My France Pilgrimage... Photos pour vous!

My family and friends, and the podcast audience, know that I was recently on vacation and on pilgrimage in France, thanks to a fortunate intersection of timing, my husband's work in Paris, the official draft of the manuscript being done, and that wonderful perk known as frequent flyer miles. Of course we carry your intentions with us everywhere we prayer... and we were delighted to bear that burden of prayer.

Here is the man who made it all possible...

Yeah, Bob's a bit fried here, after a full week of work and then yours truly shows up when he is not-quite-done with all his work and she says "let's walk somewhere for dinner!"

But, great guy that he is, he willingly complied and he, already having French food for a week without me, asked for a pizza! Being a bit jet lagged and raggy myself, I didn't fight it, and we had some of the best pizza this side of Rome, so a simple meal and a short bottle of chianti for the win! Paris, like our New York roots, has some of the best varieties of food anywhere on the planet.

(Note the gray skies... we had a lot of rain as we traveled.)

The next day... the first pilgrimage stop: 140 Rue de Bac, and the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal. It's a cool website, so you should check it out. This is where the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Catherine Labore and explained to Catherine that she'd like what we call "the Miraculous Medal" designed and struck. You remember what the Miraculous Medal is, right??

Nope, not that. That's St. Pat. Just checking to make sure you're awake.

That's right, you remember.

It's a simple place, this shrine, and here's the courtyard that leads to the street... you could almost miss this place in the midst of the bustle of Paris. And not surprisingly, many people do. We were fortunate to be there for the Feast of the Sacred Heart and to pray for all our intentions there.

If you know the story of this Marian apparition, you know that Our Lady very tenderly appeared to Catherine by sitting down in a chair in the convent chapel, and talked to Catherine as knelt at her side. It's depicted here below.

Here is the chair that Mary sat in next to the altar.

There's some great footage and details at the shrine website, so do check it out. The chair is roped off in front of a side altar next to the main altar, and I just love that Mary came and sat to have chats with Catherine. That statue is St. Vincent de Paul... he founded the religious order that Catherine was a part of. You may be interested to know that St. Vincent's heart is in that reliquary above the tabernacle... and the flames of the heart of love of Vincent is depicted behind his statue... he was so on fire with love of God and neighbor... kind of reminds me of the the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Requisite shout out to my fellow St. John's University alums, founded by the Vincentians.)

For you Paris tourists who love to shop, this shrine is right across the street from Le Bon Marche!  well, of course I had to go in and see what all the fuss was about! Here's my husband's eye for photograhy... pictured below... One of the first department stores in Paris... it's a relic from another age. Here's the center foyer.

A bit of lunch and we were off to Sainte-Chapelle. (A cool 4 minute video here can explain this so much better than I can.) But there is some of the most breath-taking stained glass in the world there... and a good portion is under construction for years to come. Our photos don't do it justice, but there's all kinds of cool stuff on the web on it. 

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If you saw Catholicism with Fr. Robert Barron, you'll recognize this door below... now, if you didn't before, you're gonna want to watch that 4 minute video I suggested.

And for dessert? Prayer at Notre Dame Cathedral... coming up on its 850 year birthday. <-more details here. 

We've been here before, and the weather was threatening, so we just dashed inside out of the rain, and did not get many photos this visit. So I'll let Google images help here. I was happy to pray in the quiet, soak in the beauty of the Rose Windows with my binoculars, and light a candle is front of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux.

The next day we were off on a 6 hour train ride from Paris to...

This was my first glimpse of her when we arrived... she stands like a strong tower in the center plaza greeting everyone, and tons of flowers are at her feet from grateful pilgrims.

The highlight for me was the Grotto...

Notice the pilgrims who are moving in a silent queue to the area where the spring was that Bernadette dug for at the direction of Our Lady. And then the crowd parted for a bride and groom to pay their respect to Our Holy Mother.

If you listen to the latest Among Women podcast, I describe the different basilicas on the grounds of the sanctuary. This is the one built on the rock above the grotto... the first church on the site.

And below, here you can see the plaza area in front of the Grotto, but you can't see the Grotto for the trees on the left under the wall.

This is the view of the long piazza where the processions take place, below, and on the far hill, an old fortress... probably the only other "tourist" site in Lourdes.

 This is the cross atop the rosary basilica.. a crown for Mary... (more clouds on the way...)

And here is my attempt at saying something theological... but maybe it fails... think of the three spires of the cathedral as the trinity... and Mary's crown, and her joy, is that she has a relationship with each one... She is not a member of the trinity, or some kind of goddess... she is simply the closest human being in relationship to them. And that makes her spiritual motherhood of us so important! She helps us draw near to God!

So that's why I'm sticking with Mary....

The daily candle-light Rosary procession...Momma Mary walking with her children.

 Praying the rosary in French, Italian, Spanish, English, and German... and singing too!

 Ave, Ave, Ave Maria! Ave, Ave, Ave, M-A-R-I-A!

Her image looked better in real life... the lighting freaked out the camera phone light sensor...

 Just praying with thousands of fellow believers. We walked to the rear to get the photos and to take some video. (That's me in my blue rain jacket at the lower left, with my candle.)

 The mosaics at Lourdes are some of the most wonderful I've ever seen. Here's an outdoor altar at night.

Of course, here's one of Mary's best friends... St Bernadette...

This painting below is the earliest known portrait of her as a young girl.

 Here's the underground basilica that holds 20-25K people!! This is the final benediction after the Eucharistic procession went outside all around the grounds. We estimate about 3 thousand in here.

 very modern... Bob thought it looked like a bunker... or something from a Soviet country before the Cold War ended.... it was built around 1958 for the 100th anniversary of the apparitions...

