"A valley of graces" a Lourdes Travel Page by Applelyn

Light is something everyone seeks and this year theme for Lourdes Pilgrims is "Keep Your Lamps Lit".

The pilgrims and the visitors hope to find, in Lourdes, some light for their lives. You can see many disabled and sick flogging into the Basilica and
Grotto, searching for a hope. Some found it, some have to wait a little longer and the miracle is, the light for this hope never falters.

I went to Lourdes for only a day and coincidently, it is also the day chosen by military forces of all over the world to come together fro a pilgrimage, just like a legion for God. I saw ranks from private to Bri. generals kneeling down in front of God, praying earnestly in front of the grotto and bowing down in humility. Christains and non-christains alike, spoke in awe about the calm serenity of the place.

The Rosary Basilica is important to the pilgrims because of the 15 mosaics which tell us of the life of Jesus. Each one corresponds to an event in the life of Jesus in the Mysteries of the Rosary. Close to the sanctuary of the basilica we find five reproductions of ancient paintings that depicts the five other events in the life of Christ which are the "Mysteries of Light" that Pope John-Paul II, towards the end of his life, added to the Joyful Mysteries (Childhood), Sorrowful Mysteries (Passion) and Glorious Mysteries (Resurrection).