Students from St. Julian's with Sr. Helen Curmi rscj
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Nine
Students from Convent of the Sacred Heart, St.Julians, lived an
incredible week.... It was a much desired wish to dedicate some time to
voluntary work once the Matsec. Exams were over. This desire was
fostered by the Headmisstress and Sr. Helen Curmi for over a year, and
it came to be. The experience was beyond expectations and each one
benefited greatly, while we were out to 'serve' in any way. Now that
the girls have experienced Lourdes first-hand they cannot steer away
from it. We have learnt so much from what we saw through dedication
and spirit of service of helpers. If ever you have the chance to visit
Lourdes do not miss the opportunity because you will regret it.......
Affected by the city that has touched the hearts of millions
Mention
the name ?Lourdes? to anyone familiar with this famous place of
pilgrimage in Southern France and, immediately, the image of miraculous
cures comes to mind. Just as Jesus made the sick and the poor the
focus of His public ministry, so too in Lourdes do these same children
of God become the focus of the community?s activity and care. Each day
the sick are taken to the baths, brought to the procession with the
Blessed Sacrament around the main esplanade of the shrine, and taken to
visit the sacred grotto.
It is a known story that of
Bernadette going out to collect fire wood and seeing a beautiful lady
in white. Also how she continued having these apparitions, how she was
told that this ?lady? was the Immaculate Conception, how she built a
chapel in her honour and finally how she was told to dig a hole in the
ground and how till this very day water comes out from this spring.
Water, which is believed to heal, water which is said to be
miraculous. In the course of Bernadette?s visits, the ?lady? revealed
that she had primarily come to communicate a message of repentance and
prayer for the conversion of sinners. Being part of the group of nine
students from the Convent of the Sacred Heart Senior School who had the
opportunity to do Voluntary Work in Lourdes, I can surely say that
after just a week in this sacred place I felt cleansed from anything
that made me feel impure and also renewed my spiritual life.
A
visit to Lourdes allows one to reflect upon the ongoing saving activity
of God. The occasional miraculous healings serve to remind us that God
can and does continue to intervene in human history. However the
healing I personally felt was not that of physical healing, but a
spiritual one. And this is also what the other members of the group
felt during and after their experience in Lourdes. It is a place which
literally changes you and makes you feel like you are worth being
called a child of God.
What also helped this change to occur was the fact that we worked among the sick in a hospital called Saint Frai.
That kind of difference between the sick and the able is no longer
seen. We all felt as one ? we were all on a journey of healing. This
fact made us all equal; we all had to be healed in some way or another.
Most of the group worked in the kitchens helping in the cleaning and laying the tables for the sick who were accommodated in Saint Frai. However two members of the group worked in a cafeteria in the Point Rencontre,
which was like the meeting point of the hospital. Being one of these
two girls, I can say that we shared a different experience from the
rest of the group. It was here that this unity between the able and
the sick was seen most. They both would come to the cafeteria and buy
something to drink and they would start a conversation with anyone,
whether you could speak fluently in their language or not. And no-one
would feel ashamed because maybe you couldn?t speak his language
fluently and maybe was not able to speak normally. There was no such
partition which might be common here at home. It was a feeling that
filled you with this sort of unexplainable energy which even the weak
could feel.
As a group we also had the opportunity to
attend the International Youth Mass which takes place every Saturday.
We all agreed that it was the most beautiful mass we had ever
celebrated in fifteen years. We also attended the candlelight
procession which takes place every evening. During this procession all
the pilgrims recite the rosary together as one with hundreds, indeed
thousands, of others asking that God bring peace, strength and
consolation. I felt a shiver run down my spine when I looked around me
and I saw so many people holding a candle in their hand and reciting
the rosary with you. I do not think I have ever seen so many people
feeling free to show how faithful they are back here at home. Another
thing which surprised us was the fact that we saw so many
non-Christians still feeling the need to come to this miraculous
place. They come here because they heard about what it does to people
without knowing anything about the Blessed Virgin Mary. This proves how
this place of miracles also affects people who do not necessarily
believe in what we, as Christians, believe.
Even though only 65 certifiable miracles have been attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes since the 1st
apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous, day
after day, decade after decade, millions of people have been touched
and healed by visits to this spiritual wellspring.
Estelle Farrugia
Convent of the Sacred Heart, St. Julian?s
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