Tuesday 18 May 2010

Where I Will Be In A Fortnight...

The annual Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes is coming up. I have to admit that my usual excitement at the prospect of spending a week in Lourdes is somewhat muted by the knowledge that the Icelandic volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier is still merrily belching out ash, which may or may not result in flight cancellations, and British Airways cabin crews may or may not be out on strike...

However, if we're lucky, in two weeks' time I shall be praying for you all at the Grotto at Massabielle. I love Lourdes.

Last year we managed to celebrate Mass in the crypt of the parish church in Lourdes. This year we are lucky enough to have arranged two Masses there. We shall also have two Masses in the Domaine - one Mass will be in the St. Gabriel Chapel (an old favourite, next to the Crypt Chapel) and the other will be in the Chapelle Croix Glorieuse. This is a new chapel - so new, in fact, that it doesn't feature anywhere on the Lourdes Sanctuaires website.

I have been told that the chapel is near the Way of the Cross, but that's all I know. I am just praying that it doesn't in any way resemble the St. Patrick Chapel. That chapel resembled a large cupboard... or possibly a small garage... and was the deciding factor in His Hermeneuticalness' decision to run the pilgrimage ourselves, rather than using tour operators who thought it acceptable to arrange to celebrate Masses in cupboards simply because the cupboard had been named after a saint...

This year I shall have my snazzy camera with me. I am toying with the idea of bringing my monopod, but it'll be a bit of a hassle to carry it everywhere. I shall be armed with an 8GB memory card as well, so I should manage to get a few little photos for the blog...

5 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

Uh, Mac. You don't have to carry the monopod ALL the time...just maybe some of the time...

gemoftheocean said...

I don't suppose praying for unresponsive USB ports that get well would be considered a miracle, would it?

Mulier Fortis said...

Personally I think malfunctioning USB ports require Divine intervention...

Innocent Smith said...

I'm going to Rome for a conference next week and am only hoping the volcano cooperates!

Dominic Mary said...

Give our love to Mother, Mac; and I know we shall all be in your prayers, as you will be in ours.

(I presume one prayer will be for a large ash cloud, and the complete collapse of French railways - but only after you've got there !) ;-)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...