On a bus ride to Toulouse....

On the last day of September 2025, I sadly boarded a tour bus for Toulouse, France. After 3 days in Lourdes, I didn't want to leave.

In Lourdes, you are immersed in the story of Bernadette from the candlelight processions to drinking the healing water, to Mass at the Grotto.

The experience of touring the mill where her family lived and worked and understanding the abject poverty they lived, one can't help but be sickened at the sight of the hucksters today who make millions exploiting the false religious principles of the superstitious and narcissistic.

It is very sad living in a world with such evil people and that's why the experience of Lourdes and Nevers and other places was so amazing.

On the bus ride to Toulouse, we got to watch the movie Bernadette by Ignatius press. It stars Sidney Penny as the visionary. You probably remember her as the girl Megan in Pale Rider. You can get a DVD of the movie. It is played in the educational center at Lourdes daily but we didn't get to view it while there.

Later, in the trip, I went to Nevers. There, I got pictures of Bernadette, herself. This is a picture I took myself.

I saw the sacred grounds where she lived out her life in vocation and prayer before dying a terrible death of Tuberculosis. On the feast day of Bernadette, I look back fondly.

Saint Bernadette, please pray for us.