The Catholic Parish of Crawley

On Thursday this week, the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes begins. More than one thousand pilgrims, from all parts of the Diocese and from all walks of life, will journey together, literally and spiritually, to praise God for the apparitions of His Blessed Mother to St Bernadette one hundred and fifty years ago this year. For those who don’t make the physical journey to the south of France, there is still a part to play as you accompany the pilgrims in your thoughts and prayers.

To help visitors to the shrine celebrate this Jubilee Year, the Sanctuary authorities are proposing a “Jubilee Way” made up of four stations marking particular moments in St Bernadette’s life. It begins with the font in which Bernadette was baptised, goes on to the Cachot, the dis-used prison where St Bernadette and her family lived at the time of the apparitions, moves to the Grotto where Our Lady appeared eighteen times to the young girl, and ends at the chapel in the hospice where St Bernadette celebrated her First Holy Communion.

The stages of this Way are not simply for historical record, but they also speak to our hearts, inviting us to reflect on our lives of faith. Perhaps during the week of the pilgrimage (24th July – 1st August) each one of us, wherever we may be, can follow this way in prayer and reflection.  As we go, may the prayers of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, and of St Bernadette, help us hear again the invitation of the Gospel to faithful and fulfilled life in Jesus, the Son of God.