Scottish Catholic Observer

OPENING my bleary eyes to the multiple iPhone alarms blaring from across the bedroom at 3:30am, I wondered what I had got myself into. After throwing some last-minute items in the suitcase and running down to Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral, Motherwell, with my dad, who was one of the youth group leaders for our trip to Lourdes, I found myself seated up the back of a bus with a group of other young people, finally setting off on our long-awaited diocesan pilgrimage.

Thirty hours, countless sing-alongs, sporadic naps and a firm new set of friends later, we finally arrived in the little town of Lourdes—sweet relief from the cramped, recycled air of the bus! Meeting our fellow pilgrims, who we would help care for during our stay, I started to feel an immense sense of togetherness that would grow as the week went on.

The tiredness I had felt on leaving Motherwell dissipated; suddenly getting up early didn’t matter any more. All I felt was a keenness to chat to everyone in our youth group, an eagerness to get to see the pilgrims and talk to them again, looking forward to each day bringing new services and new ways of engaging with God.

The key turning point for me in my spiritual journey in Lourdes, however, was on the Sunday, our third day there. After Mass, all the Motherwell pilgrims joined together for a Holy Hour with the Blessed Sacrament. Reflecting on the story of the woman in the Bible who touched Jesus’ clothes and believed in him, we were all invited to come forward and touch the humeral veil as Fr Martin Delaney held the monstrance, a mark of our belief in Christ.

As one of the cantors that helped to provide the musical liturgy for the week, leading the hymn ‘O Bread of Heaven’, and watching on as everyone joined in and came forward to touch the cloth was truly moving for me. As someone that has in the past found it difficult to be open about my identity as a practising Catholic, it was here I suddenly felt a sense of courage in being open and proud of my faith in knowing that so many others, from all different ages, backgrounds and walks of life, were here to profess this belief, too.

From that moment, I felt a complete change in how I approached the rest of our time in Lourdes. I was much more spiritually aware and receptive to what was going on around me in the religious services: from finding ways to engage more fully during Mass, to appreciating the beautiful churches we celebrated in, to taking in some of the experiences you can only find in Lourdes such as offering prayers in the baths, running my hand around the cave and feeling the water droplets run on to my skin from underneath the feet at the statue of the Immaculate Conception or taking part in the beautiful processions around the Grotto.

Yet I also felt a huge transformation in how I approached my relationships with the people I met and worked with in Lourdes. I genuinely found so, so much joy in helping our fellow Motherwell pilgrims and not only getting to share the religious experience with them but sitting with them in the afternoons and evenings to have a drink or an ice cream and hearing about their lives. Pushing the wheelchairs and helping them down to the Grotto was not only an amazing way to get to know them both spiritually and socially, but was also humbling. It was a privilege to be able to help out such kind and wonderful people.

My relationship with my dad is stronger than ever, and I made some incredible friends that I feel I have known far longer than a few weeks. It taught me God brings people and friends together regardless of what age or stage in your life you’re at.

Rounding off our pilgrimage with a couple of days in Bruges was a nice way to wind down before our journey home, involving an overnight ferry and then more singing and laughter on the bus, before arriving back late afternoon on the Monday.

They say that everyone who goes to Lourdes is called there for a reason, and I firmly believe I found the reasons why I was called. My pilgrimage to Lourdes helped me to be at peace with some of my own personal struggles, but also helped me to once again find courage in my faith and make friends that I never knew were so sorely missing from my life.

The experience taught me so much about growing closer to God, working with other people, tolerance and acceptance for the circumstances of others, and about opening up to others, something I’ve been able to carry on into my everyday life and relationships since coming back home. I left Motherwell with a group of 32 strangers, and returned with a group of 32 wonderful friends.

The Lourdes pilgrimage is something that surprised me in so many positive ways, and I cannot wait to go back.

That, my rediscovered pride and restored faith, and perhaps, too, the fact that as a pale-skinned redhead I came home with a suntan was, for me, a Lourdes miracle.