Lourdes :September 29 2018

[catholicwalker]

Hello
I am arriving September 29 in Paris to bus to train to Lourdes to begin walking from Lourdes to St. Jpd and onto the Roncesvalles.
I would like to meet up with pilgrims that might be walking the same way.
I will walk at my own pace as I have always done. Walking in gratitude , reparation and humility .

 

[rappahannock_rev]

Please give yourself time to soak up the unique Lourdes atmosphere before you shove off.... And go to Mass at the Grotto the morning you leave, on your way out of town - you won't regret it.

May the Lord make His face to shine upon you!

Fr. J

 

[catholicwalker]

Dear Fr. J
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I was hoping to volunteer with the Benedictine nuns
(located 15-min walking from train station) but they wrote to say they do not accept volunteers until end of October. My thought was to stay with them a few days, offering my services, and in return, I would surely be immersed within the sacred and holy city of Lourdes. Now I'm searching for other options. I felt being within a religious community would be exactly 'the way' to be bath in the graces of Lourdes.
Perhaps you know of any community that might accept my service in exchange for a place to sleep, pray and experience Lourdes rather than just 'shoving off'.... (I will be arriving into Lourdes at 8:48pm Saturday evening... and was told that procession is at 9pm each night. I'm not sure how about the logistics of finding my lodging while simultaneously being within the evening procession?).

 

[LGLG]

Dear Fr. J
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I was hoping to volunteer with the Benedictine nuns
(located 15-min walking from train station) but they wrote to say they do not accept volunteers until end of October. My thought was to stay with them a few days, offering my services, and in return, I would surely be immersed within the sacred and holy city of Lourdes. Now I'm searching for other options. I felt being within a religious community would be exactly 'the way' to be bath in the graces of Lourdes.
Perhaps you know of any community that might accept my service in exchange for a place to sleep, pray and experience Lourdes rather than just 'shoving off'.... (I will be arriving into Lourdes at 8:48pm Saturday evening... and was told that procession is at 9pm each night. I'm not sure how about the logistics of finding my lodging while simultaneously being within the evening procession?).

Try NOT to miss the evening procession ... locals are usually very understanding and helpful in Lourdes. If your accomodation is not right on the path to the sanctuary, I would head to the sanctuary straight upon arrival. If you got a pack with you, possibly a restaurant might hold it for you until after the procession. If not, take it with you ... even though it says at the gate luggage isn't allowed in, this seems to be a flexible rule as I ve seen several pilgrims there first and last thing in the day with their packs.

 

[MTowers]

Hello
I am arriving September 29 in Paris to bus to train to Lourdes to begin walking from Lourdes to St. Jpd and onto the Roncesvalles.
I would like to meet up with pilgrims that might be walking the same way.
I will walk at my own pace as I have always done. Walking in gratitude , reparation and humility .

Hi, I have been volunteering in the ladies baths for the past 8 years, but have never started a Camino from there. Take the advice given so far. There is no better place to start the Camino francés from Lourdes as a practising Catholic. I hope you experience Mass in the Grotto and the nightly procession starting at 9.00pm. Both are amazing. Buen Camino.

 

[catholicwalker]

Hi, I have been volunteering in the ladies baths for the past 8 years, but have never started a Camino from there. Take the advice given so far. There is no better place to start the Camino francés from Lourdes as a practising Catholic. I hope you experience Mass in the Grotto and the nightly procession starting at 9.00pm. Both are amazing. Buen Camino.

 

[catholicwalker]

yes I want to experience Lourdes; Mass, Grotto, baths, everything possible w/in the days. I wanted to start from Lourdes because it is a holy and sacred place. I need to find place to sleep while I'm there.
Do you have any ideas as you mention you have been at baths for 8-yrs...

 

[MTowers]

yes I want to experience Lourdes; Mass, Grotto, baths, everything possible w/in the days. I wanted to start from Lourdes because it is a holy and sacred place. I need to find place to sleep while I'm there.
Do you have any ideas as you mention you have been at baths for 8-yrs...

