Some back home in California may have celebrated Cinco de Mayo. Needless to say, that was not the case in Lourdes since the May fifth victory of the Mexicans over the French in the Battle of Puebla would not be feted here in France. I’m not sure it is celebrated all that much in Mexico either. In the United States, it is the marketing concoction of beer distributors.
Back to more serious reflections, our pilgrim group — members of the Order of Malta, malades and companions — came from all parts of the Western United States. On Saturday morning we joined up with another US association of the Order to offer Mass at the Grotto of Lourdes. The gathering of both groups crowded around the humble grotto. The sky was still gray and the morning air chilly.
A rough hewn stone altar is set in the middle of the natural alcove chiseled out over centuries. A rod iron multi-tiered tree of burning candles keeps watch just below the high stone niche where the young lady dressed in white with a blue sash appeared to Bernadette. A white marble image of Our Lady of Lourdes now looks down from there. The story of the apparition notes that this now beautiful site was once the town dump where things were discarded and left to rot. It is hard to believe that story admiring the site today. The fountain of Lourdes has truly renewed all creation, both humanity as well as our earthly home.
The concelebrating priests and bishops sat inside the grotto behind the altar. The assembly, forming a rough semi-circle with the malades in front, could contemplate the liturgy in the grotto. I still considered myself the most fortunate because I was seated with the bishops on the side of the spring inside the grotto. It was directly behind my chair. All during the Mass, I could listen to the spirited spring fountain sing its natural melody.
Archbishop Vigneron, from Detroit, was the presider and homilist for the Mass. My apologies to him. He had eloquent insights but I was distracted by the sweet poetic sounds behind me. I recalled the words of Psalm 42, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents, and all your waves and breakers sweep over me.” (Ps. 42.8) The spring was not a torrent but its soft sound still swept over the grotto and me.
Later that afternoon, we gathered in the large plaza and the extended verdant promenade in front of the Rosary Basilica. A Eucharistic procession was led around the gathered assembly. I remember past years when everyone would participate in the procession. It was obvious from the size of the crowd that this was no longer practical. Those responsible for the liturgies of the Shrine had wisely and beautifully developed a Eucharistic procession and Exposition that enabled everyone to share in this sacred time of contemplation and adoration. The procession with the Blessed Sacrament circled around the assembly. As the procession was about to begin, the presider announced: “You have journeyed to Lourdes. Now, Jesus journeys with you.”
Following the procession, a prolonged period of silence and then song, the presider blessed the congregation with the the monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. He went out again in procession pausing intermittently at different locations to blessed the people. These ritual journeys brought the Eucharistic Christ close to the malades. If Eucharistic Exposition is a time of contemplation and adoration, the manner with which this was done at Lourdes made that devotional encounter more intimate. The malades as well as many in the assembly experience it as a moment of mutual contemplation. They were looking at Jesus and he was looking at them.
Eucharistic Adoration is always centered on the Sacrifice of the Mass, when the Catholic community is sacramentally in the real presence of Jesus both at the Table of the Last Supper and the Altar of Cross. Eucharistic Adoration prolongs that experience and brings us back to that experience where we not only contemplate Christ; He nourishes us with the real presence of His body and blood.
Jesus is never static or passive. His presence, even in Eucharistic Exposition, is always a dynamic presence. With His one saving sacrifice, Jesus continues to feed us, heal us, and reconcile us to the Father. This dynamic sacramental presence was very palpable during the Eucharistic Adoration service at Lourdes. Like so many instances in the gospel: “Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.” (Matt. 15.30)
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