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Monday, 29th September 2008

Lourdes - We Were Born For This

By Gina Waygood, 11 Middleton

Sometimes in life, seeing is believing, and yet sometimes believing is seeing. We get told about places that we can never truly understand until we have experienced them. You could see all the pictures in the world and never quite understand the place itself. This year on our trip to Lourdes, through the belief in our faith and the belief in ourselves, we experienced a week that touched not only our hearts, but others also. Through this, our beliefs in God shone.

From the 26th June to the 4th July, 30 Year 10 pupils visited Lourdes on the 150th anniversary of the Apparitions. In 1858 Our Lady appeared to Saint Bernadette, the thirteen year old girl and told her to “pray for the conversion of sinners.” Since then, Lourdes has been a special place where thousands take vocations each year, whether it be to seek closeness to God, health or to help those in need. It is the latter which the 30 of us embarked upon, and pairing up we all spent the week accompanying our pilgrim, sharing the vocation we had in common. Visiting different places each day, we took time to pray and think over every aspect of the lives we live.

Many of us didn’t know the full meaning of Lourdes, and each had different ideas on what to anticipate. “You’re constantly told before that Lourdes is hard work. You think you’ve fully grasped it. That is before you are dropped off after a 24 hour coach trip and are thrown into your first 18 hour day!” (Helen Butterfield, 11M). It is true that every day is tiring, as it’s early starts, late nights and hard work during the day pushing wheelchairs in extreme heats. Yet the atmosphere takes a hold of you, and as you walk through the Domain you see everyone there with the same purpose as you. Being part of the Leeds Diocese, we all had to wear yellow t-shirts to represent where we come from and also because the colour is so blinding you’re pretty easy to spot if you get lost! With these shirts, the youth came to recognise one another, and friendships formed between the different schools, igniting the sense of belonging that Lourdes itself issues. “Spending time with friends and our pilgrims, just to get that much needed sleep, everything was a luxury!” (David Myers, 11M)

Also during the week, we visited many places that each gave off a different atmosphere. One of these was the Baths. Many, many rumours had been spoken of before we left, and we were led to believe by some that it was a highly embarrassing situation where you are exposed to a group of nuns. However, as you are submerged in the water that represents forgiveness, purification and reconciliation, the feeling that cannot be described washes over you and you come out feeling different, which no words can justify, and by the time you are outside again, you are dry-odd, seeing as though you put your clothes straight back on. As well as this, every day processions such as the Jubilee Way and the Torchlight procession took place, where everyone walks round the Domain to the rosary, singing the Ave Maria. With the candles ablaze, the sight is overwhelming and the first time I saw it I was in awe at its beauty, seeing so many people together as one.

It was not only the processions which united us. We were united through song as well. As it was the 150th Anniversary, Born for This was the collection of songs that each represented the Stations of the Cross. Learning these songs throughout the week, the youth came together to re-enact the different scenarios in the City Of The Poor. High up in the trees, this is a place where Mass takes place and as we sang to the pilgrims at the end of the week, the lyrics helped us to really demonstrate just why we were there....to demonstrate our faith and to share it with others. We definitely know that faith will remain, seeing as though the songs were being sung throughout the entirety of the journey back and even now two months on!

All in all, Lourdes affected every one of us. On the last night when we visited the grotto and the candles were lit, the feeling that Lourdes had given us took its toll, and many people, both boys and girls, were in tears, deeply touched by the week’s events. Coming to Lourdes, we weren’t all close friends. We may have been in each other’s classes, but that was all some had in common. However, it is hard to share something like that and not come out closer. And I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say we all came back so much closer, as everyone saw everyone else in a light they’d never seen before. Pushing the wheelchairs every day, eating together, being together, all the little things. They all added up to become one big memory. A memory that will never fade, and will be told of again and again, for the reason that Lourdes brought pilgrims and pupils together, to show that we live as one in God. “I guess it was a spiritual thing. A kind of deep understanding of why you decide to go and live by your religious beliefs, even if people don’t quite understand why”.( Holly Condon, 11L)

Advice for anyone going on pilgrimage next year:
“Ignore the poncho, it makes you look old. Sleep! And don’t eat the packed lunches” (Matthew Lowrey 11L)