God is Love

In the words of St. Bernadette, “I raised my head and looked towards the grotto. I saw a Lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same colour as the chain of her Rosary.”

Many thanks to the Charity Across who came into our college on Wednesday 30th April.

Across is a charity created specifically to provide transport and support to enable those with special care needs to go on pilgrimages to Lourdes. The charity also enables groups to organise holidays to other destinations in Europe for those with special care needs. Our students from year 7 to 10 had an opportunity to listen to the talk from Across about the work that they do and why they do it, whilst having a chance to experience the Jumbulance and how it operates. Archbishop Beck has a long history of visiting Lourdes for almost thirty years, and this offered students the chance to witness how they could play a part in this unique visit in their future.

The History of Lourdes

Lourdes’ importance in the Catholic faith dates back to 1858, when a young peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous witnessed 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a cave near the town. The Virgin Mary revealed herself to Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception and instructed her to drink from a spring that had miraculously appeared from the ground. This spring was later found to have miraculous healing properties, attracting people from around the world seeking physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Today, Lourdes is recognised as one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world.

Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing;
You reign now in splendour with Jesus our King.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria!
In heaven, the blessed your glory proclaim;
On earth we, your children, invoke your sweet name.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria!
We pray for the Church, our true Mother on earth,
And beg you to watch o’er the land of our birth.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria!