Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 65(3) August 2015
The Good Shepherd and Healthcare.
A Meeting in The Medical Bureau
of The Sanctuary in Lourdes.
Adrian Treloar
As part of my pre-op assessment for major surgery earlier this year, I went to Lourdes in April and during that blessed time, met with doctors, nurses and paramedics from around Europe. While there, we attended a meeting which was addressed by the Patriarch of Constantinople. As the Good Shepherd, Our Blessed Lord supports us in all our work and focusses us onto the poor and needy. As health workers from cross Europe we were all together in serving the poor, sick and vulnerable, and praying here before Our Lady and Our Lord for the graces we need to do that.
The Medical Bureau supports the work of the sanctuary and provides doctors who will look at miracles and assess them. In 1905, Pope Pius X requested 'to submit to a proper process' the most spectacular of the cures of Lourdes. The Medical Bureau was set up to carry this out. It’s a place all doctors and nurses should go to when they are on pilgrimage and it is on the second floor of the Accueil Jean Paul II, which is just to the right hand side of where the candlelight procession passes.
At the end of the meeting we prayed to the patron saints of many healthcare disciplines. (See below)
Joining the Medical Bureau You need to join up and get a badge and the Lourdes Medical Journal. If you do that, then you can enjoy the huge privilege of following the Blessed Sacrament as it is taken to the sick each afternoon in the Blessed Sacrament Procession.
Singing in the Shrine Choir . You can join the choir which sings at all the major events. To do this just turn up (provided you can sing of course) and there is an enclosure near the middle of the underground basilica where the choir sits. You need to be there at least half an hour before the service to practice. It’s another great privilege.
Bathing, confession and prayer including the Rosary really should all be done even if you are not personally sick. We are all spiritually unwell and need those graces.
Going to the mountains. Ever since my first pilgrimage to Lourdes I have always enjoyed a trip up to Gavarnie in the High Pyrenees. The world is made in praise of the Lord (Laudato Si) and we see this more clearly in such beautiful places. Sitting above the snow in warm sunshine having a picnic is wonderful. You can catch a bus there quite easily for 19 Euros as long as you work out in advance which day the bus is going on. You can also visit Our lady of the Snows and the beautiful Parish Church of St James.
Our Lady of the Snows, Gavarnie
St. Luke (Patron
Saint of Doctors). - Pray for us
St Appolinus
(Patron Saint of Dentists) - Pray for us
Saint
Camille of Lellis and St John of God (Patron Saints of Nurses and the
sick) - Pray for us
Sts. Cosmas and Damian (Patron
Saints of Doctors and Surgeons) - Pray for us
St John
Leonardi (Patron Saint of Pharmacists) Pray for us
St Raymond Nonnatus (Patron saint of expectant mothers and midwives
- Pray for us
Sr Gianna Beretta Molla - Pray for us
St Joseph Moscati - Pray for us
St. Elizabeth of
Hungary - Pray for us
St John XXIII and St John Paul
II - Pray for us
PS. Surgery went well thank God!
There is also an ongoing demand for good doctors and nurses to
accompany pilgrimages.
If you can do this work please let us know.