When I was sixteen, I went to Lourdes in Southern France. In the 1850s, lived a fourteen-year-old French girl called Bernadette who was very poor. Her family had run a mill, but refused to be dishonest and cheat people and so had lost a lot of money. One day, in a cave near her house, Bernadette saw a vision of the Virgin Mary who told her to build a church there and tell people to go on pilgrimage to the place. This was the first of many such visions. Bernadette saw Mary many more times and eventually managed to get the church built. Nowadays, millions of people visit ever year and it is an important place for Catholics. Though I am Anglican and not Catholic, I was deeply moved by the place. Many believe that the water there has healing properties, and so a hospice that takes very good care of its patients both physically and spiritually, has been established there.
The most incredible part of my experience was one night when a friend and I were queueing up to see the grotto. A mass in the esplanade was just ending as we queued and at the end they did the peace. The queue consisted of people from all over the globe, who spoke different languages, had different traditions, different skin tones, different clothes, different beliefs, and all these people suddenly turned to each other and shook each other's hands saying “Pace” (Italian for peace). These people from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania were all united by one word: Pace. Just two syllables of goodwill.
I will never forget that moment.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento