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 in procession with the Blessed Sacrament around the main esplanade of the shrine, and taken to visit the sacred grotto. Each evening they can participate in the candlelight procession, praying the rosary with hundreds, indeed thousands, of others, asking that God bring them greater peace, strength and consolation. He came to establish, a Kingdom where the blind, the deaf, the lame, indeed all those in need, have the places of honor. Again, ask anyone who has been there and they will tell you that they, too, come away with a sense of peace, reconciliation, and healing.
Healing occurs in a variety of ways, on many levels, to everyone.
The small number of miraculous cures which have been certified over the years is negligible when compared with the vast number of genuine healings that occur everyday at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. The truly remarkable thing about a pilgrimage to this small town in the Pyrenees is that everyone who visits realizes that they have been healed, touched, loved by God. Next month I will make my seventh pilgrimage to Lourdes. My first was in the summer of 1987, when I accompanied the Bishop for whom I served as Secretary, and I have returned nearly every year since. Before my first visit I was not sure what to expect, nor did I have any inclination as to how remarkable the experience would be.