Pilgrimage(c)

Pilgrimage©

By Michael Casey

Our first avowed intent, to be a Pilgrim, so the song or should I say hymn goes. Pilgrimage is what you make of it, I can only speak for what I know as a catholic with a small c. Other Faiths with a capital F go on Pilgrimage too,  it’s part of their Faith. A Pilgrimage IS a thing of joy, I’ve been to Lourdes 3 times myself, each time was fun.

In 1966 we all went as a family on the train to Lourdes, it’s a very long journey, and along the way we had a misadventure. We stopped somewhere and dad said he’s buy us all a small bottle of pop, this was before plastic bottles were invented, so he asked for 8 bottles. The train consisted of the Birmingham Pilgrimage, 400 people or more. Once the vendor had passed the bottles through the window he asked for the payment in Francs, that’s when Francs still existed. The price was sky high as the vendors had a captive audience so to speak, so dad said “bollocks” and handed them all back. Dad handed back 7, the vendor asked where was the 8^th, an argument ensued,  the vendor came on the train to search the compartment. He searched and searched and condemned us all, the whole Birmingham Pilgrimage took umbrage. The 8^th bottle must have been handed back already. The train pulled off, the Birmingham Pilgrimage loads of people gave the finger to the vendor as the train pulled away. Very Holy of them all, people came and shared their drinks with us, united we stand. Us kids ranged in age from 16,14,12,11,7 and 3 oh I remember it all, just as Maurice Chevalier would. Half an hour later mum shifted from her corner position.   A miracle the 8^th small glass bottle of pop  was revealed, she had been sitting on it. So it was drunk and the evidence was thrown out the window.  So father forgive us and the entire Birmingham Pilgrimage 1966.

We stayed in hotel Biarritz which was  very good, I remember it was said, I also remember dad reminding us years later that the priest said enjoy the first meal. The other meals that week, we did not like, it was French food, why couldn’t it be English food, it was 1966 remember. Nobody had an experienced palate 47 years ago, was it really that long ago, yes it was. My younger sister would not take off her anorak, just like in East is East . She was bought a wind up toy, a rabbit that clashed cymbals, she loved it, until we got home and the head fell off, but still crashed cymbals.

All this is part of the Pilgrimage experience, and yes we had to eat outside the hotel, so it was a week of baguettes, we took a knife from the hotel with us, we had baguettes and butter or should I say beurre  every day, I forgot to say we put bananas in them to make them filling. Eight of us wandering around like the Von Trappe family, eating baguettes and beurre, I can still see dad in his habitual sports coat.

Lourdes really is a special place, you get up and after breakfast, we did like the rolls, after breakfast you go to Mass, then you wander around till dinner time, after that the afternoon procession where you sing hymns in many languages. Then you wander around till dinner, the after dinner the absolute best bit as far as kids are concerned, The Torchlight Procession in the Dark. You cannot imagine just how exciting this is for a kid, in the dark with a candle in a foreign language in a foreign land. This was before ½ the family became bilingual, was Lourdes the spark for Linguistics in our family. The Ave Maria IS the most touching of hymns, candles and prayers, we loved it.

Lourdes is  holy water, so you drink the water by the gallon and you can even bathe in it. They have giant candles too as big as a man, it’s like a  furnace as you walk past and pray, for dad who worked in a furnace it was a home from home.  Does the Pilgrimage magnify Faith, yes it does, it is a great big adventure, I was 7 not quite 8 at the time. I remember racing against the lift by running and bouncing down the stairs next to it, I think I won. We bought a giant plastic container and filled it with Holy Water to bring back and share, it must have held 15 pints if you compare the size to a modern milk bottle. We had it in the front bedroom at home for years. So those are my 1966 memories.

In 1981 that’s 15 years later I returned to Lourdes, this time just me and my sister, I had promised to take her to France if she passed her A levels, she did so I took her to Lourdes, it was our mum’s idea because we couldn’t decide which past of France. She didn’t have an anorak this time, we had a great time. We were adopted by a Manchester group as we had not joined any parish Pilgrimage, so we tagged along with them for Masses and processions. We are even on their group photo, they even had a flag bearer, “I wondered what belly button was for, it’s for flag pole” said one man. I still have that photo which is 32 years ago now. Now Lourdes is a special place, the priest with the group was called Fr. MacKarty, we got talking, as you do, it turned out our uncle Danny in Kerry used to steal his bicycle and ride it, Fr. MacKarty had a bike and nobody else did at the time, this must have been in the 1930s. So what are the chances of that happening?

We also found a great café where we had croche monsieur and croche madame, which are egg sandwiches or something, which we loved. We found the Irish hotel too, which meant we’d go there for a sing song and a beer after the torchlight procession, before going home to our own hotel. There’s also a trip to a lake where you are almost in Spain, and we went on a paddle boat there. I nearly forgot another trip takes you to a bridge, where legend says if you walk over that bridge you will get pregnant.

All in all lots to do when you are not just praying. I did go to Lourdes again in 1990. You may think I’m not being serious about Pilgrimage, if I wrote about just Prayer nobody would read this. We each make a daily Pilgrimage every day in every way we pray and hope in our daily life. Life is a journey, and as we make that journey we bring our prayers with us, we pray for this and we pray for that. WE may even want something and think it wrong to pray for it, should I pray for a nice house and finally to make a living as a full time writer? Please God don’t, some of you may be screaming at the computer as you read it. Isn’t it enough  he bores us with these blog or his shorts as he calls them.

A Pilgrimage is a hope, it’s a sign of piety and love, it’s us giving in and asking God to take over and help us, but   let his will be done. One final thing for those of you who don’t pray much or can’t find the right words, who don’t know how to pray, you are praying already, for what did Saint Francis of Assisi say  Labore est Orare, to Work is to Pray.