Summer Trip to Lourdes

In July, Mrs Helen Lavery, Assistant Housemistress at St Michael's House, joined five Mayfield students on a pilgrimage to Lourdes with Ampleforth. The group dedicated a week to prayer and service in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Below is her summary of the trip:

Lourdes is the site where Mary appeared to a poor girl called Bernadette Soubirous aged just 14 years old while she was out collecting firewood. Mary appeared to Bernadette 18 times. During one apparition, Mary asked Bernadette to drink at the spring beneath her feet. Even though this area was muddy, she kept digging and the next day, there was clear water. Bernadette was then told to have a chapel built in the exact spot where the vision had taken place. Pilgrims now visit and pray in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and worship at the grotto where the visions took place. They follow the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and wash in it" in the belief that they may be cleansed of their sins, and millions of visitors come to Lourdes each year in the hope of being cured because it is believed that spring water from the grotto can heal people if they are sick.

We accompanied Ampleforth with their ‘Assisted Pilgrims’ - Pilgrims, just like us, but who may need some medical attention. Our students helped the pilgrims with personal care as well as joining them for ice cream and coffee in the cafes after Masses and Processions. The schedule was full, in order to experience all that Lourdes has to offer. Most mornings started at 07:30 to get the Assisted Pilgrims up and ready for the day; this included assisting in rooms, helping in the dining room and cleaning the bedrooms. We accompanied the Assisted Pilgrims to all services including Mass of Anointing, Lectio Divina, Adoration of The Blessed Sacrament, Passage through the Grotto and a visit to the baths at the Grotto.

We were lucky to have the opportunity to have a service of reconciliation for all volunteers in the Underground Basilica St Pie X, where we got to experience Ampleforth’s amazing choir, while being offered the chance for confession. However, it was not all work. There were a few rooftop celebrations and even a talent show where our very own Abigail showed off her ballet skills. There were many, many glasses of Orangina drunk, croissants consumed, and ice creams devoured in the July heat!

Our Mayfield students joined together to light a candle and pray in Mayfield’s name, for the intentions of all Mayfield students past, present and future; our Staff, including those no longer with us; and all our friends and family. 

The students get so much out of participating on the Pilgrimage. Rachel had this to say about it:

"Our week in Lourdes with Ampleforth College was one of the most incredible experiences I have had. It was packed with activities focused around the spirituality of the place, from taking the assisted pilgrims to the Sanctuary Baths, having daily Mass in various locations, going along to late night grotto visits, and the torchlight procession. What I particularly enjoyed was making friends with the other student pilgrims from around the world, especially at our students' ice cream night! I am so grateful for everyone at Mayfield who made the trip possible, it was unforgettable and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who is thinking of going."

The Sanctuary's theme this year is 'Come here in Procession'. As such, it concludes the triplet of themes taken from Our Lady's instructions to Bernadette: 'Go tell the priests - to build a Church - and come here in Procession'. We have had the privilege of helping to lead a few processions in Lourdes including the Torchlight Procession, Blessed Sacrament Procession and Mass at the Grotto. I read a lovely piece in our Pilgrimage Prayer Booklet that stayed with me. ‘Forming a procession is an act of consecration in itself. We choose to walk with others, along a common path, at a common speed, towards our common goal. And while we do so, we pray together, and we care for each other. So when we are in procession, we form a unique community, we become a model of the Church, that ‘pilgrim people’ of god. No wonder Our Lady made such a strange request!’