The organisers are expecting an attendance of about 200,000 people for the Mass he is celebrating in Paris on Saturday, 13 September, at 10 am. Even greater numbers are expected at Lourdes, where attendance could be as high as 300,000 for the Mass of the Triumph of the Cross on Sunday, September 14, a celebration intended particularly for the young.
At Lourdes Benedict will be a pilgrim among pilgrims, and will himself go through the four stages of the Jubilee Path which all visitors at the Marian Shrine are invited to tread.
On Saturday, September 13, Benedict will tread the first three stages: the parish baptistery used for the baptism of Bernadette; then the ‘cachot’, a dismal goal where the Soubirous family, which had been evicted from their home, were lodging at the time of the apparitions; and finally the Massabielle Grotto, where the Virgin Mary showed herself repeatedly from February 11 to July 16, 1858.
That evening, at around 8:30 pm, the Pope will take part in the traditional torchlight procession, and will then address pilgrims from the terrace of the Rosary Basilica.
On the following day the Pope will preside at the Mass held in the vast Rosary Square, and in the afternoon Benedict will participate at the Blessed Sacrament Procession, after which he will hold a meeting with the bishops of France.
On September 15 Benedict will conclude the fourth stage of the Jubilee Path: the Hospital Oratory, the place where Bernadette received her first Holy Communion. He will then preside over the Mass at the Rosary Basilica to commemorate the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Finally, the Holy Father will conclude his pilgrimage by administering the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, a particularly relevant Sacrament in Lourdes, which yearly welcomes vast numbers of sick people from all over the world.
I have no doubt that millions of people the world over will participate in spirit as they witness the images which the media will give us of the Pope’s visit to Lourdes. These are the people who, at least once in their lives, have had the possibility, if only for a few moments, to visit the shrine – the people who believe that 150 years ago the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl called Bernadette. But along with them there are also those who, though sceptical or belonging to a different religion, are incapable of remaining indifferent to what is happening every day in this small town at the foot of the Pyrenees: the miracle of human life uniting itself with the Divine.
I have been to Lourdes three times in my life, and each time I received ample proof that extraordinary events do occur there. This leads us to the nature of the first and foremost miracle that takes place at the Massabielle Grotto: the firm conviction that we are not alone; that we are always accompanied and guided by a loving Mother who is also the mother of all. You have only to open your eyes and look around: what you see at Lourdes is a monumental manifestation of Faith – eyes full of tears of joy, smiling faces, affectionate embraces...
The true appeal which Lourdes has lies not in the fact that the spectacle of so much suffering gives us a perspective on our own woes, but in that feeling of communion with those around us, and in those answers we receive to our burning questions – answers which come from the words and gestures of those around us, from a new friendship that may unexpectedly be formed there, from a spiritual communion that exceeds what we may experience even in our own families or parishes. This is the real miracle.
It is not necessary to see people suddenly rising from their wheelchairs and walk, or to hear of serious diseases which heal without any plausible scientific explanation. Events of this type do indeed occur there, but are not the real cause which draws millions to the shrine. The real miracle of Lourdes is the peace that pervades those who visit the shrine with an open heart; the real miracle is to see a friend leave home with a heart laden with grief and anguish, and to return with that peace which ‘passes understanding’.
Updated on October 06 2016