Mamie and Lourdes
Perhaps Mamie and I traveled to the Shrine of Our Blessed Mother in Lourdes around 50 times throughout her life. With friends, on pilgrimages organized by the Home of the Mother, the two of us alone... healthy or sick... even with her foot that was infected by gangrene as a result of her diabetes and bad blood circulation... When she no longer had her foot also, right before her death.
The Shrine of Lourdes, location of so many pilgrimages, was one of her favorite places among the many that we visited. Here Our Mother had given her an amazing grace, curing her of the paralysis she was suffering as a result of the decalcification of her lumbar vertebrae. She had been regularly visiting Lourdes every year for one month as a service to the sick, at her own expense, staying at the Basilique Hotel, very close the left-side door of the Shrine. Her husband François Treuttens, who loved her and respected her deeply, took care of all the expenses. For these volunteer services, Mamie was given the medal of Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes, which I now conserve in my home as a treasure.
Lourdes, so beloved by Mamie, has a heart: the Grotto, the physical location of Our Lady's apparitions to St. Bernadette Soubirous. It is an opening in the mountain where a herd of pigs would take shelter during the times of the saint. It has various niches about two or three meters high and in one of them, where there is now a statue of Our Lady, St. Bernadette saw a shining light and a human figure which she called "Aquero" ("that lady") on February 11, 1858. The Lady did not say her name until the fifteenth of eighteen apparitions: I am the Immaculate Conception. The parish priest, Msgr. Peyramale had told Bernadette that if she wanted him to believe she should ask the lady her name and ask her to have the rose bush in the grotto bloom (it was the middle of winter). Our Lady told Bernadette that he didn't need this last part.
We would always go there to pray.
When I discovered the place where St. Bernadette would kneel down to pray before Our Lady - it is now covered with a small mosaic - I would always kneel there as well in remembrance and thanksgiving of the visit of the Immaculate Conception.
In addition to the Grotto, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (the Upper Basilica), which was constructed by Msgr. Laurence, bishop at the time of the apparitions, was a place we had to visit. We especially liked to pass by the Ukrainian Chapel, which was then at the left of the entrance and which later has been used for other purposes.
This year we celebrate a Jubilee Year because of the 150th Anniversary of the apparitions. Mamie is not here. She left us on August 4th, 1994, but her memory is still present in our hearts. She has passed on to us her love for Lourdes. We have not been cured of bodily illnesses, but while there, we are always filled with serenity, peace, and a spiritual impulse to continue living our Christian lives. Lourdes is a location not only of physical healing but also spiritual healing. Our Mother's presence is felt. Mamie felt it and we feel it and that is why we rejoice like her.
By Fr. Rafael Alonso
©HM Magazine No. 141 March/April 2008
