May is a month especially devoted to our Blessed Mother. Many Catholic churches schedule daily May Flower Festivities whereby many children dressed in white with garland headbands offer bouquets of flowers to our Lady. The "Immaculate Mother," Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary"and other Marian hymns sang by high-pitched children's voices add an aura of love and devotion to our Blessed Virgin.
As the strains of "Gentle Woman" made popular in Medjugorje where our Blessed Mother reportedly appeared to five children in 1981, reverberate in my ears this warm afternoon, I remembered a unique favor, among so many, our Lady has been giving me through the years. Guess what? A Seat! But let me start from the beginning....
I remember my first visit to Europe in 1973 to attend a United Nations Conference on Shipping and Trade, hosted by UNCTAD (United Nations Commission on Trade and Developemnt) in Geneva, Switzerland. Like everyone else who is about to see another part of the world, I was excited. To add to the web of emotions within me was the almost unbelievable honor of representing my country of birth, the Philippines in a world forum.
But the surge of extreme joy and anticipation was the thought of visiting Lourdes, France where our Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858. Imagine to be among the seven million pilgrims who visit there annually! It was a dream I have had since childhood when my mother regaled us with stories of the sanctuary of Lourdes and many more about our Lady. Her tales were derived mainly from oral tradition handed down from generation to generation unscathed by embellishments or muted by omissions. She had an especial devotion to Mary! She told us many stories about Her in Her various capacities as Mother, Protectress, Mediatrix, etc. She spoke of Our Lady of the Gate (Nuestra Senora de la Porteria), patron saint of her hometown, Daraga, Albay, in the Bicol Region of the Philippines. She related accounts of Our Lady of the Abandoned (Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados), patron saint of Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines, my birthplace whose feast day is on May 12th. She regaled us with vignettes about Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage (Our Lady of Antipolo) to whom our family made yearly visits in the hilltop shrine in Rizal Province about three hours away by car from Manila. But the appearance of our Blessed Mother at Lourdes, France had a strong attachment to her such that one of my older sisters has been named Lourdes. The enthusiasm with which she talks of the Grotto of Massebielle (Lourdes) while we helped in preparing meals, dusting furniture or any household chore done with many helping hands unmistakably revealed her strong devotion. My young mind was completely mesmerized by her stories that her fervor indelibly rubbed on me.
I remember one of the stories my mother told us about the B;essed Virgin. Dressed in her usual long gown, she decided to do some sewing while seated on the floor. As she kept patching up some of young Jesus' clothes, their cat slept on the train of her dress. After a while she needed to get up. She looked at the cat which was so contentedly sleeping. She thought, "What should I do?" Do you know what s he did?" She got a pair of scissors and cut her dress so as not to awaken the cat! What love!
So it was on November 26, 1973 that I made my first visit to the Grotto of Lourdes, France. The plane from Paris taxied to the small airport at Tarbes late afternoon. I took a shuttle bus to Lourdes with only another passenger, a middle-aged man from Ireland. He claimed that his mother made him promise that after his business transactions in Paris , he would visit Lourdes.
I knew that November was off-season period so that hotel availability would not be a problem so I kept it as the last thing to do before the trip. As it happened, I was overwhelmed with many office matter that left me no time to book a hotel at Lourdes. The kind driver directed me to a small family-owned lodging named Hotel d' Aquitane. Apparently, most of the big hotels operated by corporations or individuals who do not reside there open shop only during summer.
Hotel d' Aquitane was a large residential building with several well-appointed rooms for guests. Immediately after settlng down my things, I wanted to go to the Grotto at once despite the rain that has started early in the evening. The owners, a husband and wife team graciously lent me an umbrella after instructions on going to and from the Grotto.
The thrill of finally realizing a long-nurtured dream gave my whole body an involuntary rhythmic stacatto perks filled with magnificent joy! I felt as if every cell, muscle and bone of my body was singing, "Halleluiah" and dancing to the cacophony of a rhumba, tango, boogie-woogie combination. Filled with unspeakable excitement, I took bigger steps racing to get a first glimpse of our Lady. I
I entered through St. Michael's gate, passed by the Basilica of the Most Holy Rosary, walked under the right arch of the great Esplanade, made a short left turn and there saw the huge candlelabra brilliantly glowing with hundreds of candles at a distance. I fell to my knees.....right at the spot about fifty yards away where I first saw the candlelights. Tears of joy, thanksgiving and sadness clouded my face as my mouth proclaimed, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you Blessed Mother."I stayed kneeling down in prayer oblivious of the rain and my shoulders balancing the umbrella which occasionally swayed against the accompanying wind. I was in awe... frozen in time... wanting to keep that moment alive in the recesses of my heart and brain forever. And it has! To this day, 2011, I am still "energized" and made happier by the vivid memory of that moment.
After a long while, I joined a group of around ten or eleven persons in front of the Grotto. I sat on the first bench near the middle aisle right in front of our Lady of Lourdes. I cried my heart out! I prayed for all my loved ones - my family, relatives and friends and for those for whom I promised to pray. I believe I did not give our Lady a chance to talk to me because of my lengthy enunciation of my many needs and those of the people I love. I knew She would understand!After the long declaration of needs and unfulfilled desires, I was wholly enveloped with "peace."
It was a peace which would adequately fit what St. Paul said..."the peace beyond human understanding." Briefly, I recalled the many articles I had read about the experience of peace that each of the authors expressed at the Grotto. While the pilgrim site is a center of "healing," it is not limited to the healing of the sick and the disabled but of a more varied kind which encompasses human emotions and ideals as unforgiveness, anger, lust for power and the like. Many of the millions who visit Lourdes come again and again for this unique peace in their hearts and minds as they go about their lives.
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