Ars and Lourdes

Well I am now writing from Ireland, and I could not be more excited to be here.  It is just so nice to be in a place where I know how to talk to people.  But because I just got here last night, I will fill you in about my other 2 stops in France before coming here.  After Paris, Max and I hopped on a train down to Ars, the home of St. John Vianney.  St. John Vianney, the patron saint of diocesan priests, is one of my favorite saints and it was such a joy to be able to spend some time in the town where he was the pastor for 41 years.  We stayed in the seminary there, which was very nice.  The town itself is very small and rural, but I really enjoyed my time there.  Max and I made our day like a retreat there, so we didn't necessarily have to hang out or do things together.  We could just go explore, relax, and pray as we wanted.  It was marvelous.  And being able to stay in the town that Vianney personally transformed was just incredible.  Going through seminary, John Vianney struggled quite a bit with academics.  Was he intelligent?  Absolutely.  Did he understand Latin?  Not so much.  But anyways, with the help of his parish priest, he finally made it to ordination.  After being ordained for a few years, he was sent to Ars, which was basically "that parish" in the diocese.  When priests were sent there, it usually wasn't a good sign.  But the bishop said to Vianney "There is not much love for God in the parish; you will bring some into it."  And as he was moving to Ars, he got lost along the way and asked a boy from the village to lead him to the city.  And then he said one of my favorite quotes of his.  "You have shown me the way to Ars.  Now I will show you the way to Heaven."  How awesome is that?  Upon arrival, he slowly started to transform the town.  The town was full of bars and nobody really cared about God at all, but slowly, the bars would close and more and more people would be coming to Mass.  Through his intense love of God, which overflowed into a great love for his people, the people came back to the Church and the sacraments.  He is renowned for his amazing gifts in the confessional, where he would often be for up to 18 hours a day.  A Day.  My parish has confession for 45 minutes a week.  Vianney heard confessions for over 100 hours a week.  That's incredible.  He was a man of intense fasting and prayer, often only eating a potato a day and only getting 2 hours of sleep.  And really, the stories only go on.  But spending time with this incredibly holy priest was such a gift.  It really inspired me to continue to pursue the priesthood and work so that when I am ordained, I can bring many souls to Jesus Christ.  John Vianney transformed his town by giving himself to Christ as a priest, and I hope to be used to by Christ to transform many parishes as well.

You have shown me the way to Ars, now I will show you the way to Heaven,

The tomb of Vianney

He is incorrupt (He hasn't really decayed since dying)

His confessional

The step going to his confessional.  Look at how worn out that is.

After a day in Ars, we hopped on a train to go down to Lourdes.  And to put it simply, Lourdes was incredible.  It is truly a grace-filled place.  Looking back on when we planned it, I have no idea how we really happened to end up in Lourdes, but I am so happy that we were there.  While we were only there for a night, it was such an incredible experience.  The basic story is that Mary appeared in a cave to a young girl named Bernadette, and said "I am the Immaculate Conception."  She also asked her to dig a bit and there was a natural source of water which Mary had Bernadette to wash herself in and and drink.  So since then, it has become a major pilgrimage site.  And easily the coolest part of my time there was the Rosary Procession Tuesday night.  Because of the power of the natural waters, thousands of people come to wash themselves in the water in hopes of healing.  So seeing literally thousands of people in wheelchairs, with someone pushing them around the procession following a beautiful statue of Mary, was just so cool to see.  To see the great faith of people there was so humbling and beautiful.  People come from all over the world just to pray in Lourdes for healing and grace.  It was so neat to see.  I wish I could put into words the feeling of that place, but I absolutely loved it.  The next day, I was able to go through the baths myself, which was a great experience.  It was cold, like really cold, but it was a neat experience, being able to pray for people in such a unique way.  Even though I was only in Lourdes for a day, it was amazing, and I know that I want to go back, and even possibly spend some time volunteering there.  I just loved Lourdes and felt a great sense of peace there.

The Grotto, where Mary appeared to Bernadette

The Basilica 

River running through the sanctuary

Well here I am in Ireland, looking forward to another great week of travels.  I head home on the 12th, but I have a lot of great things in store for me.  I am heading to Knock this afternoon, another Marian apparition site.  So please continue to pray for safe travels and I will see you back at home soon.

Sts. John Vianney and Bernadette - Pray for Us!
Our Lady of Lourdes - Pray for Us!