Highlights from My Women's Pilgrimage to France! 🇫🇷

"I felt like I was embraced by St. Thérèse."🌹

What happened on the May 2026 women's pilgrimage to France? 

So many gifts, graces, encounters, and special moments!

Even though Sarah got Covid on the way home, she would do it again in a heartbeat. 

In this episode she shares many of the highlights of the experience, along with the following links for you to explore further:

1. The Story of a Soul, by St. Thérèse of Lisieux

2. A Call to Deeper Love: The Family Correspondance of the Parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

3. Les Buissonets (the Little Flower's childhood home in Lisieux)

4. Novena to Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin (the prayer from the shrine in Alençon is in bold at the end of each day of the novena on this website).

5. Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle (Lace Museum in Alençon)

6. Monet's House and Garden at Giverny in Normandy, France

7. Leisure, the Basis of Culture, by Joseph Pieper (easy-to-read book of Catholic philosophy about the importance of authentic leisure)

8. Notre Dame des Victoires Basilica in Paris (church that St. Thérèse and her parents loved)

9. Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in Paris

10. Heart of the Father Ministries (Healing Prayer, Five Steps of Deliverance)

11. Be Healed, by Dr. Bob Schuchts

12. Your Blue Flame: Drop the Guilt and Do What Makes You Come Alive, by Jennifer Fulwiler

🇫🇷Interested in taking a French class with Sarah this summer or find out about upcoming pilgrimages to France?🇫🇷

Fill in your email address here to get notified:

https://canafeast.com/france

🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage 

Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin!

