To Lourdes tomorrow

This year our secular substitute holyday happens to fall on Whit Monday. As it is also the school half-term, it is the occasion for the annual parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes. We will have Mass at the Lady Altar first thing followed by the Itinerarium (prayers befoer a journey) and then fly to Toulouse followed by a viewing of Jean Luc Delannoy's excellent film Bernadette on the coach transfer to the Hotel D'Angleterre. I love Lourdes more and more each year and I am really looking forward to tomorrow night's torchlight procession.

Once I have got my Catholic Herald article finshed and emailed to the editor, I will pack: it doesn't take me long - I'm a cleric, I travel light and I don't have to worry what colour shirts to bring. Then I will go to bed happy, knowing that in less than 24 hours I will be praying before the spot where Our Blessed Lady appeared to St Bernadette.

Last year, I blogged from Lourdes via one of the internet cafés. This year I hope to check out the free wifi hotspot that I discovered on the internet. Failing that, I'm happy to pay - there seem to be plenty of hotels with wifi. The challenge will be getting my computer to play along. If not, a café will do.

(By the way: to avoid being flamed, please do not comment on the "terrible commercialism" of Lourdes without first reading my post from last year on... The "terrible commercialism" of Lourdes)

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