Lourdes [antikvár]

LOURDESWhat is Lourdes?John Oxenham, a non-Catholic, writing of his impressions of Lourdes in 1923, makes an introduction which is well worth quoting: "What is Lourdes? God only knows. I doubt if any human intelligence can understand it, still less explain it. Its amazing effects on the souls andat rare intervalson the bodies of those who come here are visible to all, just as the effects of her visions at the Grotto were visible, in the transfigured face of little Bernadette Soubirous, to all who so carefully watched her, though the visions themselves were hidden from them. They saw. They could not but believe what they saw. But they understood no more than we can."Lourdes is a small town lying among the foothills of the Pyrenees, almost on the borderland of Spain. It is about fourteen hours journey from Paris, and about twenty-two by rail and boat from London. Its normal population is about 10,000, but between April and October each year the visitors vary between 40,000 and 120,000 on any day. If it was a wonderful seaside resort, with lovely sand, and all the fun of the fair, any one could understand this influx of visitors, but this is certainly not the case. There are no sands, and the waters of the rushing River Gave look very cold and uninviting if one wished to paddle. The foothills of the Pyrenees are always beautiful to look upon and Lourdes is certainly a pretty spot. Those of us who saw the film 'The Song of Bernadette', which was filmed in America, did not get any impression of the truly scenic beauty of Lourdes.If we look at the visitors, we shall find that the vast majority have come in a spirit of prayer and pilgrimage, and that a great deal of their time is spent in prayer and in attending services at the Grotto, and on the Esplanade before the Rosary Church every afternoon. They come from all parts of the world and if you asked them what they were doing, they would most probably say, 'When we are in Lourdes, we honour the Mother of God by doing the things she asked Bernadette to do. We say our rosary, we take part in processions, we carry lighted candles to be burnt at the Grotto, we drink Lourdes water and we bathe in it, we bend to kiss the ground. All these things we do in a spirit of filial and humble obedience to the wishes of our Mother.'I, i