Transcript

0:03

I just got back from leading a woman's pilgrimage to France, and I am still just absolutely floating high off the memories and graces and experiences of this incredible journey. It was so wonderful, and I'm already thinking about leading another one. So I'm going to share some highlights in this episode, and I'm gonna share a bunch of links, too, because there are lovely things for you to see, to taste, to know about to read that will bless and enrich you. So this was a women's pilgrimage to France devoted to Our Lady and the feminine genius, the dignity of women and healing a woman's heart, and we especially looked at sites... related to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, her mother, St. Zélie Martin, St. Joan of Arc, and, we went to Lourdes, and we went to Mont Saint-Michel and to Paris. So this was our itinerary. We landed in Paris. We spent about two and a half days based in Paris. In that time, we went to Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church. This is the church in Paris dedicated to Our Lady of Victories that St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, her family was really devoted to. They were really devoted to this title of Our Lady, Our Lady of Victories. And, her, St. Thérèse's dad, St. Louis Martin, went there often. This is where St. Thérèse had Masses offered for the conversion of the sinner Pranzini, whose conversion she prayed for. We went to the Louvre. We went to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal. We went near Paris but just outside it a bit to Giverny, where Monet, the impressionist painter, has his house and garden because we were also looking at, authentic leisure and recreation and beauty. And we had little, mini travel watercolor sets that my daughters and I put together for all the pilgrims. So we had the opportunity to do a little tiny bit of painting there, and it was so fun and delightful. And we went on a, just like a total tourist cliche dinner cruise, but it was actually so much fun cruising along the Seine River at night, seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle, having just a lovely meal all together. And then after Paris, we went to Rouen, where Saint Joan of Arc was martyred, and then from there we went to Lisieux and visited the home where Saint Therese grew up from the age of four through 15. It's called Le Buissonet, and that was so sweet It's like almost you could hear the echo of her footsteps going down the hallways. You can see her bed, her fireplace where she put out her slippers,, the night of her big Christmas grace of conversion where she learned to really be more other centered. You could see the dining room and the garden in the backyard where she played. It was really sweet and special to be there, but we also, of course, went to Saint Therese's big basilica in Lisieux, which has a relic of her, and, ah, it's just incredible. We celebrated mass in the crypt church of that basilica, which is beautifully decorated with art deco mosaics, with roses everywhere, and a rainbow. We had two priests on this pilgrimage, and both of them love Saint Therese. And the priest who celebrated Mass there in the basilica crypt church is a priest who is a friend of mine from our high school youth group days. Now he's pastor of the parish where we both used to go to youth group way back in the day, and Saint Therese is a big part of his vocation story. And it was really sweet to see him. After he celebrated Mass there, we all had some free time to explore the basilica, and I saw him just, like, sitting and kneeling and just soaking it in, and then after a good long prayer time, taking pictures. You could tell he was just really entranced, as was I. And I had my mom and one of my daughters with me, and there were lots of mother-daughter groups on this pilgrimage. It was really special. There was a mom who had her 10 and 12 and one-year-old daughters with her, a homeschooling mom. And then there was a mom who was 95 years old- And she had her two daughters who were in their 70s with her, and she was so beautiful and gracious and kind and she was brought around in a wheelchair a lot of the time by her daughters over cobblestone streets. I literally saw a screw pop out of the wheelchair in one of the medieval windy streets that we were going along. But it- the wheelchair held together, and she... Like, she was a master class in how we all as women can aspire to age with grace and beauty and dignity and kindness and love. Because after that particular ride where the screw came out, all she said was, "Well, that was a bumpy ride." And when we went to the Louvre in Paris, and there was a little bit of a fiasco about how we were all gonna meet up after the Louvre, cause we didn't all go as one big group through the Louvre. Everyone was free to explore on their own, which for future pilgrimages, I think I'll make a different plan because there was a lot of confusion about how to get back to our meeting spot. And I was a little worried about, this lady and her daughters meeting us, and they were among the last to get back, but when I saw them, she w- just looked right up and she just said, "That was beautiful." And she just cut right through the stress and tension of the moment to show the most essential thing, which is this was something incredible that we experienced. She was just like that all throughout. So I'm gonna talk about