Hi, when you volunteer regularly you stay in volunteer accommodation which is organised on application , so I am sorry but I don't know where you could stay as a one off. You could try the tourist office. M

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Do you have any ideas

Ten years ago there was a parochial gite on the Route de Pau operated by an Irish religious group. My notes:

The gite is a large facility operated by an Irish religious organization to provide low cost rooms to pilgrims.

I can find the building on Google Street View, but it looks shuttered. We found it through the Tourist Office.

You could inquire with them.

I don't think you will find all the things you hope to find in Lourdes. It is pretty commercial these days.

 

[Alhimself]

Hi. I too will be arriving in Lourdes on the 29th. I've arranged one night's accommodation in Lourdes through family and then will go to mass on the Sunday before heading off to st jean and then over the hills. I'll be sorting my pilgrim passport etc and in Lourdes on the Saturday if i can. I'm hoping the office will be open! Then I'll be walking the route alone and at my own pace but maybe we'll run into one another as we go. Buen Camino and I'd gladly give you my mobile number via private message if you're on WhatsApp in case you or I encounter difficulties as we go, or find ourselves craving conversation etc etc

 

[rappahannock_rev]

It is pretty commercial these days.

You're absolutely right about that! Where else can you buy boxes of OL of Lourdes toasted coconut macaroons, OL of Lourdes ceramic cat food dishes, OL of Lourdes disposable sanitary wipes...? Nowhere, that's where! It's a wonder-filled bazaar, a magical souq, and endlessly entertaining! You can shop your heart out!

Or you can sit at length beside the Grotto in meditative silence --- as I have done more than once, at dawn, and late in the evening --- listening to the music of the Pau River running over the rocks, soaking in the guttering voices of the candles burning in the breeze, opening yourself to whatever the Spirit might want to say to you....

Lourdes will be for you whatever you let it be.

Pax

 

[domigee]

Lourdes will be for you whatever you let it be.

Pax

You’re right! I find all those places very touristy and commercial but they are (to you) what you make them....
I found Jerusalem hopelessly commercial too... But it took none of the magic away , i didn’t let it

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Or you can sit at length beside the Grotto in meditative silence

When I was there in June 2013, I did not have that option:

I apologize for using someone else's video from You Tube. My photos are on a flash drive somewhere! I had to wait for two days to head for Oloron. The path was a swamp.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

When I was there in June 2013, I did not have that option:

I apologize for using someone else's video from You Tube. My photos are on a flash drive somewhere! I had to wait for two days to head for Oloron. The path was a swamp.

Wow! Hard to imagine!

 

[catholicwalker]

Hello all,
I, too, only through God's benevolence and divine plane was blessed to experience The Holy Land Nov. 2017.I was showered with graces and blessings as the Lord created 'the way' for me to unexpectedly journey to His Holy Land! Yes, was surrounded by as wide an assortment of touristo vendors as is the Holy Land itself yet it never took away from the overwhelming gift of physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally walking the same land that Our Lord once walked. I will expect as many vendors within the city gates of Lourdes selling all their wares.
I am so appreciative of each response as it boosts my courage; i tend to wobble. Then, I will read a pilgrim's response and feel stronger, more courageous, remembering that it is not through my strength that this walk is unfolding. I'm so thankful to know that at least two other pilgrims are walking from Lourdes at end of Sept.
One pilgrim, who wrote of "Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my! " Now 'Alhimself' and you right there in Lourdes at same time. I don't do Whatz up or Facebook or social media stuff... I do plan to stay Saturday night through Monday night and begin walking Tuesday morning...I will walk also at my own pace... not marathon walks; Lourdes, Betharram, Arudy, Orloron are the stops to begin with. Perhaps we will meet along the way...
Yes, Fr. I do plan to spend a long period of time meditating at the grotto; endless hours, absorbing endless souls each entering the grotto whether with wonder, confusion, hope, despair, joy, weakness, certainty, doubt, disbelief or belief; we can't know, yet they are there and so is Our Blessed Mother wrapping each within her own precious mantle of comfort, love and mercy. Covering each with what they need.

 

[catholicwalker]

I have found 'The City of St. Pierre' website: www.citesaintpierre.net
I'm reading about their City...