- Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:08 pm
#47253
I recently gave an account of my first visit to Medjugorje this spring and how it has transformed my life. I mentioned in passing that I used to go to Lourdes. It was here that my primary conversion began. I feel that this part of my story needs to be told to help put the rest in context.
I was baptised Catholic and made my first Holy Communion but was not confirmed. We used to go to Mass on Christmas eve for many years but not in between. However, my mother never neglected her prayers and always tried to instill in me the value of prayer.
For many years, on and off, my mother would say " I would love you to see Lourdes, you would love Lourdes, the torchlight procession", and so on. Eventually, in my mid twenties, while training to be a midwife in Edinburgh, I finally arranged for us to go. I could only get away for a long weekend but we set off in May 1980.
We arrived on a misty day and Rosary square was shrouded in mist. I thought it was simply beautiful. The actual moment of grace ( I can pin-point it) occured as we went in and around the grotto. I put my hand up to touch the rock just below the statue of Our Lady. At that moment, a drop of water fell down the back of my hand from the overhanging folliage. I can remember being stunned and thinking that this was just for me. If I had been struck by lightening I don't think I could have been more amazed.
We then went to the baths and met with such kindness that again, I was deeply moved. My mind was in a whirl and when I got back to Edinburgh I immediately sought out a Catholic church and went to confession, the first time in many mnay years. The priest said I had missed my Easter duties and I had no idea what he was talking about !!
From then on, every time I took a newborn baby from the labour ward to the post-natal ward, I always made the sign of the cross on its forehead. I never told anyone this. It was just something between me, God and the baby !!
For the next 25 years I went back to Lourdes twice a year and worked in the baths as a member of the Hospitalite. This is something I treasure and consider both an immense grace and privilege. A year or two after my first visit, a film (French) was made about Lourdes, called 'It was only a drop of water'. I often think how small and almost invisible a moment of grace can be. It wasn't the processions or masses that were the occaision of grace for me, beautiful though they were, it was a drop of water.
Laudate Jesu Christi
I was baptised Catholic and made my first Holy Communion but was not confirmed. We used to go to Mass on Christmas eve for many years but not in between. However, my mother never neglected her prayers and always tried to instill in me the value of prayer.
For many years, on and off, my mother would say " I would love you to see Lourdes, you would love Lourdes, the torchlight procession", and so on. Eventually, in my mid twenties, while training to be a midwife in Edinburgh, I finally arranged for us to go. I could only get away for a long weekend but we set off in May 1980.
We arrived on a misty day and Rosary square was shrouded in mist. I thought it was simply beautiful. The actual moment of grace ( I can pin-point it) occured as we went in and around the grotto. I put my hand up to touch the rock just below the statue of Our Lady. At that moment, a drop of water fell down the back of my hand from the overhanging folliage. I can remember being stunned and thinking that this was just for me. If I had been struck by lightening I don't think I could have been more amazed.
We then went to the baths and met with such kindness that again, I was deeply moved. My mind was in a whirl and when I got back to Edinburgh I immediately sought out a Catholic church and went to confession, the first time in many mnay years. The priest said I had missed my Easter duties and I had no idea what he was talking about !!
From then on, every time I took a newborn baby from the labour ward to the post-natal ward, I always made the sign of the cross on its forehead. I never told anyone this. It was just something between me, God and the baby !!
For the next 25 years I went back to Lourdes twice a year and worked in the baths as a member of the Hospitalite. This is something I treasure and consider both an immense grace and privilege. A year or two after my first visit, a film (French) was made about Lourdes, called 'It was only a drop of water'. I often think how small and almost invisible a moment of grace can be. It wasn't the processions or masses that were the occaision of grace for me, beautiful though they were, it was a drop of water.
Laudate Jesu Christi