highlights related to the sights and the graces, that we saw, and just how incredible France is, but the pilgrims, the women and girls, they themselves were also a highlight. There were just so many incredible women sharing, helping each other out, praying for each other, really so heartfelt in their sincerity and support and love for each other. That was a huge, huge blessing. And the priests also were incredible and wonderful and gave Beautiful homilies and beautiful talks as we were on the bus riding around France together. So to pick up with my itinerary, we were in Normandy, where Lisieux is, and Rouen, where we encountered Saint Joan of Arc's site where she was martyred. There's a, like a historical museum there f- all related to Saint Joan of Arc and understanding her life better. And then we had mass in the cathedral in Rouen, which is beautiful. And then I didn't even foresee this, but it was really cool that we were at the cathedral in Rouen because, Monet himself painted the facade of the Cathedral of Ru- Rouen, the west facade, like 30-plus times. So that was really neat after we had just been to Giverny, where Monet's garden was, and learned a bit more about this painter and encountered him in that way, to then go to this cathedral where he had spent so much time observing the different changes in atmosphere and light and, like the, the texture of the environment there that he was trying to capture in his art. So okay, Normandy, Lisieux. I just absolutely love Lisieux. I love Saint Thérèse so much. I focused my dissertation on her, on her spirituality of, the little way and her emphasis on spiritual childhood to help explore the theme of the vocation and mission of the child in the domestic church. That was what my dissertation was on. So I got to read a lot of Saint Thérèse's own writings and then source documents from her canonization trial and witnesses and depositions from those who knew her and then writings of people who, rec- you know, like her big sisters who recorded her, her words. And I also read a lot of Saint Louis and Zélie's letters, and I'm gonna put a link to this podcast episode to the book A Call to Deeper Love, which is where you can read Saint Louis and Saint Zélie's, um, letters to each other and Saint Zélie's letters to her daughters. And that is just such a beautiful way to get to know the heart of the mother of Saint Thérèse. I just really love and respect and admire Saint Zélie also. Busy working mom, very affectionate mother. She herself grew up in a strict household that was not warm and affectionate. But she found through her faith in God, and I really think also through her relationship with Louis, and, and his tender love, and also just in their own, you know, the, the heart that God gave her, she found all these reserves of affection to lavish on her, her daughters. So that her youngest daughter, Therese, could grow up, just as she herself, as Therese wrote in her own Story of a Soul, just surrounded by smiles and kisses and love and affection. So of course, I'll put a link to St. Therese's Story of a Soul to this episode as well, because if you haven't read it, please do. Please just read this, and let Therese charm you, and m- become your friend, and surprise you by bringing you to spiritual heights and, vistas that, that you may not have known existed. Like, she's so good at helping cut through perfectionism and the ways that we can block ourselves from God's mercy by thinking that it's all based on our own performance. She is such a great reminder in how she just refuses to let herself get discouraged, even when she fails, even when she messes up, to just turn... Like she says, you know, "I just, lift my little wings. If I've gotten my wings dirty in the mud of this earth, I lift my little wings to the great sun," God is the sun, and just, you know, chirp and, like, show him, "Oh, look what I did. Come help." She just really can win you over and help you see yourself as little and carried close to the heart of the Father, which is so healing for so many of us. Okay. So after Lisieux, we went to Mont Saint-Michel. Oh, my goodness. This is another huge high point for me. There's the Carmel in Lisieux that has an exhibit there. There's, an exhibit space where you can see different objects that Therese used, like her clogs her art supplies, her Saint Joan of Arc costume. You can see the costume sleeves that she pinned over her habit when she acted out the title role of Saint Joan of Arc in the play that she wrote about Saint Joan of Arc. So that was another really neat way that the different saints of our pilgrimage just wove through and kept interconnecting throughout the whole journey. You can see the doorway. You can walk through the doorway to Therese's cell because it's, on display in this exhibit space. Just so many special things. And then in the Carmelite convent chapel, that is where Therese's tomb is. And I had such an incredible time just pouring my heart out in prayer- At her tomb. And there's a little sort of like more quiet side chapel, I guess you'd say, to the area around her tomb where there's a statue of St. Joseph in there and like a little side window into her tomb area. And I was able to tuck myself in there and just pray, pray, pray for the people that I love, people in my family, for, all of you who Nathan and I serve through our Cana Feast ministries and in our podcasts and courses. That was really so special to just, yeah, pray at the tomb of the Little Flower. And then Lisieux is just a charming town. It's nice and pleasant to be there. And then in the Basilica, in a side chapel there, that's where the relics of St. Louis and Zélie Martin are. So that was a really special moment, too, to just kneel before their relics and pray so hard for all the married couples that Nathan and I serve through our programs and to pray for our ministry, and then to touch my own wedding ring to the tomb, or to the reliquary. That is like a tradition that you can do. And there's a real... It's just a moment. Like it was such a special moment to be able to connect my wedding band and feel the metal of it, touch the metal of that reliquary, and pray for my husband and pray in, in Thanksgiving for our marriage, great Thanksgiving, and just to ask for graces for the years ahead and give thanks for our children that we have and, oh my goodness, so special. There's a... It's in French, but there is a little flyer there with, a novena to Saints Louis and Zélie on it. So if you make it there, look for that novena, and maybe I'll translate that and put it out somewhere, publicly so that, you guys can have that too and maybe pray that if you would like to. Okay. So Mont-Saint-Michel. That is this island, sticking out into the English Channel a little bit, at the border between Normandy and Brittany, where St. Michael appeared to the Bishop of Avranches in the Middle Ages and said, "I would like you to build me a church on this island." And the bishop didn't do it right away, so St. Michael had to appear to him an additional two more times. And on the third time, the tradition is that he... The legend says that he, he, Like poked the bishop's skull and left a mark in his skull that you can still see. So we didn't actually go see the relics of the Bishop Aubert's skull, but we did have the option that I set up as part of what I wanted to do in my customized itinerary for this pilgrimage. I gave the option for my pilgrims, if they wanted to, to hike seven miles along the sea salt, the like tidal meadow grasslands, where these salt grass-adapted sheep graze, to approach Mont Saint-Michel that way. And it was at least half or two-thirds of the pilgrims, who chose to do that, and it was really so special and beautiful to hike in the morning. We approached Mont Saint-Michel from the east, so the sun was behind us, and we just saw Mont Saint-Michel, which in French they call it La Merveille, The Marvel, saw it rising bigger and bigger in front of us. And, you know, we're walking to it just the same way that for hundreds and hundreds of years throughout the Middle Ages, so many pilgrims walked to Mont Saint-Michel to make religious pilgrimages. There was a dear pilgrim who was older and had a little bit of a harder time with the walk, so I stayed back and stayed with her while most of the rest of our group went up a little faster. One of the priests last minute decided to do the walk also, so he headed up w- part of the group that was going faster. And I honestly, I had such a nice time walking quietly with this one woman, and there was another woman who joined us, from, you know, like she was also going a little slower. We prayed a rosary. We chatted about all sorts of things. We had some time of silence, walking. I- like I just can't even describe how special and beautiful that is to just feel the salt breezes and the sun on our face and just that steady rhythm of walking. Someday I hope to do a camino to Santiago de Compostela, and I hope that someday actually will be next year, 'cause there will be some milestones that year. So this is like a good kind of warm-up in some ways for that. But Mont Saint-Michel itself, once you get there, is a really special place. There is a church halfway up the island called Saint Pierre, Saint Peter Church. And a lot like Notre Dame de Victoire, there is just this holy atmosphere where you can almost... Do you know that expression, a thin place? That thin place where the, the veil between heaven and Earth is more thin. It's sort of almost that kind of a feeling where, like, you can almost tell, you can almost feel the hundreds of years worth of prayer that have been prayed there. It was kind of an eclectic mix of decor, but you can tell it's a place of a lot of devotion. There's a huge silver statue of St. Michael with multicolored votive candle holders in front of it. There's a statue of St. Anne and of our l- Our Lady. And then I found, much to my surprise, because I've actually been to this church a few other times but never noticed this before, on one wall inside this church, there is a plaque, like a photo and plaque dedicated to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. And it explained that St. Thérèse prayed the evening prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours evening prayer, for the Feast of St. Michael the night before she died. That was the last thing she prayed in community with her sisters. That was what she meditated on. I never realized that connection before. When we had our very first activity, after we woke up together in Paris, w- which was Notre-Dame de Victoire, w- So I knew that this church was special for Thérèse and her family. What I didn't know was that there would be a huge, beautiful, golden reliquary with the relics of St. Thérèse right in front of the main altar of that