I fully concur with what Fr Mario Attard said in the Value of Pilgrimages (January 19). He concluded that “pilgrimages have the power to reorient our lives”.

I was lucky to undertake a pilgrimage to Lourdes, together with my wife, a couple of months ago. We had been longing to visit Lourdes – the Holy Sanctuary where Our Lady appeared to young Bernardette. We, indeed, wanted our tour to be primarily a spiritual experience – a spiritual renewal. We did not go simply as Maltese tourists, though we formed part of quite a big group. We went as Maltese pilgrims to participate and profess our faith. We wanted to be part of the huge Christian community who gathered every day from all over the world for the various services and publicly prayed to Our Holy Virgin Mary.

Whether we attended Mass at the Grotto, or bathed ourselves in the water whose source was the spring that originated on February 25, 1858, during the ninth apparition of Our Lady, or whether we participated in the procession aux flambeau in the evenings, we confessed our faith and prayed for internal renewal. What a feeling of joy and serenity there was, especially when the whole crowd sang, in unison, the Ave Maria!

In his last visit to Lourdes, Pope Benedict exclaimed “Lourdes is, of course, a quite special place, where everything is full of faith, full of prayer and where the Mother of God continues to be present and to touch and move people in an almost palpable manner”. Here people of all sorts, of all races, of all ages, of all beliefs (I dare say) though mostly Christians, gather to revive their faith, to remove their doubts and to quench their spiritual thirst.

Lourdes remains a place where one visits not out of curiosity but out of necessity. One goes there to pray, to ask forgiveness and to revive one’s faith. Like other places of pilgrimage, Lourdes is a must for every Christian especially when we are living in a world where values are dwindling.