Sunday 26 Lourdes Day One Expand Sunday opening Mass 6th sunday of easter Theme: Good News to the Poor- we come in our poverty to experience a taste of the kingdom, here in Lourdes We begin our pilgrimage on Sunday, the Lord's Day, and the Day of the Resurrection. In fact, our whole pilgrimage this year takes place in the joy of the Easter Season and will include the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord on Thursday and the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Elizabeth on Friday. This year's theme in Lourdes, Blessed are the Poor, will be a time for us to reflect on our own awareness of poverty around us especially in our own communities at home, and the call to see Christ most of all in those who are in need. But on this week of pilgrimage, we are also invited to recognise the areas of poverty in our own lives, and to seek the riches of the life of heaven to influence our daily lives. With the joy of the redeemed children of God, let us begin our pilgrimage week. Bishop David McGough Homily Filling Eglise St Bernadette Cote Grotte for Opening Mass Processional for Welcome Mass Thanks to our young people Lucy Mitchell Student Nurse Ethan Jennings Aged 17 Photo Gallery
Monday 27 Lourdes Day Two Expand Grotto Mass Theme: Good News to the Poor- The Kingdom of God is Near You To gather for Mass at the Grotto is always a most privileged moment on our pilgrimage. We do so with our own Bishops, with Bishops Terence Drainey and Peter Brignall and their respective dioceses of Middlesborough and Wrexham and other English speaking pilgrims. Today is the Feast Day in England of St Augustine of Canterbury who in 597 AD was sent by Pope St Gregory the Great to evangelise the people of the British Isles. This is an important Feast recalling the many years of faith which is part of our national heritage. It can also be a renewed call to evangelise our country anew today. To be at the Grotto at Lourdes surrounded by people of faith is such a different experience from our living out of the life of faith at home in England. So let us draw strength from this celebration, under the watchful gaze of Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, and gathered around the altar of God, to draw strength for the mission to which God calls us. Photo Gallery Grotto Mass Holy Hour and Anointing The Anointing of the Sick is one of the Seven Sacraments, seven signs of God's power and love in our lives. It is given by the Church, through the ministry of priests, to those who are sick in mind or body, a serious sickness or the increased frailty of advanced age. It is a Sacrament that can be given more than once, but its value is seen in a special way when those who are seriously ill are surrounded by the prayerful support of the Church, the People of God. Lourdes is a place of healing. Lourdes is a place that welcomes those who are sick. In a special way. So it is a particular privilege for us to witness this Sacrament in such a place of healing, just as we celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation which is a Sacrament of healing too. The Sacrament is given through prayer, the laying on of hands and the anointing on the forehead and the palms of the hands with the Oil of the Sick. The prayer assures those who are sick of the loving concern and the intercession of their brothers and sisters; the laying on of hands is a sign of the calling down of the Holy Spirit; the anointing is a sign of the healing and strength that God gives through human signs and nature's gifts. We celebrate the Anointing of the Sick in the context of a Holy Hour. We gather in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament - the Body of Christ in the Monstrance on the Altar. As we adore Christ present among us, we show reverence to the Body of Christ which we so often receive in Holy Communion, but we witness to the abiding presence of Christ. Our actions of genuflecting or reverently bowing remind us that to be in Christ's presence in this way is a profound moment where we touch the life of heaven, and the power of God touches our hearts and our lives. During the Holy Hour, we offer our praises in song, we listen to the word of God proclaimed, and we spend some moments in silent reflection, as we try to remember that all our concerns, all of our troubles, all of life's pre-occupations are offered up in awe and wonder to the God who heals, who transforms, who leads us to heaven. Photo Gallery Holy Hour Photo Gallery Accueil and Candlelight Procession Listen: Audio Interviews Tamzyn, Libby and Melissa, Student Nurses Leo Rudd
Tuesday 28 Lourdes Day Three Expand Tuesday Hospitalité Mass Theme: Good News to the poor – detachment from earthly things The Hospitalité Mass – which begins at an early hour – is a Mass of Thanksgiving for the work of service offered by so many people on our pilgrimage in Lourdes. The Hospitalité is the branch of the pilgrimage which is the expression of nursing care and attention to the welfare of our sick pilgrims. Some members of our pilgrimage have been coming to Lourdes to serve sick pilgrims for decades; many of the young people from our school Sixth Forms will be here ministering to those who are sick for the first time, and it will be the part of the pilgrimage which they will remember most. Christ taught by example: Here I am among you as one who serves. In the Scripture Readings of our Mass today, we shall hear from the Letter of St James and the Gospel of Mark that it is not by the world’s standards that our most important judgement comes. Our values are the values of heaven, which has a justice system which is quite different. Hospitalite Photo Gallery Gallery: Diocesan photos outside the Basilica Gallery: High and Low Stations Gallery: Youth Event Audio interviews
Wednesday 29 Lourdes Day Four Expand Mac’s Mass Theme: Good News to the poor – transforming lives through the grace of God Today’s Mass embraces the participation of our pilgrims with Special Needs. Mac’s Group which has been central to our Diocesan Pilgrimage for many years keeps before us the truth that we, like Isaiah, and like Christ himself are called to proclaim Good News to those who are most in need in society, because in their knowledge of their need, Jesus declared them Blessed. May all of our daily struggles and challenges be eclipsed by the knowledge that it is not of our own making but by the gift of God’s grace that we are called to be his children, precious in his sight. Gallery: Mac's Mass Gallery: CJM Concert
Thursday 30 Lourdes Day Five Expand International Mass Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord As the Easter Season looks towards its culmination with the great day of Pentecost, today we commemorate the day on which Jesus ascended to the Father in heaven, leaving Our Lady and the Apostles, but promising them the Holy Spirit. We gather as an expression of the Universal Church here in Lourdes and sing the praises of God in many languages. Even when we cannot join in with every language, English translation will be given. But as Pentecost draws near, we remember that it was from many languages that the one language of prayer came to unite Christian believers. Let us thank God today for the different nations represented at this International Mass; that the Spirit of God may renew the face of the earth. Gallery: International Mass Reconciliation Service The week in Lourdes has hopefully given us an opportunity to reflect on our own journey of faith, through experiences of prayer and the events of the week shared with others. This Reconciliation Service is for everybody on the pilgrimage. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession, is offered to everybody. In the setting of the pilgrimage, it is quite overwhelming to be surrounded by people confessing their sins, drawing on God's grace and, as a pivotal moment of pilgrimage, being reconciled with God and his Church. Do not be afraid! The invitation to be reconciled is for you: whatever your concerns or apprehension. Unload your burdens and allow the Lord to carry them as he carried his Cross to Calvary. As a community of sinners we seek repentance; as a community of the redeemed, we rejoice in God's mercy! Gallery: Reconciliation Service Gallery: Procession
Friday 31 Lourdes Day Six Expand Friday Closing Mass Theme: Good news to the poor - we honour Mary who sang the praises of God for raising up the poor and lowly It is a blessing to conclude our week of pilgrimage on a special Feast of Mary: the Visitation, the occasion when on her visit to her cousin Elizabeth, Mary sings the praises of God for putting down the proud of heart and raising the lowly: the Magnificat (My soul glorifies the Lord). At the Altar of God today, and following the Lord's Ascension into Heaven, the whole Church awaits the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is often said that Our Lady calls us on pilgrimage to Lourdes. So now, with her, let is sing the praises of God, for all that our week has been. Asa we return to our routines of life in England, let our judgments and our values be shaped by the theme that we have explored this week: Blessed are the Poor. Gallery: Closing Mass