church the morning that we went there. And as one of the pilgrims said, "It's like St. Thérèse was running ahead to meet us," 'cause we weren't scheduled to go to Lisieux for several more days. And then the color of the roses that was decorating, Notre-Dame de Victoire was significant for the priest who was my friend from childhood, from our teen years. There were orange and white roses that were decorating the altar area and the reliquary and, that were in a different area in the church too. And he, in his homily, he told his whole vocation story about how St. Thérèse was pivotal to his vocation, when he went to World Youth Day in the year 2000 in Rome. And he had been discerning priesthood, but wasn't like, hadn't quite all the way made the decision. And he was, praying a novena to St. Therese asking for a sign, and then through this series of events, he'd been looking for... Like, he knew that St. Therese's relics were supposed to be there at, World Youth Day, but he kept not finding the church where it was supposed to be. And then he had kinda given up on that, and then, this was back in the days, when to take photos with a camera you would get film and put it in the camera. And he had run out of film, so he went into a little tobacco store to buy more film, and then saw a poster about where the relics were, and they were right around the corner from it. And then he, like, had this beautiful encounter with St. Therese through her relics, and now continues to be devoted to her, and, um, had recently prayed a novena to St. Therese about getting some nuns and a convent for them on the campus or next to the campus of where the church is that he's now, pastor of. And when they found a home and were being shown it by the real estate agent, and it was all checking out and looking like a good option, then he went into the backyard of it and there was this giant rosebush with orange roses on it, and he just, like, continues to see orange roses all around. So anyway, that was really special. So there was Therese sort of weaving her way, all throughout this pilgrimage, including there at Mont Saint-Michel. And it's, it's really like you're under the wings of St. Michael there. He is really there, powerful, interceding, protecting. There's so much about the layout of the island and, like, the way that you go up. You make your journey on the island. First you go past all these shops and restaurants, and it's very crowded and busy on this one main road that you go up it. But then if you continue up at the very top, that's where the abbey is. And so that's an image of our spiritual journey, right? Like, we need to seek the higher things and not get distracted and stuck with worldly things as we journey to, you know, make our spiritual journey to seek God and find that space to devote to Him in prayer and in contact with our soul. And then this island is per- surrounded by the tides, and that is, like, the protection that St. Michael can do for us. I'll... I found a really cool little mini article sort of about the spiritual symbolism of the island, so I will link that as well so you can see that. It's a really popular tourist destination, so chances are if you're going to France, you'll probably make it to Mont Saint-Michel, or maybe you've been there already. But maybe you haven't thought about it in this way. So I'm... Yeah, I'm gonna- Put that article there for you as well. And then after Mont Saint-Michel, we went to Alençon. Alençon is not... Oh, wait, I'm sorry. More about Mont Saint-Michel. I told you this isn't gonna be super linear, but it is full of gratitude and enthusiasm. There is a plenary indulgence available to you if you go to Mont Saint-Michel and, fulfill the normal conditions for an indulgence, right? Have confession, more or less two weeks before or after, the indulgenced activity, receive communion on that day, have total detachment from sin, and pray prayers for the Holy Father's intentions, for example, a creed, an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. At this church of St. Pierre, there is usually a priest available hearing confessions for hours all afternoon, and I had the opportunity again to go to confession there, and I'd been to Mont Saint-Michel a year before with my husband, Nathan, for our 25th wedding anniversary, and we had gone to confession there that time as well. This priest is really, generous and gifted and speaks a lot of languages and explained that, this was a special indulgence given by St. Michael himself, and it's just this total washing of all of the consequences, the temporal punishment still due for sin. Anyway, very special grace, so I encourage you to, if you're ever planning to go to Mont Saint-Michel, avail yourself of that and fulfill those conditions for an indulgence. And the indulgence activity is going to that church of St. Pierre, really spending time in prayer there, praying to St. Another cool thing about Mont Saint-Michel is that, recently, like the last maybe 15 or more years or so, there has been a religious community present, living in community and praying the Liturgy of the Hours and celebrating Mass in the abbey church at the very top. They're from the Fraternité de Jérusalem, and so there's a... I think there's seven of them total, and if you ever get a chance to join them for morning or evening prayer, it is ethereal. It is so beautiful and special. There's the incense rising up