Touched by the Lady

The group was entering the threshold of winter when the journey began. It was November 21, 2005. Our 16-day Marian Pilgrimage brought us to more than ten Marian shrines in six western European countries, excluding some twenty tourist spots in the great cities of the world. Temperatures ranged between zero and 4 degrees centigrade. In fact, during our second night in Lourdes, France, snowflakes were falling as we bottled cold spring water that has been gushing out of a riven rock inside the cave since 1858. There, almost 150 years ago, the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous who dug the well.

The oldest members of the group - Singsing Aguilar and Narding Ababat - braved the constant moves, rush, stops, transfers and early wake-up calls just as merrily as the rest of us, the young once: Ekit Zambo, Flora, Guido, Dee San, Rudy Cuenco, Tita Cuenco, Willy Ngujo, and our young chaplain, Monsignor Eti Matarlo. Nora Garganera was the energetic, compassionate and caring tour manager who led the group of 12.

The long land trips, beginning in the Netherlands and ending in Portugal, nine days later, covered more than 12,000 kilometers. We went through the cities and rural areas of Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Beauraing, Lourdes, the Peyrenes mountains, Avila, Zaragoza, Salamanca, Madrid, Fatima and Lisbon. It was a two-hour flight from Lisbon to Rome. In Italy, we visited St. Padre Pio's San Giovani Rotondo, Lanciano's 8-century old Eucharistic Miracle, and toured the Vatican. A three-day lay over in Singapore capped our itinerary before arriving back to Cebu.

Traveling is fun and educational. It brings us face to face with the relics and remnants of history and early civilizations that are pregnant with significance. Western Europe is rich in the arts, cultures, science and architecture. We noted that Madrid is the most splendid city of the world, Spain being the most beautiful country, clean and majestic. The street walls of Rome and Paris are littered with graffitis, and our tour guide warned us of thieves in Amsterdam. Lisbon is rich in history, reminding us of Vasco de Gama. The world's tallest Christmas tree was beginning to rise in the city. Paris has the widest world collection of artworks by the masters, and the Vatican keeps the most precious ones. Brussels hosts the grandiose Headquarters of the European Union.

To aThird World visitor, Europe exudes magnificence and wears a face of rising prosperity. The 16-member Schengen countries share a common currency, the Euro, which is higher in value than the US dollar. Cost of living is expensive, twice as expensive as in North America. Here, EVAT is 19%, income tax is 30% and house rental costs another 30% of a family's income. A working wife pays 50% in additional income tax. A hamburger, whether in Paris, Lisbon or Rome, at the local McDo - of course with French fries and a cup of soda - costs the equivalent of Php300. A liter of gasoline in Amsterdam is 1.5 Euro, about Php100 per liter. The Php35 per liter of gasoline in the Philippines is peanuts in Europe. In Cebu, one Euro can buy you breakfast. In Rome, it can get you one or, at most, two postcards. The ubiquitous SUV's and humongous Expeditions you see running in the streets of Cebu City are rarities in the cities of Madrid, Lisbon, Rome and Brussels. What you see in their streets are smaller cars that look more like match box toys. (This is due to the narrow streets of most European countries since these places were built long before the advent of the automobile. - Editor)

Unnoticed by most members of the group, there was among them a lovely, unobtrusive lady wearing a forced smile. Behind the smile were wounded flesh and bones. Eight months earlier, in March, she had surgery, removing portions of her lowest bowels. She completed a 6-month course of chemotherapy that depressed her bone marrows and impaired her liver functions. She underwent a 28-day continuous course of radiation therapy that burned her skin. She was suffering from periodic colics, spasms, and aches that turned her nights into days. Her appetite was poor, her weight was going down. Her latest CT scans before departure showed multiple and multifocal intestinal adhesions that plastered her bowels to her abdominal walls. She spent more time in the bathroom than with her family. She was meant to spend the rest of her life in misery, it seemed.

It was nerve-wracking to find her in severe pain in the hotel in Amsterdam, our first stop in Europe. Should we proceed, or turn back, leave the group, and go home? She wanted to proceed, pretending she was well. So, on we went.

From Paris, we reached Lourdes by bullet train in the middle of the night. It was cold and chilly but there was warmth in our hearts. Here, millions of pilgrims come to visit the Marian shrine, seeking fulfillment of a dream of a lifetime. Almost all, if not all, the millions of pilgrims come to try the Lourdes bath, to take a dip in the pool, where some are reportedly healed of their diseases. Since 1858, the Catholic Church recognized only 66 of the reported thousands of cures occurring after a bath at the grotto. Thousands, maybe millions, go away disappointed for not having been healed.

At Lourdes, the public baths are closed to pilgrims by November 15 because of the looming winter when auxiliary volunteers start going home for the winter break. When our group reached Lourdes, surprisingly, the bath was still open. Not losing time, the group immediately took the once-in-a-lifetime chance to take a dip in the icy water. At this time of the year, the few pilgrims need not jostle with the crowds who come in droves during better weather conditions. We were all done in no time at all.

Our sick lady in the group could only wish and hope for the best. There was no assurance that the bath would be beneficial in a very special way. But she was burning with faith, praying for healing and did not know how to get it. Her spouse is a believer of the promises of Scriptures. Like Jacob of old, he too, wrestled with the Great Healer. He wrestled in prayer with the Lord, wanting to twist the arms or the feet, the legs, the neck, the hands of Omnipotence - in tears! For tears form a language that God understands.

After the morning bath, the lady went back to the hotel to rest. The following night, she experienced a long, long sleep - her best since coming out of her surgery. The hourly trips to the bathroom stopped. The pains, the spasms, the gas that kept her awake all night long deserted her body. Her fixated intestinal adhesions had loosened up, or so she felt. Lethargy and poor appetite went away. Are they gone for good? Hard to tell, but one thing is sure since Lourdes: her life has never been the same. She is bouncing back! Who touched her? My non-Catholic friends say it is her faith that made her whole and that these things are temporary. Our Catholic companions say that it is the Lord Jesus Christ through Mama Mary. I believe the Holy Mother had a hand in this. Indeed, the Virgin Mary touched my wife and the Virgin Mary has touched me, too.