An Army for Mary

We began our day with another delicious French breakfast, then made a relatively short drive to Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, a small historic town named after the early Christian martyr St. Lawrence. We explored the Basilica of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort before meeting our tour guide for the location, Michelle, who spoke about St. Louis, Bl. Marie-Louise Trichet, and the details of the basilica. She commented that many pilgrims to the basilica are American: "Fr. Montfort" is often more appreciated in our country than in his own. A collection of stained glass window highlighting churches with devotion to the saint includes our own Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

We then further sanctified the day by celebrating Holy Mass at the tomb of St. Louis de Montfort and Bl. Marie Trichet. Fr. Swink was the principal celebrant, and Fr. Ray preached the homily. Reflecting on today's Gospel of Jesus expelling a demon (Luke 11:15-26). Fr. Ray pointed out that Jesus often enlists the help of his Blessed Mother in exorcism and deliverance. Lucifer, in his pride is disgusted by us "mud dolls," formed from the clay of the earth, and he is especially humiliated when Mary—a human like us—is given the authority to cast him out. St. Louis de Montfort prophesied that there would be an army of souls consecrated to Mary who would be used by God to defeat the devil. We are called to be such souls.

After Mass, the basilica staff unlocked the crypt, which predates the upper church. Once again, it was easy to feel as though we had stepped back in time.

Just after 11:00 a.m., we boarded the bus to begin our day-long journey to Lourdes. After so many elegant French restaurants on our pilgrimage, many of us chuckled as we discovered that our lunch stop would be Burger King. I was happy to discover royalty that had survived the French Revolution. (Responses were mixed when I shared that joke on the bus.)

As we finally approached Lourdes, the quiet rural landscape gave no hint that we were nearing one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Europe. Tractors, cattle, and sheep were a common sight.

Soon we could see the steep Pyrenees mountains rising out of the previously flat landscape. Signs confirmed that we would soon be in Lourdes, where Our Lady had appeared to St. Bernadette.

As we enjoyed a delicious dinner at our hotel, much conversation seemed to focus on what awaited us next: A candlelight procession in Lourdes. Anticipation was high, and the experience did not disappoint.

The candlelight procession felt like a foretaste of Heaven. Pilgrims from around the world prayed and sang as the Rosary was recited in languages from around the world: Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, English, German, Polish, Chinese and more. Our tour guide Margaret told us to expect about 20,000 pilgrim's, and I don't doubt that there were that many people. Candlelight filled the plaza as the procession slowly wound its way toward the sanctuary. The diversity of different languages in each Hail Mary gave away to beautiful unity as thousands of us sang the Gloria Patri and the Lourdes Hymn "Ave Maria." It was clear that we were marching among the very army of souls that St. Louis de Montfort had predicted.

Tomorrow we'll spend a full day in Lourdes, exploring this sacred place where Heaven touches earth.