Sleep-deprived Thursday - First Mass and Candle Lighting

Whew! It is Thursday night here in Lourdes and it seems like I've been up since 5am on Wednesday morning....which I pretty much have. :) After our short nap and lunch, we all gathered to walk to Mass together. This was Miss Murphy's first experience riding in the cart, I think she liked being pushed around by me!

Our first Mass of the pilgrimage is with the three Malta associations from the United States. We are based out of D.C., the American Association is based out of New York, and the Western Association is based in San Fransisco. There were over 1,000 people there. We had more than 30 bishops and priests presiding which was just amazing.

After Mass we walked over towards the Grotto and lit our pilgrimage candle. This is a huge candle that we light on the first day and it burns the whole week we are here. It represents all our intentions to the blessed mother. The candle gets passed around and all the malades put a sticker on the candle to represent their prayer intentions. Of course Miss Murphy picked a Spongebob sticker!

They let our friend Kennedy light the candle, she was so excited!!! We also prayed for all of the intentions that we brought with us to Lourdes. I was so lucky to have so many intentions to pray for. They are collecting them all in this black bag and after our Mass on Saturday they will all be folded up and placed through an opening in a Grotto so that they will always be here in Our Lady's care.

Thank you all so much for following! We are having a wonderful time, and looking forward to some good sleep tonight. We will be visiting the baths tomorrow so I can't wait to tell you all about that! You all continue to be in my prayers!