to the top of the abbey church, the special way the light plays, into this, this church at the very top of this little mountain. The way that they pray and sing, it blends some of the types of melodies from the Eastern and the Western church. They really have this spiritual connection with the Holy Land. It's really cool, but you have to present yourself at this certain spot at a certain time to then get met by one of the, religious from the community, and then led through the locked doors into the abbey, and then stay there through the whole time of the liturgy of the hours, in the morning or evening prayer, and then they'll lead you back down and out. I actually wasn't part of the group that stayed for evening prayer, but several of our pilgrims did stay with one of our priests for evening prayer, and then they were worried that they might, miss the last bus off of the island to meet our tour bus that was gonna bring them back. Our very generous tour bus driver made multiple trips sort of last minute to accommodate the evolving schedule that, we asked for because some of us who, like, we were Some of us were leaving the island earlier than others. But anyway, yeah, a p- portion of our group sort of tried to leave partway through the evening prayer, which didn't work so well because the door out of the abbey is locked. And so there was a little bit of confusion, but, you know, understandable, and these sorts of things happen on pilgrimages. And there was Yeah, just play through best you can, and adapt and learn and be gracious. So anyway, I will also put a link about the information about joining for morning or evening prayer, or a mass there at the abbey church. Okay, now leaving Mont Saint-Michel and continuing to the next spot on our, our, our itinerary, we went to Alençon. Alençon is not a typical pilgrimage site that a ton of pilgrimages go to, but it was really special for me and important for me to put it on our itinerary because that is where Saint Zélie lived. St. Zélie never lived in Lisieux. That's where her brother lived. Her brother Isidore and his wife and their two daughters, they lived in Lisieux, and that's where Louis moved the household after Zélie died at her urging and request so that Louis could be near family and get the help, and support of family- to raise his daughters after she was gone. And think about that, especially some of them are gonna be going through puberty without their mom alive. So Zélie was looking ahead and being like, "Hey, why don't you go be near be near my brother and sister-in-law?" So Zélie lived in Alençon with Louis up until the time of Zélie's death, and that's where Thérèse was born and where she lived up until she was four. And you can visit the home where Louis and Zélie lived in the last years of their marriage before Zélie's death, and part of it is transformed now into a chapel that you can go to and have mass at. And it's really cool because the chapel is constructed such that one wall of it is glass, and it looks right into the home of Louis and Zélie. In fact, right into Louis and Zélie's bedroom, and their marital bed is right there, which I think is really special and cool, considering the w- work that I do, helping Catholic women grow in their marital embrace and grow in joy in their love life with- in their marriage with their husbands, that there's this, this clear visible connection between the marriage bed and the mass. Because theologically there is a lot of connection there, but it's just visually clear there at this site, which is really special. And there's also... And one of our priests talked about that on the bus, and I was so thankful he drew that out. Um, and he pointed out that in some churches, like St. Peter's, you have a baldacchino, like this canopy over the main altar. That actually hearkens to the canopy over a marriage bed. Drawing out that connection between worship and, using your body to glorify the Lord in marriage, in your union with each other, and then the union with God that we have at mass Okay. So Alençon is special, because of that, and also there are Carmelite nuns from Brazil, I think, who have built a convent that is attached to this shrine now, and they lead guided tours, of the house that Louis and Zélie lived in, and they're lovely and delightful. And, it's really special to see. There's like a visitor space as well, before you get into the house and, like, sort of adjacent to the chapel, and there's a little hallway there with more objects that belonged to Thérèse's family, like the shawl that Zélie wore, like some of Louis' tools and a watch that, It just... Yeah, like stuff that they had which are now relics. So that's really special. And then another really special thing about Alençon that few American travelers really discover, so I wanna tell you guys about this. There is an incredible lace museum there. It's called the Museum of Fine Art and Lace, the Musée des Beaux Arts et Dentelles. And this is the style of lace that Zélie made, through an inspiration that she really believed was given her by the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was pretty unusual for a young woman of Zélie's station and age and rank to just take it upon herself to learn the art of this kind of lace making, but Zélie did, and it was through that that she met Louis, and it was through this lace making business that ultimately this was how they supported their