Lourdes today: the city of the soul

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Lourdes is a small piece of land in which the soul particularly feels the need to meet with God, under the guidance of the Immaculate Virgin. Here we rediscover the meaning of life and pain, of prayer and hope, of the confident abandonment of a son in the mother's arms.

Mary desired a chapel in the place of the apparitions, made a spring of healing water gush, asked for prayer in procession, promised to wait for her children there. He chose a secluded cave to ask for recollection and quiet, silence that predisposes to prayer and the acceptance of his graces.

From the beginning, efforts have been made to respond to these needs and even today pilgrims who go to Lourdes can see that the requests of the Virgin have not been forgotten. Of course, the turnout is great, but there is no lack of spaces of silence that predispose to the filial conversation and the prayer of abandonment and praise.

The city now has over twenty thousand inhabitants, with over four hundred hotels; but the heart of Lourdes always remains the same: the Grotto! It is surrounded by Gave forms and trees and meadows. The spot where Bernadette knelt is highlighted by a small mosaic with an inscription. In the cave there is still the statue placed there in 1864 and seen by Bernadette. At the bottom of the cave you can see the spring that has gushed since February 25, 1858, the day Bernadette dug it with his hands. Before the cave you can draw water from twenty taps. The spring also feeds the pools where those who wish can swim, in turns and privately, at the prescribed times.

Every afternoon the procession of the SS. Sacramento and every evening the faithful parade in the light of flambeaux singing and praying.

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the upper church, was consecrated in 1876, while Bernadette was still alive. The Crypt, Lower Basilica was the first chapel open to the public, carved into the living rock by 25 men, including Bernadette's father. The SS. Sacrament. It was inaugurated in 1864.

The Basilica del Rosario, on the level of the square, was built thirty years after the apparitions; it has fifteen chapels dedicated to the mysteries of the Rosary illustrated by mosaics.

Completely underground is the Basilica of San Pio X, called for this "underground basilica". It can hold about 30 thousand people and the Eucharistic procession takes place in case of bad weather or too hot. It was consecrated in 1958 by Card. Roncalli, who a few months later would become Pope John XXIII.

In front of the cave a brand new "butterfly" church has been built which can hold about 5 thousand pilgrims.

This is an image of Lourdes, as it appears at first glance. But Lourdes is visited and meets in the soul, beyond the buildings, in the depths of one's heart that knows how to find there the sign of a sweet, tender, maternal presence. Nobody returns to Lourdes without having become better, without having experienced a healing of the soul capable of giving a change to life. And even Bernadette we can meet her there, small, humble, hidden, as always ... she is there to remind us that Maria likes such simple children, children who know how to entrust to her everything they carry in their hearts and know how to believe in her help with unlimited trust.

- Commitment: Today we make a spiritual journey to Lourdes and, retracing the moments of the apparitions, we kneel next to Bernadette in the cave, entrusting to the Immaculate Virgin all that fills our hearts.

- Saint Bernardetta, pray for us.