Leaving Lourdes

Statue of St. Bernadette at one of the bridges over the Gave de Pau.
Fresh flowers are provided to the entire Sanctuary
April through October by the generosity of an Italian society.

After almost three weeks, I left Lourdes yesterday.  It was bittersweet.  I feel privileged to has had the time here for myself and the hundreds (over a a thousand) penitents I saw in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I meet some wonderful and inspiring people.  The individual penitents inspired me for my own confession before I left.  God is Good!  The priestly fraternity was an added bonus that I was not expecting.  I also was surprised by the resilience of the faith of the people of France who came in droves to the sanctuary.

I know I will return to Lourdes.  Certainly with parish groups.  But I do hope to return again for another extended period to assist the English-speakers who will flock here in the future.

Here are Cardinal Dolan's thoughts as he returned from Lourdes last week.  I couldn't agree with him more.  I exhorted the people at my last Mass i the Sanctuary to take a little bit of Lourdes with you.  Not the water or the rosaries but the spirit of Mary and Bernadette.

View of the Major Basilicas from across the Gave de Pau River.
In the background are the Pyrenees and Spain.

Next is a stop over at St. Paul les Dax.  The birthplace of St. Vincent (de Paul) and to Bayonne the last of the pilgrim stop-overs before beginning the third phase of my sabbatical:  the Camino Frances.