Spiritual Jaunt
I have been away. Yes, I suppose it must seem like I have been away really often in the past few months!
Anyway, this time I went off on a spiritual - not religious, please - jaunt. I am Catholic, so, that meant visiting Fatima, in Portugal, and Lourdes which is in France.
Both these places have the apparition of the Virgin Mary in common, with Lourdes probably being the more popular of the two places - I could not believe the numbers there; there were literally hundreds of people at Lourdes, the infirm and the healthy, believers and non-believers, Catholics and non-Catholics.
Yes, I prayed for you all. Yes I went alone (as usual). No, I did not bring back kegs of Holy Water - travel restrictions at airport security, remember? (Both places have springs that only started flowing at the times of the apparitions and at Lourdes especially, miraculous cures have been documented and thoroughly investigated BEFORE being proclaimed miraculous - contrary to what people may think, the Vatican is usually skeptical of claims of "miracles and miraculous cures". It takes a lot for an event to be declared a "miracle", investigations and rigorous medical tests- by independent doctors and Vatican doctors - gathering evidence from people close to and not-so-close to the "cured", processes that can sometimes take up to 60 years!)
It was a wonderful, spirit lifting, soul rejuvenating experience.
Anyway, this time I went off on a spiritual - not religious, please - jaunt. I am Catholic, so, that meant visiting Fatima, in Portugal, and Lourdes which is in France.
Both these places have the apparition of the Virgin Mary in common, with Lourdes probably being the more popular of the two places - I could not believe the numbers there; there were literally hundreds of people at Lourdes, the infirm and the healthy, believers and non-believers, Catholics and non-Catholics.
Yes, I prayed for you all. Yes I went alone (as usual). No, I did not bring back kegs of Holy Water - travel restrictions at airport security, remember? (Both places have springs that only started flowing at the times of the apparitions and at Lourdes especially, miraculous cures have been documented and thoroughly investigated BEFORE being proclaimed miraculous - contrary to what people may think, the Vatican is usually skeptical of claims of "miracles and miraculous cures". It takes a lot for an event to be declared a "miracle", investigations and rigorous medical tests- by independent doctors and Vatican doctors - gathering evidence from people close to and not-so-close to the "cured", processes that can sometimes take up to 60 years!)
It was a wonderful, spirit lifting, soul rejuvenating experience.
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