family. And Zélie was very skilled and gifted at this. She did, I think it's called tattedge, tatting, where you combine the different pieces of lace the others have made into one whole lace. And there are just stunning examples of points d'Alençon lace at this museum. It's just absolutely breathtaking, and it was so fun. So our time in Alençon was shorter than had been previously intended because this is just what happened all throughout the pilgrimage. Everything took longer, like, as, as far as getting around and logistics, and so our... Like, instead of having hours and hours all afternoon in Alençon so that you could choose to do, you know, multiple activities, what ended up happening is our group, we had to choose. Some people did the tour of Louis and Zélie's home, and some people went and did the lace making museum, and other people went on their own to go to the Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Alençon, where St. Thérèse was baptized and where her parents were married, and that's really special also. But I had been to that previously, so this time I went with a group to the lace making museum to, you know, show them where it was, and my daughter, who was with me, really wanted to see the lace as well. And when we got there, we really only had, like, 15 minutes to go through the lace museum, like the lace part. So I knew right where- I led them, my group right to the lace part and then set them loose And it was really delightful to see how entranced all the women and girls were just mesmerized looking at these stunning examples of lace work. There's even a pious legend involving Our Lady about how Point d'Alençon lace was invented. I know that when I had been to this museum previously, I had seen an example of lace made from a design from Louis and Zélie's workshop. I couldn't find it this time, but later I shared with my pilgrims the photo I had taken previously. But, the museum workers were really thrilled to have a whole group come through, and our tour guide who was with us the whole time, Mila, was just... She was an incredible tour guide. She said, "It's really nice to see museum workers happy," because, you know, maybe this museum doesn't get a whole lot of, visitors all the time, but they were really happy to have a big group there. So I really encourage you to check that out, and I'll put a link to it, to this podcast episode. I think for anybody on my email list, I'll just send an email, to this episode and then with all the links, ''cause I know from some podcast apps it's hard to actually get into the show notes and, like, the links aren't always live. So if you wanna get on our emails, you can do it, probably most easily would be to go to thelittlewayofmarriage.com and just sign up for Little Way of Marriage. And whether you do those free videos that help you grow in marriage skills, doing small things with great love in your marriage inspired by St. Thérèse's Little Way and St. Louis and Zélie Martin and stories from their life and marriage. Whether you click through and do those videos or not, no problem. Alençon was amazing, though a little bit quick, but I definitely wanna put that on my itinerary again when I do a future pilgrimage to France. Then we went back, we took the tour bus back to Paris because what we were gonna do the next day was go down to Lourdes, and the best way to do that was to take the high-speed train, the TGV, the Train of Grande Vitesse. So we went back to Paris. There was traffic, of course. Just know, if you go on a pilgrimage, things are gonna go sideways. Just roll with it. It's part of the journey, is having these unexpected things happen and then being able to patiently go through them with grace and resilience and, flexibility and, a pilgrim spirit. So we got into Paris pretty late that night, and then the next morning we, is when we went to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, which is so special, and I, I just absolutely love that place. That is one of the s- places where I prayed when I was a young woman doing my study abroad year in Paris in college. I would go to that chapel frequently, and I would ask God and Our Lady to help me find a good husband, and I promised I would come back with him someday to thank, thank Mary for her help in that. And I sure have. I've been back many times with Nathan now, and now when I go, I pray for the vocations of our five children. But that's a just a beautiful chapel. I really feel the joy of Our Lady. It's like a little springtime in there. There are some places that St. John Paul II said, "It's like a little springtime," and I feel like this is one of them. It's, beautiful pastel mosaics. Again, more of an Art Deco style, I think. The incorrupt body of St. Catherine Labouré is there, and this is where Mary appeared to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830 over three different times and asked her to have the Miraculous Medal made and told her, "Whoever comes to the foot of this altar and prays with faith and devotion," you know, "there I will answer their prayers." So just a lot of Parisians, especially immigrants to France who live in Paris, come to this chapel with sincere devotion, and then visitors from around the world. And again, you can just really feel this love and joy and peacefulness there. So that's where we went, during the half day that we were in Paris, after coming back and then before taking