymns that had at least parts in Latin (one I can remember was ‘As I
Kneel Before You’). We then walked back up to the town together, talking as we
went; despite not speaking a word of each other’s language we were able to
communicate what we did, why we had come to Lourdes and various other bits of
information about one another. I went back to the hotel with the most incredible feeling of
relaxation, contentment and simple happiness.
Thinking afterwards about why I found this experience so moving I
settled on two things: Firstly, this was a very real, personal experience of
the global nature of the church – despite having no language in common, we were
able to communicate our love of Mary, and through her, Christ our Lord. Lourdes
in general is a fantastic place to see this international nature, but this was
a direct, personal interaction brought about by a shared faith. Secondly, the
example of that man; he was Christ’s reaching out personified – we could have
both been there, prayed our rosary and left, but both of us were moved in our
faith so much more by his act of reaching out; he has been in my prayers many
times since.
Best Wishes