De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

I have spent the last week on Pilgrimage in Lourdes , France. Lourdes is a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, on the border with Spain. The town is famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes which occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous . Lourdes is a very special place for me. It is where I met my wonderful wife in 1989, and has become one of those places which seem central to the story of our lives. I went back to Lourdes last year for the first time in some 16 years, after spending many springs and summers there as a youngster with the HCPT and ACROSS, helping handicapped children and adults. You can read about that here . This year, the Parish went on pilgrimage there and Louise suggested I take our youngest son John. This meant I was in Lourdes without Louise for the first time ever, which was a bit strange. It was also the first time I have been with my dear friend and parish priest, Father Kevin Hale. Also, I got to travel with all ...

If you are a regular re ader you will know about my special affiliation with, and love of Lourdes , the small hill town in the French Pyrenees where, in 1858, the Blessed Mother of our Lord and Saviour appeared to a poor fourteen year old Miller's daughter, Bernadette Soubirous. To this gentle child, Mother Mary spoke words teaching of the merits of prayer, penance, poverty and Church. In the first and most widely recognised Marian apparition of modern times, a personal message was delivered also to Bernadette—She would not find happiness in this world, but only in the next. Bernadette was to die twenty–one years later in 1879 after a prolonged and painful illness. After her miraculous experience, she felt compelled to religious life (who wouldn't?) and remained hidden in a convent for the rest of her life in Nevers, which is about 300 miles from her home. Here she found refuge from the constant interrogations about her experience as well as the never-ending stream of pilg...