 So I'm asking myself: "If you wanted to keep 25K out of the snow and rain year-round, and you wanted to hide them in a mountain village in the Pyranees, what would you do?"

The underground basilica under that patch of grass on the right side of the pavement. If you didn't know it was there, you'd miss it!

We lit a candle for your intentions.

And we had a Mass said for the intentions too.

 Finally -- a sunny day on Sunday! And one more look at the gold leaf on the crown on the roof of the rosary basilica.

You might enjoy this live web cam, and website from Lourdes!

The Father Loved Us... And Then Exalted Her...in Order to Love Us Even More... in Jesus

The entire Bible, end to end, is a love story of God's relentless, and passionate love for us. And God stops at nothing to accomplish that which is our end: Our total union with him.


And God used creation and theophanies and covenants and miracles, and even his own stooping low -- to become one of us -- in order to make sure we did not miss the point.


And what's more, God chose to come through one of us in order to be born.  Think about that for one moment. The Savior of the World could have arrived without having to go through the bother of being born of flesh and blood. And yet... that's exactly the overwhelming sublime choice that the Lord of All made.


And so there was one more amazing and specific preparation that had to be made on our behalf... a woman was lovingly chosen to be the Savior's mother, and ultimately, ours. 


My guess is that if we were to really understand the reality of what it means to have a Heavenly Father who is Divine, besides sending his Son, God thought it might help us mere mortals to have a human Mother traveling alongside of us during our terrestrial journey until we meet Him in heaven. 


There's a line from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that is both wise and wonderfully tender when it describes Mary's Immaculate Conception... and it's place in the Father's plan. 


In order to bring us Jesus "the Father blessed Mary more than any other created person.... with every spiritual blessing... and chose her... to be holy and blameless before him in love. (CCC 492)"


My latest at Patheos unpacks the mystery that is the Immaculate Conception, and the careful, grace-filled, and loving preparation that God brought about in Mary's life:

Mary was the first person redeemed by Jesus by an application of the grace, from his victory over sin and death on the Cross. This requires us to think expansively – or bigger – beyond our own sensibilities, as it were, to consider the mysteries of God’s plan for salvation.

Christian scholar Blessed Duns Scotus (d. 1308) gives a name to this: preservative redemption. Preservative redemption addresses this question of Mary’s redemption taking place before her Son Jesus was even born. 

Mary’s conception and sanctification were simultaneous.

Theologically, it is this:  the unlimited God, the Creator of time, is also Lord over time. In other words, God can work outside of time.  And God applies his graces throughout history (time) as He deems fit.  Therefore, God, in his divine plan of salvation, willed that Mary would be saved first, in her humanity, by the application of the graces won for humanity by her Son, Jesus on the Cross.

Mary’s lifetime of preparation, living with a sinless, loving heart, equipped her to make the perfect response to the Angel when he announced God’s call on her life. (Read the rest here.)

What I love about Mary is that her immaculate heart is always at the service of the love of the Father and the Son, for it is wedded to the Holy Spirit... her heart is a human heart that fully trusts God in a way that is profoundly unique. For she is full of grace (cf. Luke 1:28), and her being proclaims the greatness of the Lord (cf Luke 1:46-47).  


What I also love about Mary is that she helps me to do the same... little by little, moment by moment... for I am an impossibly stubborn and silly child at times... and yet, even my feeble heart can stumble along enough to trust the One who loves me from all eternity... 


It's a crazy idea, really... that the Lord of All would be head over heels in love with us...


But writer-blogger-extraordinaire Elizabeth Scalia gets a great handle on what this really means:

What sort of God is this? A God who yields to a people who do not understand, and who -- like spoiled adolescents -- tell Him time and time again that they're not patient enough, not mature enough, just too darned human to put up with doing things His way, which is the way of wisdom?

This is remarkable, almost reckless love. This is a love so all-in-all, so unconditional, that it is willing to be not just vulnerable, but by human standards almost foolish in its boundless unconditional reality.

...

He makes the spousal promise: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

It is a promise, from a God who always keeps His promises, from a loving spouse who cannot do enough for us. And still, we find it so difficult to engage, and nearly impossible to trust.

This is the Greatest Paradox in a God who Is many paradoxes: It is only by surrendering what is broken within us, and that is trust, can we once again have trust.

Whole trust, unreserved trust is what resides within His Majesty, but we do not trust Him back. We did not trust in Eden, which is why we fell, and why we hid ourselves. But we cannot be whole, or wholly His, unless we give him that broken trust, by trusting Him.

Be sure to read the rest of Elizabeth's stirring article here.

Indeed, Advent is all about the great lengths that Our God goes to in order love us. Don't miss that. It should arrest and subdue our yearning hearts.

Among Women Podcast #80: Choosing Faith Amid Suffering, Part 1

Among Women 80 features an explanation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Blessed Virgin, that the Church celebrates on December 8th.  Check out the "Blessed are They" segment. And you might want to keep a bible handy to read along with a few texts.

Our conversation, "Among Women" is the first part of a 2-part conversation with Peggy Clores, from Amazing Catechists, who takes time to share her own faith story.  Peggy shares how she came to embrace her faith over a lifetime of turning points or conversion "moments." Peggy also shares her family's legacy of faith, including the fact that her mother was a Greek Jew, and a survivor of a WWII concentration camp.

Apologies for this late posting. I had numerous technical difficulties this time round, including overwhelmed servers that did not let me upload the show. As always, your thoughts are welcome!