There are also reasons why healthy people might want to go on a pilgrimage. They may be going to assist a sick friend or relative in their last few steps in their spiritual life as a Christian before the inevitable occurs.
Other healthy people may just want to visit Lourdes for the experience of such a famous pilgrimage. These people may also be on a quest for inner peace, inspiration, spirituality and reconciliation.
At Lourdes, many people visit the grotto, where there is a statue of Our Lady, and pray at the foot of this statue. People might say a rosary as a sign of their devotion to Mary, and as a sign their respect for her.
In the evening at Lourdes, when it is dark, there are candle-lit processions in the streets. Everyone is given a candle, and when there are thousands of people, it is beautiful to see a massive area of lit candles.
As Our Lady had requested, a church was built on the sight of the apparitions. Mass is celebrated at the church, and when there are too many people to fit in the church, it is celebrated in the streets as well, using large screens and complex public address systems, enabling everyone to see, hear, and pray together throughout the entire service. Bishops from all over the world have arrangements to say mass at Lourdes.
Pilgrims at Lourdes often visit places of Bernadette. These places would be where Bernadette lived, worked and played, including her home, and the stables where she cared for animals.
The people that go to Lourdes to help will be able to take part in these activities, but will always be escorting a person or group depending on their circumstances. This is beneficial for both parties in the sense that in one way or another they both inspire happiness in the other.
At Lourdes, there are the Stations of the Cross in the form of statues. Many people see these, and blind people can go to the statues with an escort so they can feel the statues and build a mental image of the stages through which Jesus went leading up to his death.
It is possible to buy many souvenirs from Lourdes. The common examples are the small bottles in which holy water can be saved, and rosary beads. When my Uncle Andy went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in May 1996, my Nan asked him to bring back a present for my first communion. My Uncle bought me a picture of Bernadette praying to Mary, and underneath this picture is a picture of the basilica. Mary and Bernadette both have a halo, and Mary’s halo says: Je suis l’immaculée conception. This translates to: I am the Immaculate Conception.
So then, why might a pilgrimage to Lourdes affect a person’s life?
A pilgrimage is most definitely not a holiday. It is a journey of spiritual orientation and is intended to be based solely on faith. For a sick person, a pilgrimage will provide hope, and will serve as a source of encouragement in life. A sick person should leave Lourdes with a feeling of peace, strength, and consolation from God.
For those able people who go to Lourdes, the pilgrimage is not a search for healing, but a quest for reconciliation and spiritual guidance in one’s life. A pilgrimage to Lourdes may indeed help a person to realise how lucky they are in the fact that God has blessed them with good health.
A person may want to go on pilgrimage to Taizé because of the immense sense of community. Many pilgrims who visit Taizé are in search for meaning in their lives. This can be achieved at Taizé because the people there live so closely together.
Taizé is most famous for its concept of ‘brothers and sisters in prayer.’ There are prayer meetings that involve many people who do not know each other. Even though they may never have met before, everyone at Taizé is considered to be a brother or sister.
There are discussion groups in marquees whereby people can come together and talk about their experiences in life, and help others to interpret the meaning of such experiences and help to relate them to their spirituality and inner self.
Taizé focuses its standard of living around simplicity. The people that live and work at Taizé are very poor and they do not accept gifts of money or material goods from family or friends. When the pilgrims themselves experience this way of life, they can develop spiritually as materialistic goods do not overwhelm them.
Due to the extensive amount of visitors at Taizé during spring, summer and autumn, some pilgrims will volunteer to cook or serve food, and clean up after meal times to maintain the quality of operations at Taizé. When it is really warm, the pilgrims at Taizé will pitch tents in the fields and stay in them as opposed to the accommodation that is already there.
At Taizé, there are times for meditation. This is so the pilgrims can be at rest and attempt to find inner meaning through a peaceful and quiet way.
Taizé has a church that was built for mass. As the years went by, and more pilgrims went there, Taizé has made numerous extensions to this church. When mass is celebrated, there may be thousands of people present, and hymns and prayers are said in many languages.
Taizé is different to Lourdes in the sense that not many disabled people make journeys there, but when disabled people do visit Taizé, they are helped greatly by other pilgrims.
The pilgrims that go to Taizé hope that in living a life of simplicity for a week or two, that they can develop their spirituality, as well as realise that material goods are not essential to living a happy and fulfilling life. People leave Taizé with a new sense of trust for other people that they don’t know, a realisation of their inner self, a readiness to take on responsibilities in their own community, and an idea of how to make the world a better place to live in.