Hey there, readers! Thank you for stopping by; if this is your first time here, my name is Mike and I am the Distracted Catholic. Today is the first installment of a new weekly feature: Marian Mondays, a blog link-up hosted by The Real JZ and Anima Kinsi. Thank you to both of you lovely ladies for the invitation!
For this first installment, I want to share an account of my pilgrimage this past Saturday to the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes on the grounds of Mt. Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD.
This past Friday was the Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and as is my routine, I got off of work at 8 AM and drove down the street to daily Mass. During the homily, our pastor preached a beautiful homily on the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and encouraged those of us at Mass to make a pilgrimage to her National Shrine and Basilica in Emmitsburg, MD, an easy two hours by car. Ironically, he suggested that we hold off until spring, so that we could enjoy the azaleas while they are bloom. After leaving church I checked my phone and, lo and behold, I had received a communique from my friend and fellow blogger Channing Dale, saying that she was planning to make a pilgrimage to Emmitsburg the next day and wondered if I might like to join her. My first thought, naturally, was, But what about the azaleas? However, I pushed that aside and replied yes, I would love to go! I had never been to the shrines at Emmitsburg before, but I had heard good things from others. Also, the spring semester was starting in three days and a pilgrimage seemed just the thing to help calm my anxiety about that and other concerns of the upcoming year.
The National Shrine Grotto is the oldest known replica of the grotto in France in which Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. It is built into the mountainside immediately adjacent to the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University and Seminary. After St. Elizabeth Ann Seton arrived in Emmitsburg in 1809 to found the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph and set the first free Catholic girls’ school in the United States, she would often ascend the mountainside and teach catechism to the girls under her tutelage while seated on a particular boulder at the grotto. Years later, the grotto was converted into a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes.
I arrived at the parking lot outside the Grotto, which is overlooked by this enormous tower topped by a gold statue of the Blessed Mother. It was a bright and chilly morning on the Mount, with snow still blanketing much of the ground. After meeting up with Channing and exchanging hellos (we’ve known each other via Twitter for some months, but this was our first meeting in person), we entered the grounds of the Shrine.
The Grotto Shrine is divided into two sections: the outer Rosary Trail and the inner Sanctuary. The Rosary Trail is a winding path, roughly in the shape of a very squiggly U, with all twenty of the Mysteries marked by freestanding mosaic murals at intervals along the path. Even at 10 AM, it was still a bit too cold to contemplate praying the Rosary, but we took our time in drawing closer to the Sanctuary, examining the beautiful murals detailing Our Lord’s life, Passion, and death. Spaced among these were various other devotional statues, including a stunning life-size marble depiction of the Holy Family at Bethlehem, with Mary, having just given birth, laying in repose with her head turned towards the Infant Jesus, who has been placed by her side and who is holding her hand with his tiny one. Meanwhile St. Joseph stands vigil and gazes down on both Mother and Child. It felt incredibly true to life and really brought home the reality of Christ’s humanity, to saying nothing of being a heartwarming domestic scene.
I almost walked right past the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, but fortunately Channing, who knows of my special devotion, pointed it out to me, and I was able to take a minute to pray before a splendid pietà surrounded by snow.
We passed the springhouse and drew up to the Sanctuary. After stepping into the small chapel and spending some time in prayer before Our Eucharistic Lord in the tabernacle, we entered into the Grotto proper. It was, as promised, a replica of the Grotto at Lourdes, elegant in its simplicity and wreathed in feeling of grace, surrounded on all sides by snowy woods and sacred silence. We spent about fifteen minutes in silent prayer, taking the time to light votive candles and leave our intentions. There is both a plenary and partial indulgence attached to making a pilgrimage to the Grotto, with a number of ways of fulfilling the former, including if you come on a Saturday. After reading through the conditions and doing some quick mental math, I realized that I was just one condition short of the plenary indulgence: the requirement of receiving the Sacrament of Penance within seven days before or after the pilgrimage. I had gone to Confession eight days before! So if I want to strive for the plenary indulgence, I’ll have to make it back to the confessional sometime this week.
We then continued a further ways up the mountain to where a Calvary is built, and spent some additional time kneeling in prayer before the image of Christ Crucified. That done, we began to make our way in silence back to the Rosary Trail, and then walked back to the parking lot and drove down the road to the second half the day’s pilgrimage, the National Shrine and Basilica of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
The National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes is an amazing place of pilgrimage. The whole site is pervaded by a sense of peace and quiet holiness. As I was making my way through the Shrine, I cannot say that I experienced any Wham! moments in which the Holy Spirit made His Presence felt in a dramatic way, but later that afternoon as I was driving home, I could not stop smiling and felt as if my lungs were filled with warmth, joy, and grace. It was exactly what I needed this past weekend, and I credit making the pilgrimage for the clarity of purpose that I gained after Sunday Mass yesterday about where I am in life right now and what God intends for me this coming year.
If you find yourself passing near, make the time to pay a pilgrimage visit to this shrine to the Blessed Mother. You will not leave the same as you entered. God bless.
PS A hearty thank you to Channing Dale for being such an excellent guide on Saturday. If you’re not following her This Catholic Life podcast, I highly recommend it. She covers a multitude of topics about the Catholic faith with warmth and clarity, and in a couple weeks she’ll be celebrating her one-year “podiversary” with the conclusion of her current run of episodes discussing her vocation story, with a big announcement to come at the end of it! The podcasts are available both on her website and on iTunes, so tune in!
For more Marian Monday posts, visit The Real JZ
