My wife and I celebrated Christmas Eve with our Basque friends Mikel and Mara and their baby Aiala in Vitoria, Spain where we enjoyed a festive dinner made by Mara's mother Alicia, a delicious dessert cake by Mara's sister Alicia and rousing accordion music by Mikel. I was honored with a surprise gift of a Basque beret, which I proudly put on and now treasure. After saying goodbye to our gracious hosts on Christmas morning we drove around the west end of the Pyrenees to Lourdes, France. Crossing the river, I thought we were lost on a narrow village road but I soon saw a man carrying long candles and another with a large container of holy water. After parking the car, I discovered we were right at the entrance to the sanctuary. The sanctuary was blessedly crowd free on this chilly Christmas afternoon.
We were here to pray for world peace. I believe in the power of sacred places--often marked by natural springs such as those at Lourdes. I was moved by the beauty and peace of this place where in 1848 a peasant girl named Bernadette saw "a small maiden," dressed in white with a blue belt and two golden roses at her feet. On another visit, the vision of the small maiden instructed her to dig in a grotto and to drink the water of a spring she would find. Today, this vision of the maiden is celebrated as Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes and the waters of this spring are believed to be healing.
Besides our prayers for world peace and understanding, we lit a special candle for Mara's grandmother, Concepción and another for the eternal peace of my nephew Miles, who died a few years ago in New Orleans.
Enjoy these images of this special place.
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| The grotto where Bernadette uncovered the holy water springs |
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Tricia-Rose lights Concepción's Candle of Healing
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| Placing Miles' Candle of Eternal Peace |
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The sanctuary basilica is built directly above the grotto where Bernadette saw the Blessed Virgin Mary
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| My final blessing as I got into the car to leave was to recognize an old Yosemite friend, a magnificent Incense Cedar transplanted from California's Sierra Nevada, my Holy Sanctuary of Home |
