New categories of healing at Lourdes since 2006 and things you may not know (2)

Psychologically, being in the company of large crowds of fellow believers strengthens social faith identity, as does seeing sick pilgrims treated with dignity and honor.

Many families, friends, spiritual advisers and volunteers from international Catholic organizations, such as the Order of Malta, accompany visitors too ill to travel alone. The physical work of caring for the sick affects people spiritually. I have visited Lourdes several times, both as helper and chaplain and heard many confessions there. I know that many of those who volunteer their time as helpers – including people who are not practicing Catholics or even Christians – return home with deeper gratitude for their own health and a livelier faith.

For two months in 2020, the shrine at Lourdes closed for the first time in its history because of the pandemic. Since then, livestreaming of the grotto has attracted an even wider audience. Its dedicated YouTube channel and other social media are 21st-century virtual equivalents of the replica grottoes built in church grounds, schools, hospitals and homes around the world.

Sceptics will likely continue to dispute claims of miraculous healings and apparitions of the Virgin Mary. For millions, however, Lourdes will indisputably continue to be an important faith symbol of comfort and care, and a byword for healing and hope.

P. Dorian Llywelyn, SJ - The Conversation, americamagazine.org

Adapted from: www.heraldmalaysia.com