The Ripple Effects of Lourdes Water

The Ripple Effects of Lourdes Water

If not for the water from the Grotto of Lourdes and the flood waters of southern California, two women would not have met and experienced a Divine Appointment.

After my second volunteer pilgrimage to Lourdes, France in 2024 with the Our Lady of Lourdes North American Volunteers, I phoned a business associate, Mary Kathryn. A fellow Catholic from the Midwest, she asked that I call her after our pilgrimage.

When we spoke, I told her that I had Lourdes grotto water for her.

Her response? Silence.

Then she wept.

Her daughter recently gave birth to a boy with critical pulmonary issues. Mary Kathryn asked if I could send her a bottle of Lourdes water that she would give to her daughter in California during an forthcoming trip.

Two bottles were immediately shipped; one for Mary Kathryn and one for her daughter and newborn grandson.

When Mary Kathryn and her husband arrived in California, Mary Kathryn was disappointed to discover that she had forgotten to pack the water. Surprisingly, her daughter was disappointed her mother had forgotten the water and expressed interest in getting it at some time soon. Her daughter’s positive reaction shocked Mary Catherine because her daughter had not practiced the faith in some time.

During their California visit, Mary Kathryn and her husband took an excursion train trip from Los Angelos to San Diego. While on the train, they learned that heavy rains had shut down the tracks farther south, preventing them from arriving in San Diego.

Neither were familiar with that part of California and they weren’t sure which train stop to disembark, so they randomly selected a train stop in San Juan Capistrano to purchase return tickets to Los Angeles.

They disembarked the train at San Juan Capistrano, went to the train station to purchase the tickets to return to Los Angeles, and met a friendly elderly woman behind the ticket counter.

Her name? Mary Catherine. That was the first “coincidence”.

Mary Kathryn and her husband explained that they needed to exchange their tickets and return to Los Angeles. After chatting a few minutes, the two women discovered each other was Catholic and shared their faith.

Since Mary Kathryn and her husband had a three-hour wait for the returning train to Los Angeles, the elder Mary Catherine suggested they visit the local church just up the hill: the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano.

They took her up on the offer.

After Mary Kathryn and her husband visited the Basilica, they walked down the hill returning to the train station. She told her husband how she had forgotten to pack the Lourdes water for their daughter and newborn grandson and how disappointed she was.

As she finished her story and they returned to the train station, the elder Mary Catherine left her ticket booth and quickly approached Mary Kathryn and her husband. She exclaimed, “I don’t know why but I feel compelled to tell you that my son has stage-four cancer. Have you ever heard of Lourdes, France? I’m taking our son there in April.”

Mary Catherine and her husband were stunned. She answered, “My husband and I were just discussing Lourdes! And I know someone who had just volunteered there and had sent me Lourdes water for our grandson. They also produced a recap video of their volunteer trip to Lourdes. Would you like to see it?”

Mary Kathryn sent her the link to a recap video and promised to stay in touch.

A few days later, Mary Kathryn contacted the elder Mary Catherine, who said that she had watched the video, and that she and her family felt a complete sense of peace after watching it. The movie made them want to visit Lourdes, France even more.

This is one of the miracles of volunteering in Lourdes: the grace does not stay at the Grotto. It ripples outward through conversations, through chance encounters that are anything but chance, through the courage to share a story, a video, a bottle of Lourdes water.

Long after we return from volunteering in Lourdes, long after the suitcases are unpacked, Our Lady continues to work.

And through the grace of God, she provides Divine Appointments – just like the one in San Juan Capistrano, CA between Mary Kathryn and Mary Catherine.

Written by a North American Lourdes Volunteer