By the grotto there is another church called ‘Milk Grotto Church’, it has that name because it is believed when Mary was breast feeding Jesus some of her milk fell on the floor and stained it. Pilgrims buy stone replicas, as they believe it to improve breast-feeding,
In the Holy Land people go and visit the many churches Jesus has meant to have been or performed a miracle. For example where Jesus fed the five thousand is now a church many visit.
At Capenaum people visit the synagogue where Jesus preached. They can also go down to the Jordan. Many pilgrims fill up bottles of water, and then they take them home to baptise a family member with. This is because Jesus was baptised there with the same water.
Pilgrims also visit Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. This is where Jesus performed his first miracle. This is extra special, as it was the first of Jesus’ signs.
Jodi Berkeley.
Pilgrims often travel the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. As the coach struggles the climb up the hill they reflect and wonder how people managed to climb the hill on their feet.
When the pilgrims reach Jerusalem they visit the Mount of Olives. The mount has many significance to the Christians, as it was where Jesus mainly spent his time when he was in Jerusalem, it was here that he taught his disciples, on the slopes he was taken and arrested and from the very summit that he ascended into Heaven. At the foot of the mount is the Church of all Nations, which is also known as the Basilica of the Agony. It joins on to the Gardens of Gethsemane, where Jesus was betrayed. The olive grove there is two thousand years old and it is from one of these trees that they believe Judas hung himself. On the far side of the mount is the small octagonal dome of the ascension, this marks the traditional site of Jesus ascent to heaven.
The pilgrims can also do the Via Dolorosa, the Via Dolorosa means the way of sorrow, and this is the road Jesus took to his death. It starts from the Practorium the place of judgement where Jesus was condemned by Pilote and made to bore his cross to Calvary.
They visit all fourteen Stations of the Cross and pray at each one. The last station is the Holy Sepulchre, which is believed to have been built on the sites of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. In the church of the Holy Sepulchre you can visit a tomb and touch the stone they believe Jesus to be laid on when he died.
Jodi Berkeley.
Pilgrims also visit Nazareth, they visit the Basilica of Annunciation, and it marks the spot what we believe to be where the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to inform her about the son God chose her to bear. They also visit the Church of Saint Gabriel, this is believed by the Greek Orthodox to be where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. There is also the Church of Saint Joseph which is next to the Basilica, in the church there is a cavern believed to be the workshop of Joseph, Jesus, father on earth.
Pilgrims do not only go to the Holy Land to visit the places Jesus taught and lived, they learn whet life was like during his life. They also visit other places, like the Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The pilgrims also swim in the Dead Sea to experience the floating sensation. The Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea as the sea is very salty and nothing can live in it.
A popular Marion shrine pilgrims go to is Lourdes in France. This is because the Virgin Mary is believed to have visited Bernadette many times. Bernadette was a young peasant girl who was not educated and did not have a broad range of vocabulary. Bernadette had many apparitions. At the start her mother did not believe her and forbid her to go back to the Grotto of Massabielle but some inner force made Bernadette return. As Bernadette had more apparitions more people came to see, but they could not hear what the Virgin Mary said only Bernadette herself could. On Bernadette’s ninth apparition she was told to drink at a spring and eat grass. After she did the apparition went, that particular evening she was questioned by a Procurer Imperial Dutour, who threatened to send her to prison if she returned to the grotto.
Jodi Berkeley.
Bernadette still went back to the grotto and after two more apparitions she was threatened again but she answered with the same forceful serenity. On the thirteenth
apparition she was told to tell the priest to build a chapel and his reply was, ‘‘who is this
Lady.’’ The next day father Peyramale said ‘‘if the lady really wants the chapel, let her say her name and make the rose-bush at the grotto bloom.’’ On her sixteenth apparition she was finally given the lady’s name, the lady said ‘‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’’ Father Peyramale believed Bernadette, as she did not understand the meaning of what she said. She had a total of eighteen apparitions.
People go and visit the Grotto of Massabielle where Bernadette had her visions. The spot where Bernadette saw Mary there is a statue, the statue is a replica of the way Bernadette described her. People light candles in the hope that God will answer their prayers, often when they pray at the grotto, they say the Rosary as Bernadette always said the Rosary as she arrived at the grotto.
The pilgrims also visit the baths, which is the spring Bernadette dug up. Ill people bathe in it hoping it will heal them, they are fully immersed, as they believe the water can heal them. They hope it will cure them like many before. There are a number of crutches hanging at Lourdes from people who have been cured. Other people wash themselves in the water and fill bottles up to take them home to keep. This water is a lot colder than normal water.
In Lourdes there are two main processions, the Blessed Sacrament procession and the Torchlight procession. The Blessed Sacrament procession starts at the grotto and works
Jodi Berkeley.
its way around the Esplanade to end in front of the Rosary Basilica for the Benediction. The people sing and pray together as they process around the site.
The Torchlight procession assembles the pilgrims for the recital of the Rosary. Each person is given a lighted candle; it has an atmosphere of joy, celebration and hope. During the celebration they sing the Lourdes hymn ‘Immaculate Mary.’