Prayer, Hope and Life in Lourdes

(14 Sept 08 - RV) Red robed cardinals and bishops, choir girls and boys, local government leaders and over two hundred thousand pilgrims began gathering from the early hours of Sunday morning in Lourdes to join Pope Benedict in a Mass marking the 150^th anniversary of this Marian shrine in south western France. Philippa Hitchen was there:

For the second time on this brief but intense pastoral visit to Paris and Lourdes, Pope Benedict on Sunday called on the young people of France to respond generously to the Lord and live in a spirit of service to others, especially those considering a vocation to the priesthood.
Celebrating Mass under a large white awning set up in on a grassy field known as the Lourdes prairie opposite the famous grotto of the apparitions, the Pope said the primary purpose of this shrine is to be a place of encounter with God in prayer and a place of service to others, especially the sick, the poor and all who suffer.
Prayer, he stressed, is indispensable – even if our situation appears desperate and seems to call for action alone. With the simple wooden World Youth Day cross standing high in the crowds in front of the simple altar, the pope stressed that the cross is a kind of synthesis of our faith, a symbol of God’s love which overcomes the power of evil, suffering and death itself. This instrument of torture, he said, has become for us a source of life and pardon, a symbol of reconciliation and peace.
Noting that Saint Bernadette was the eldest daughter of a very poor family, an uneducated girl in poor health, the Pope said Mary’s message to her here in Lourdes a century and a half ago is a message of hope for all men and women of our day, whatever their social status or country of origin. Representing many of the different nationalities of the millions of pilgrims who flock to this shrine every year, the prayers of the faithful were proclaimed in Tamil, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, Chinese and one of the languages of West Africa.