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Greetings from Lourdes!
After yesterday's much needed rest time, we were feeling refreshed and ready to take on Day 3 of the Pilgrimage, which started with breakfast and morning prayer. Seeing everyone fill every single seat of the Bartres Room at the Hotel Alba for morning prayer was a welcoming sight, as we missed the early morning wake up times that offered us the opportunity to begin each day in prayer, together. The morning prayer ended with a beautiful rendition of, "Ave Maria", sung by Dana Surena-Mattson, DM.
For the first time this year, Knights, Dames, Auxiliary, Volunteers, and Chaplains gathered together at Chapelle de Notre-Dame for an Orientation Meeting, where an overview of the full Lourdes Pilgrimage was presented.
After lunch, we attended our Team Meetings, where we met our teammates for the next week, learned all about what this week will entail, and picked up some team color "swag".
Then, for the very first time since 2019, we assembled with our whole teams in front of the hotels to process to the Sanctuary for the Opening Tri-Association Mass at the Rosary Basilica, which was standing room only. A sight truly missed by all, we processed up the street and down to the Sanctuary in unison. We were met by members of the Federal and Western Associations for this special Mass.
Following Mass, we met back at the hotels for a Reception and Dinner to wrap up our first full day of activities in Lourdes. We would also like to take this time to mention that this year, we are joined by approximately 40 members of the Order of Malta's Irish Association, who are participating in our pilgrimage on each team. They arrived to Lourdes today and are sure to be a welcome addition to this year's pilgrimage.
Until tomorrow...
Our Lady of Lourdes,
Pray for Us!
Click here to view the Lourdes 2023 section of our website, where we will be sharing these daily updates, photo galleries, Cardinal Dolan's updates, and more. Pilgrims can share these updates with family and friends back home so that they, too, can experience the beauty of Lourdes.
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