By Michele Ryan
Contributing writer
On a recent pilgrimage to Lourdes, France I wondered, Can a miracle happen for me?
I watched stories about Lourdes before my May 2-11, 2023, pilgrimage with Holy Family Church of Syracuse but I thought it unlikely that I would encounter the miraculous. Surprise, I discovered that every day of the pilgrimage provided little miracles, little gifts from a most loving and generous God that culminated in a miracle for my friend.
Many people come to be healed at Lourdes. Here, two people in wheelchairs hold hands in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary in the Grotto.
After thanking God daily for his loving care in Lisieux, Mont-Saint-Michel, the Normandy battlefields and Paris I arrived in Lourdes unable to imagine how the trip could get any better, but it did. After all, this was a trip for my soul.
At a nightly Marian procession at Lourdes, thousands of pilgrims walk with lit candles reciting the rosary and lifting their candles high as they sing Ave Maria. I felt such joy and love being surrounded by believers from all over the world who love Jesus and his Most Blessed Mother. I thought, It can’t get any better than this.
One of the most famous features of Lourdes is the Grotto where the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858 and told her to dig and a miraculous spring would appear. We celebrated Mass there with our priests, Father Malachi Clark, Father Dennis Walker and Deacon Bob Fangio. It was so inspiring to watch all the people in wheelchairs lined up with their volunteer helpers. I was especially moved earlier in the day when I saw two people sitting side by side in wheelchairs holding hands as they looked at the statue of the Blessed Mother in a niche of the Grotto wall.
We learned the water has no healing properties of its own. The Society of St Pius X website explains in a Feb. 16, 2017, article that “throughout the history of Lourdes no one who approaches the Grotto leaves without receiving some grace for a spiritual cure … graces that emanate from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose mediatrix is his Most Holy Mother.”
At the Baths of Lourdes volunteers used to help the faithful bathe in the water but since COVID they lead individuals through “Water Gestures” instead. I waited for almost an hour sitting on benches in front of the Baths for my turn to enter and pass behind the blue and white striped curtain to meet my volunteer and experience this special gift. I was amazed at the silence and reverence of everyone waiting. Many, like me, were silently praying the rosary and likely thinking about hoped-for healing. I prayed for healing of some physical ailments but also for healing of any unforgiveness left in me and any bitterness that remains for those I had forgiven.
My volunteer welcomed me and asked me which language I speak. As I looked at the stone tub where people bathed in the past I was grateful that I didn’t have to descend into freezing cold water! Instead she asked me to pray to Our Lady and stepped back to give me privacy. Then she asked me to perform three water gestures in honor of what Our Lady asked St. Bernadette to do. She reverently took a beautiful tall china pitcher and poured water over my outstretched hands for me to wash them. Then she poured water into my hands and signaled me to wash my face. Finally, she poured water into my hands and asked me to drink. Then we prayed together.
Shown at a lookout in Mont-Saint-Michel, France, are Fathers Dennis Walker and Malachi Clark. (Photos courtesy Michele Ryan)
I was overcome with emotion! I started to cry and felt peace and joy. I never expected such an outpouring of emotion from a simple ceremony. I know that something in my spirit that was broken had been released, had been healed. I remembered that it is our earthly mother who first teaches us how to wash our face and hands and our heavenly mother who wants us to drink of the living waters from her Son Jesus.
Later I was able to follow the Way of the Cross as it winds up the mountainside adjacent to the Basilica. As I prayed alone in front of the life-size figures the emotional afternoon of spiritual healing continued.
We were leaving the next day and I thought, I have had my Lourdes miracle! It was beautiful. It can’t get any better than this.
I momentarily forgot about the notebook of prayers for family and friends and their needs I had deposited in a special container by the Grotto.
The next day I began a 24-hour journey home from Lourdes to Syracuse. When I got to Atlanta I was so exhausted I could hardly think straight and I dreaded trying to figure out the best way to get home from the airport at 12:30 a.m. I was praying when my phone rang. It was a friend I had been praying for fervently; her name was left in the Grotto on a slip of paper. I couldn’t believe I was talking to the same person I had left behind in a rehab facility two weeks earlier. She was filled with joy, talkative and eager to hear about my trip. Gone was the depression, the anger with God, the difficulty completing sentences. Gone was the despair about her future and her inability to return to her apartment and live on her own. Gone was her feeling that God was far, far away. I was astonished and asked her what had happened. She said, “I felt a complete change come over me. It must be the prayers you offered at Lourdes.”
When I talked to her sister she confirmed that my friend no longer has to sleep in her wheelchair in front of the nurse’s station to prevent falls, no longer has to get an aide to dial the phone for her. My friend joined a craft group to make hats for Mother’s Day and went to the religious service on Sunday. She said this all started a few days ago and she doesn’t know what to attribute it to. I told her it is a miracle from Our Lady of Lourdes! As my friend took her first steps and the physical therapist told her she can now use a walker she said, “Another miracle from Lourdes!”
I boarded my flight to Syracuse exhausted but so happy when I heard a voice call “Michele!” It was my dear friend’s husband returning from a biannual business trip to Atlanta. I said, “It is nice to see you. Can you drive me home?” He replied, “I would love to!” One last miracle from Lourdes. As I carry the memory of Lourdes into the future I know it can always get better than this!
Michele Ryan is a parishioner of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Syracuse.
Note: More information about Lourdes and the water can be obtained by going to the website of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers located in Syracuse, lourdesvolunteers.org.
