Posted on 02/09/2008 3:59:15 PM PST by fishhound
Lourdes is a massive Roman Catholic pilgrimage site with more hotels than any other French city, except Paris.
It reminded me of my father's attic - small, overcrowded, fusty, and so stuffed full of junk that the minute I entered I used to panic, desperate to get out again.
So, when I arrived at my very tired-looking hotel, which appeared to be perfumed by the socks of last season's pilgrims and saw its lobby, packed full of gaudy Virgin Mary memorabilia, you will forgive me when the words "Good God!" escaped my lips, and not in any laudatory way.
When I had recovered from my temporary crisis of faith, I set off down the steep hill towards the famous Lourdes shrine.
I had come early in the pilgrimage calendar and almost every shop and hotel I passed was still boarded up.
All, that is, except the souvenir shops which were very much open for business.
Their shelves were full of wonders: Virgin Mother statues arranged in height order from miniature to monster, Holy Mother cigarette lighters and ashtrays, poster-sized holograms which, according to the angle they were tilted at, showed either the bearded Jesus or the fresh-faced Mary.
Unfortunately the quality was not entirely consistent and I am sorry to say that in some of the holograms Mary had a permanent five o'clock shadow.
Surely the "magic of Lourdes" - that was the phrase used by so many people I knew who had come here - had to be more than this.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not, no explanation will suffice.
Why didn’t this get posted on the Religion Forum?
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