Today we had a lie in. We were not on duty till 8.30 so we had an extra half hour in bed. It was so good.After breakfast we all assembled for the move from the Accueil to Saint Bernadette’s church for the Penitential service. The Accueil is where the sick pilgrims stay and it’s like a hospital. The pilgrims then had an opportunity to go to confession.
We spent some time with the pilgrims in the Accueil chatting. Once lunch was finished we had a mass for the anointing of the sick. This was a very moving ceremony as all of those who were sick and infirm received the Sacrament of the sick and then we got the opportunity to be anointed with the oil as well. Are there any priests left in Dublin as they all seem to be here?!! Every mass is concelebrated. We emerged from the church to torrential rain, thunder and lightening and we had to lead the pilgrims to the grotto. We got soaked!
We were scheduled to go to the baths ourselves today but as everything was delayed we are rescheduled for Saturday.
After dinner there was a medal ceremony for those who have been serving in Lourdes for varying amounts of time. There were 3 recipients from Beaufort: Kim Nolan- silver for 5 years, Rua Barron- bronze for 3 years and Ms O’Reilly- bronze for 3 years!!!! We were so proud! We are definitely going for bronze! There were 7 people who received gold medals for 25 years and one lady even received a special award for 100 visits to Lourdes. It was a beautiful liturgy and was celebrated by the Archbishop with Father Martin Noone our parish priest.
Then we had our prairie which was on the theme of reconciliation and we got the opportunity to go to confession. We then went to a hotel for a sing-song with the white shirts. It was great fun and we sang our hearts out!
Aideen, Claire, Roisin, Niamh, Laura and Mrs. O’Reilly
