Lourdes water in 6 key words

Appearance

It was on February 25, 1858, during the ninth of her 18 apparitions to Bernadette – at the center of her exchanges with the young girl – that the Virgin Mary asked her: “Go drink at the spring and wash yourself there.” The 14-year-old shepherdess then began to scratch the ground in the hope of discovering this spring. The water that came out was initially muddy. It welled up in a place in the grotto called “the Pig Shed,” where the pigs fed. The Immaculate Conception appeared in one of the dirtiest places there is. “As if to signify that Mary is not afraid to join us in the heart of our humanity, with all its weaknesses,” comments the director of the National Pilgrimage, Father Sébastien Antoni.

Drink

Letting the water run between your fingers, washing your hands, your face, drinking it… “In a spiritual process, touch has its place,” comments Father Sébastien Antoni, because we are not pure spirits. Simply looking at the water makes no sense. We do not have direct access to God, we need mediations, signs, gestures… Like the bread of the Eucharist that nourishes us, the water of baptism washes us. It is this purification that the water of Lourdes allows. On the other hand, it is good to remember that it is not a magic gesture. Only the process of faith counts. Like the woman in the Gospel who has been bleeding for many years and who touches a centimeter of Jesus’ garment (Gospel of Mark, chapter 5, and Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9). It is not the gesture itself that heals her but her audacity and her faith.”

Path

Water is one of the elements of the “Path of Signs” created in 2022 on the occasion of the 149th edition of the National Pilgrimage. Alongside wind, fire and earth, water takes an important place, that of the element that purifies, washes but also allows growth.

Fountains

The fountains located around the grotto allow pilgrims to drink from the source or to stock up to take back to a family member or friend. It is easily transported, in plastic cans of 50, 30, 5 or 2 liters… Up to vials of modest dimensions, an ideal gift for an elderly, sick or disabled person for whom the trip to Lourdes proves too difficult to organize.

Patience

To access the fountains, the wait is sometimes long. This can be discouraging. However, “as with any meeting, it allows us to prepare ourselves,” recalls the director of the National. Some pilgrims come from the ends of the earth: they will surely not have the opportunity to return. For them, it is the journey of a lifetime. In the queue, we can evoke in our hearts the names of people we love, carry with us people who have asked us to pray for them.”

Swimming pools

Compliance with health standards following the Covid epidemic allowed, on July 15, the reopening of five of the eighteen “swimming pools”. The term can be misleading: do not imagine an Olympic pool from which Léon Marchand would emerge. They are in fact large bathtubs filled with cold water from the spring. Anyone can bathe there, sick or not. The pilgrim, accompanied by trained volunteers, the “pool keepers”, undresses in a cabin, puts on a large loincloth and soaks for a few seconds. This year, 4,800 colorful loincloths, predominantly blue, were brought back by a couple from Ivory Coast.

People who do not feel comfortable with the idea of ​​swimming have the possibility of experiencing the “water gesture”, introduced in 2021. A “pool attendant” pours water into the person’s hands three times: once for them to wash their hands, a second time for them to wash their face, a third time for them to drink.

During the National, 1000 baths per day were carried out, or 4000 baths in total (for just over 7000 pilgrims this year).