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It seemed like we had an extraordinarily long break for Christmas…or perhaps I was so busy that it appeared longer than normal.
Along with a classmate of mine, Deacon Nicholas, I went to southern France with the specific intention of spending Christmas in Lourdes, a miraculous place blessed by the apparitions of Mary, the Mother of God 150 years ago.
Here is a brief description of the place and event:
In 1858 the Virgin Mary appeared 18 times in a grotto to a young peasant girl, St. Bernadette. In 1854, four years earlier, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was solemnly defined by Pope Pius IX as a teaching shared by the faithful throughout the centuries and revealed by Holy Scripture and Tradition.
Young Bernadette, 14 years old at the time, had never heard this before nor had any idea what “Immaculate Conception” meant when Mary appeared to her, more beautiful than any woman she had ever seen, and said “I am the Immaculate Conception”.
Mary instructed Bernadette to have a chapel built on the site and at one point directed her to drink from a fountain in the grotto. However, there was no fountain visible so Bernadette dug where Mary indicated. Water flowed and still does to this day with miraculous results. It has healed thousands although science has not identified any properties.
More than 5 million people are approximated to visit Lourdes each year.
Before having a very blessed Christmas in Lourdes Deacon Nicholas and I traveled around the large city of Toulouse, where St. Thomas Aquinas is buried.
Then we traveled 100 miles north to a fantastic village on the side of a cliff/plateau named RocAmadour. This town is also very well known with having a Marian connection, a statue of the Virgin Mary with child. Many miracles have happened here as people have prayed before (not prayers directed to) this statue and always through the intercession of Mary, not from her as if she is God.
With no extra charge, we were blessed to have had our rental car upgraded from the lowest, cheapest car we could get to a…BMW! I love driving and this made for a very fun time through the hills of southern France (I really am sorry if that sounds snobby but it is part of my story).
After a glorious week in France I came back to Rome to meet my aunt, cousin and my cousin’s friend Bernadette (surprisingly enough) who visited for three days coming from Portugal.
We had fun together seeing the sites and struggling through the language barrier since they only speak Portuguese with a little English and I can only understand a bit of Portuguese with no ability to converse.
After their visit I went with 3 seminarians to the very north of Italy, almost the boarder of Austria, for four days. That part of the Alps is called the Dolomites. Anytime of year I am told, and now believe, it is a majestic place to visit. The mountains are very jagged and a wonder to behold. We had a great time with the abundant snow (3 good days of snowboarding) and tasty Germanic food.
I had a very blessed and busy Christmas break. All of you were in my prayers, especially in Lourdes. Thank you for your prayers and support that make my studies and experiences here possible. I pray that my formation and experiences over these quick four years in Rome make me a better servant/leader when I return home to be assigned somewhere in the great state of Arkansas.
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