There was some video of the pilgrims at the shrine in Lourdes, France today on FaceBook. Cardinal Dolan was presenting this little introduction and it showed a lot of Order of Malta people. If you remember I had a chance to go there with the Order last May with Father Tom Hall.
Watching the video brought back many memories of that pilgrimage. The Knights and Dames of the Order were so great and all the doctors and nurses that were on the staff to take care of us were first rate. It was an action packed week there for everyone. And I don’t think it is possible to go there and come back and not be changed.
I remember how I struggled to try and capture the experience for this blog. It was hard for me to do that. It was hard to separate my idea of pilgrimage that I had developed from the Camino. I had to put that on hold to consider Lourdes. This took some doing but I did it.
Now more than a year later I see something maybe that I missed in my writing then. Well, basically the Camino is all about action. Walking, walking, showers, tapas, sleep, walking walking and on for hundreds of miles and many days. If it is not action it’s that you are resting and getting ready for more action. If we have to stop for good you would feel defeated.
Lourdes is all about sitting still, being still and receiving. It is all there for you, all figured out. Good people cart you around, literally, from one religious experience to the next. You are with thousands of other malades, pilgrims with an illness, receiving, receiving and receiving.
Of course I had trouble sitting still, the Camino guy that I am. So this is what I was wrestling with there and after. And what did we receive ultimately, what did we come away with beyond all that? What did I finally find and boil down to put in the blog? Well, in brief it was all about healing. And by healing I mean beyond curing. I mean we experienced a closeness, a glimpse of the bigger picture. That is beyond suffering. Something that can make it all seem OK or even better can see it all make sense. Or even better yet see as something to find joy in. Yea.
Well, just a flashback to last year. And a year can be an eternity when you think about it. A lot can happen and you can get a lot done in a year. Here’s to the future!
thinking of you loves, Felipé.
Powerful post. Made me think of the importance on this cancer journey of doing and being still. I’ve always been a very doing person. At the start of this my teacher told me to be still. I’m still sitting with the power of that teaching. Be still means stopping but it also holds being still alive.
It’s like breathing in and out…. I need to do and be to give and receive….
And I know doing is easier for me, or has been…
Karen ~ hi. Yes, being still is about receiving. We need to be able to graciously receive from others after so much time of doing for ourselves. Yes, and it is active, I am seeing. I am learning. Felipé.x