LOURDES & FATIMA PILGRIMAGE

25 July to 9 August 2001, joined annual pilgrimage of Our Lady of Banneaux in Lourdes, France and Fatima, Portugal. Two solid weeks of road travel and prayer in Europe in summer! Really one for the books! How did I get into a trip like this? Primarily because of Father Arul, our batchmate at ISS who's a Tamil priest. He was chosen chaplain of the pilgrims, and he asked us of course if we'd like to go. Kami pay gipangutana? ;) On this trip was Gillian from Trinidad and Tobago, me and Salvador and Malut Feranil of Davao City. Nabung jud ko'g tan-aw ug Indian movies coz our bus had Indian movies man. We first travelled to Paris then from Paris we proceeded to Lourdes. Early morning the next day na mi naabot sa Lourdes, France. We stayed at Secours Catholique, medyo bukiron mn to nga part. Maglakaw pa mi padung sa Grotto of Massabielle. Nindut ang Lourdes, France; a very charming place. There's the River Gave by the side of the Grotto where Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubiros. By the way, ang grotto is now 3 layers of basilica. Lourdes gave me an idea of what pilgrimages are like in Europe. I understand that Lourdes is the biggest pilgrimage site in Europe, attracting about 5M pilgrims in summer. They have a procession of the sick every 2pm. It was in Lourdes also that I saw an underground basilica. I think the first mass that we attended there was celebrated at that venue. By the grotto is an overflowing spring. Sa kilid ato, naay daghang faucet aron magkuha'g tubig ang mga tawo. Gamay ra tawn kaju nga gallon ahong gikuha. And I especially remember telling the Lord that la na koy mapangayo pa when I was in Lourdes. Little did I know that nasakit na diay ako papa that time. Anyway, we spent one week in Lourdes then planned to proceed to Fatima, Portugal. Nasiraan mi at around 230pm while we were leaving Lourdes. Morag karaan na mn gud to among bus. But by early morning we were in Fatima, Portugal n pud. Fatima was amazing and very imposing! When we were there, a big picture of the 3 children, Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia was hung outside the Cathedral. So many people walk on their knees from the hilly part of the shrine,then descend then climb up again to the entrance of the Cathedral. Nice ang Sunday coz it was a high mass we were able to attend ;) We stayed at Pope Pius Ctr in Fatima. Daghan kaju olive oil didto. And they say 'obrigado/a' for thank you. One morning we decided to do the trip to nearby Aljustrel, to the residences of the kids. Then we also went to the Grutas de Moeda, the Cave of Coins. What happened on our way home was my undoing. Out of impulse, I went into the woods and took Malut along with me. Kasaag2 tawn mi. Nanghitch na lng mi pauli sa Fatima. Hapit ko patya ni Badong, Malut's husband ato. Never again Doki! But that was a clear example of how impulsive and crazy I could be. It would repeat it again in SG in 2008 but that's another blog post altogether! ;) Gillian and I also made side trips to Lisboa/Sintra on this pilgrimage. I saw the beauty of Portugal (and the Mediterranean) during summer. Palacio Nacional, Palacio da Pena, and Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra were all amazing! Sintra is 45 mins outside of Lisbon so la na kaju mi kasuroy2 didto. I missed the Belem tower and the Mosteiro de los Jeronimos. I can only remember that we made it a point to get on one of those very old and charming electricos or tram. Another side trip that we made was in Tomar, in Convento di Cristo. Amazing sad kaju ang ilang architecture! There was a window there and its decorations that one local was very kind enough to explain to us. Thanks a lot and God bless, Kuya ;) Twas on this pilgrimage mn diay that I met Uncle Linus Aloysius. He's a chatterbox only. Heheh. So it means I've known him for the past 15 yrs now. God bless us, Uncle Linus! ;)