HCPT Blog 7 - A Week with Friends

Fr Gerry at Gavarnie Mass

In this seventh and final blog from HCPT Group 144, Fr Gerry McFlynn, group chaplain and project worker for the Irish Chaplaincy, offers this reflection:

The famous French existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, once famously said that Hell was other people. He must have moved in very different circles from the ones I move in.

I spent this past week in Lourdes as chaplain to HCPT Group 144, from north and west London, comprising a total of 27 children and adults. It was my third visit to Lourdes - the first having been in 2019 before the pandemic struck.

I was no more at home this time than the last as I don't find being surrounded by ill and disabled people easy to cope with. Still, it doesn't do any harm once in a while to be wrenched out of one's comfort zone and forced to embrace a different perspective on life. I now call it my annual "reality check".

What struck me again last week was the friendliness of the people I met and the dedication of the helpers in attending patiently to the often time-consuming and challenging needs of their charges.

A programme of sorts had been worked out in advance consisting of visits to the Grotto, Stations of the Cross and Masses. The highlight of the week is always the HCPT Trust Mass which brings together all the groups from the different countries in a joyous celebration of prayer, word, song, dance and banner-waving. This year's Mass was led by HCPT Scotland with the theme of 'Let Your Light Shine'. As with previous years, the whole event was such an emotional riot of colour, words and music that I didn't want it to end.

Another highlight was the visit to the small ski resort of Gavarnie, in the foothills of the snow-capped Pyrenees, close to the Spanish border and one of the starting points for the famous Camino Pilgrimage trail. On our last visit we had seen the mountains through a snow blizzard; this time the weather was warm and sunny. We had Mass on the grassy slopes, using a wheelchair for an altar with four children holding the altar cloth in place in the breeze. We celebrated Eucharist against a picture postcard background of snow-covered mountain splendour. It was an event that will stay long in my memory.

As with my last visit, I met with another prison chaplain, this time, Andrew Thomas, managing chaplain at two prisons in south Wales. It was good catching up with the news and gossip in the prison estate.

But throughout the week, my attention was mostly drawn to the many ordinary pilgrims for whom Lourdes is a special place of healing, whether of mind, body or soul. It is hard not to be impressed by the faith of so many people. The theme of our Masses throughout the week was the hope of the Resurrection and how we can share that hope and the light of Easter with others.

Lourdes seemed to be an easy place to make friends. If Hell was other people for Sartre, I can only conclude that Heaven must be all about friends and friendship. I recall someone once saying that it is only with friends that one can have hope in this adventure we call life. I certainly experienced the truth of that remark during my week in Lourdes.

LINKS

HCPT Facebook page: www.facebook.com/HCPTpage

HCPT Group 144 page: www.facebook.com/HCPTGroup144/