Stories of healings – of spirit as well as body – and gratitude for the ability to serve were the leading themes at the Michigan Area’s “Lourdes Experience,” held on August 14, the Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The “Lourdes Experience” is an annual event held by the Michigan Area for malades and members of the Order, especially members who have accompanied malades to Lourdes. Michigan Area volunteers on this year’s pilgrimage included a former malade, now a pediatric nurse, and a newly-licensed surgical nurse who accompanied the pilgrimage thanks to a fund established by a Michigan Area member.
The Vigil Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, GCChC, the Michigan Area’s principal chaplain, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. In his homily, the archbishop spoke about the hands of those “serving our lords, the sick and poor.
“Look at your hands,” the archbishop urged. “These are blessed and sacred to the Lord … instruments of His divine love.” Like Our Lady, the faithful are called to serve and “give God his world back,” he added.
Two special moments at the Mass: Following the Creed, Archbishop Vigneron led a number of Michigan Area members in making or renewing their Consecration to Jesus through Mary. After Holy Communion, Archbishop Vigneron conducted the “Blessing of the Hands That Serve” for Michigan Area members and others.
A reception and dinner followed at the Detroit home of Andrea Smith, DM, and Area Chair Andy Smith, KM.
Michigan Area members shared their experiences of the Lourdes Pilgrimage, including this year’s visit. Joseph Francis, RN, related how he joined this year’s pilgrimage as a student nurse, thanks to an award from the Our Lady of Lourdes Pilgrimage fund, created by Michigan Area Associate Rosanne Brugnoni in honor of longtime Lourdes pilgrim and volunteer Sr. Rose Mary Sam, IHM.
“We are all malades in some way,” said Mr. Francis, now a surgical ICU nurse at Henry Ford Health, who has also volunteered at Malta Camp USA. “All come there for a reason.”
Sisters Grace, Jane, and Molly Modes, all Michigan Area Auxiliaries, cared for young children malades on the 2024 pilgrimage, including one boy who was not walking. The boy, who is about to start kindergarten, is now walking on his own, Grace Modes reported. Molly Modes, a former child malade, experienced steady improvement in her disease following her 2007 pilgrimage and is now a registered nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. (Read more at https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/local-woman-who-experienced-healing-as-a-child-returns-to-lourdes-17-years-later. )
Lourdes healings are not of the body alone, noted Liz Mahoney, DM, a six-time veteran of the pilgrimage. She told of a withdrawn, depressed malade who resisted coming on the trip and “sat in a corner by herself.” By the end of the pilgrimage, “she was an entirely different person,” interacting with others and with a cheerful attitude.
Andy Smith shared his e-mail to a malade’s wife, also the malade’s caregiver, who wrote to say how grateful she and her husband were to have been on the 2024 pilgrimage.
“I am glad that you had an amazing experience, and I am very grateful to have been a part of it,” he wrote in response. “[W]hen in the Order we say that we thank the Malades for letting us serve them, it is not some sort of false humility. It really and truly is something for which I am profoundly thankful … The privilege, and the pleasure, were all mine.”
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