"The Bells of the Angelus call us to pray, with sweet tones announcing that sacred Ave..."
ANYONE who has visited the shrine at Lourdes in southwest France will be familiar with these beautiful words.
They are the beginning to a hymn that has become synonymous with the miraculous spring at the Grotto of Massabielle and the story of St Bernadette, conjuring up images of candlelit processions and pilgrimage.
Since the apparitions of 1858 countless pilgrims have travelled to Lourdes.
Some go once in a lifetime, while for others it is an annual event.
Next week the Diocese of Down and Connor will celebrate its thirtieth annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, led this year by Bishop Noel Treanor.
But what is the attraction? Why do so many make this pilgrimage each year? Why do so many forego summer holidays to make such a journey?
To understand this we must first understand the message of Our Lady of Lourdes, though no summation of the story could do it justice.
Just over 150 years ago, there lived a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous.
She had little or no education and from the age of six had suffered from horrendous bronchitis.
From what we know, all she wanted to do was to help her family and love God... that was enough for her.
One day, she was collecting firewood with her sister and cousin, who went on ahead of her.
She heard the sound of a wind behind her, though the air remained calm; she followed it and saw a young girl dressed in white, holding a rosary in her right hand.
The girl made no sound. Bernadette prayed the rosary with her, and she left.
She continued to appear to Bernadette in the grotto at Massabielle, asking that people would come in procession, do penance and for a church to be built there.
More and more people began going there with Bernadette as rumour spread beyond Lourdes that the Virgin Mary was appearing to this ignorant child.
It was only after the lady announced to Bernadette "Que soy era Immaculada Concepcion" - "I am the Immaculate Conception" - that people began to think there was more to the phenomenon than a simple child's imagination.
The dogma of Mary as the Immaculate Conception had only been declared by Pope Pius IX four years previously, and there was no way Bernadette could have known about it.
On one occasion the lady asked Bernadette to dig in the ground and wash in the water therein.
Bernadette began to dig but could find no water in the earth, and washed her face in the muck.
The people believed she was mad... when suddenly a trickle of water appeared, which grew and grew.
There is no clear indication where this water comes from.
Many people who were suffering from various ailments also went and asked Bernadette to pray for them.
She responded: "Tell them to go wash in the waters," which they did... and were cured.
Once the apparitions ended the Church began a thorough investigation and authenticated Bernadette's story in January 1862.
Bernadette, meanwhile, entered a life of religious enclosure with the Sisters of Charity in Nevers where she spent her remaining years tending the sick.
She suffered greatly, with many crippling illnesses, and died at the age of 35.
Bernadette, who was canon-ised in 1933 by Pope Pius XI, surrendered herself completely to the merciful love of God.
She served God in her sim ple everyday actions. These small actions changed the world; this was her vocation.
The call of Our Lady of Lourdes does not seek to glorify her as some sort of goddess, as some would believe.
Rather, we meet Mary who points us to Jesus. In the Gospels the last public words spoken by Mary are at the wedding feast in Cana where she tells the servants: "Do whatever He tells you" (John 2:5).
These words are spoken to each of us today; anyone who goes to Lourdes is seeking something. Every one of us is a treasure seeker.
Some may be seeking a miraculous cure. Others are looking for a bit of peace.
Whatever reason anyone has for going to Lourdes is between them and Our Lady, be-cause none of us would be in Lourdes had Our Lady not first called us there.
So much so that many will leave a flower at the statue of the Crowned Virgin in supplication that she will indeed call them back.