Lourdes
PBS Broadcast: Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler

Welcome to our discussion of PBS's new series, Sacred Journeys!

Tonight's first episode is about the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes, France, where 5 million pilgrims come each year seeking healing.

The shrine has been a place of pilgrimage since 1858, when a 14 year old peasant girl named Bernadette announced she'd had multiple encounters with the Virgin Mary near a spring. According to the program, beginning after World war II, soldiers have come one weekend each year to seek healing in those waters and reconciliation with one another.

The program features a number of the wounded warriors' stories, and emphasizes that they are seeking many different kinds of healing, both physical and spiritual.  "These veterans receive medical treatment, but many long for a different kind of healing," says one of the chaplains. One of those kinds of headings may be found surrounded by others who have suffered as they have.  "One of the gifts of a pilgrimage is a feeling of safety - everyone is on the same journey," says Feiler.

Have you ever traveled to Lourdes, or another site associated with healing? Have you experienced healing through prayer? What do you think about the stories of healing shared by pilgrims to Lourdes? Is healing found through pilgrimage to Lourdes real if it doesn't include physical healing?

Please add your own thoughts, reflections, and questions in the comments below: we look forward to a lively discussion!

A few guidelines for respectful dialogue:

• Speak out of your own experience: in other words, talk about what you believe, not what others believe, and share what *you* think. Don't put words in others' mouths.  
• Try to see from another's point of view. "Try on" new ways of thinking! 
• If something makes you angry, take a few minutes before you respond, until you can write without anger. Write about your own reaction, not someone else's presumed intentions. 
• Above all, honor the dignity of all persons, and treat everyone as you would like to be treated.  Speak respectfully towards the views of others, even if they are at odds with your own. 

If you didn't have an opportunity to view the episodes during this episode's premier on Tuesday, Dec. 16, you can find additional broadcasts here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sacredjourneys/content/schedule/