our train down to Lourdes. Then after the Miraculous Medal Chapel- La Chapelle de la Medaille Miraculeuse, which by the way has an amazing gift shop, and the medals there are a really good price, and they're really nice quality, and I love to just buy big bags of them so then I can give away Miraculous Medals, in the years that follow, you know, when I've been on a trip to Paris. One of my friends was helping lead high school youth group, and she was telling all the youth group kids about the medals and about how she had a friend who'd been to Paris. And so then I gave her a bunch of medals, and she gave them all to the youth group kids, and she also substitute taught at a local Catholic elementary school. And, one time when I was in Paris, I texted her a picture from inside the chapel, and I said, "I'm praying for you and your family here today." And she messaged back right away and said, "Oh my gosh, I was just teaching the..." I think she was teaching second or third graders. She's like, "I was just teaching them about the Miraculous Medal today, and we did a craft about it." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm gonna bring you back a bag of medals for all of them." So then when I got back, you know, a couple weeks later, she gave them all medals from Paris. So you know, or just, you can just give them to strangers that you meet out and about, or God will just bring you people. Anyway, it's a special thing to be able to pass out those medals and distribute them out into the world. They're not called miraculous for nothing. They have been associated with conversions and healings, and like it's just, it's a powerful spiritual sacramental tool to help bring people to contact with, knowing the love of God through Our Lady. So after our visit to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, we went to the train station to take the high-speed train to Lourdes, and it's at this point I am going to put out an appeal about packing light because I had told a lot of my pilgrims who came to optional Zoom calls that I'd done ahead of the pilgrimage, I had really encouraged packing light. I said, "You're just gonna have a much... Y- Like you're gonna enjoy your pilgrimage more if you pack light." And I thought I had stressed that. But you know, people just m- are comfortable with different choices, in their own packing. But it really- Like, it was kind of an issue when it was time for all of us to get onto the train. There was a bit of confusion about which exact coach we needed to get onto, and then we kinda had to wait for all, our whole group to get together. There had been some people using an elevator, so then they were slower to meet us up at the platform. And then when we realized, okay, which coach we need to get onto, there was a big time crunch. And we were like dashing into this train coach with, a lot of different varieties of size of luggage, including some pretty big ones, and there were some injuries with, You know, we, we all had to get on really quickly, and it turned into this last-minute thing where we were like, "Okay, just get on, get on, and we'll figure out where to store the luggage later. Just get yourself and your luggage onto the train." And so some of us were just inside the doors, like, just taking people's luggage and doing, like, a fire brigade bucket pass-off with the luggage up to where there was storage for the luggage. It was a two-tier train. Like, it had an upstairs and a downstairs, hence the stairs. And one of the ladies, some luggage fell back down the stairs, like, onto her knee and hurt her knee, which was really sad. But I just... Like, if you ever decide to come on a pilgrimage with me, which I really hope you do someday, just keep that in mind. Like, pack light, and it will make moments like this less stressful and potentially less injurious to your fellow pilgrims there are resources out there about, like, classes and articles and vlogs teaching you how to pack light, and it's just a good, like, pilgrim attitude too. We don't need much. To get through life, you need less stuff than you think, just the essentials. Nathan and I, when we had done our anniversary trip to France a year before this pilgrimage, we both just packed a carry-on backpack. Because of the last-minute tickets that we got, air tickets to France, it didn't have a, like a carry-on luggage allowance, just a personal item. So we just had our personal item small backpacks and had everything we needed for a week in there. That's what I did again for this trip. Like, what I needed for myself, I had in just my personal item backpack. And I did take a carry-on, which was allowed for these pilgrimage tickets, but that was mostly, Like special little gifts and surprises and, roses and, like, silk roses for the pilgrims. So it was, yeah, it was really nice. I was so happy to have such light luggage, and you will be too if you pack light for your future trips or pilgrimages. So then we went down to Lourdes, and Lourdes had not been, on my original itinerary, which I like Lourdes. It's fine. I'd just been there once before that year that I was a college student living in France. I had trained my... you know, taken a train down there all by myself to go, go there. And it was nice, but it wasn't profoundly, like... but the priest that I inv- the priest was a friend of mine who was the chaplain for this pilgrimage. He really wanted to go to Lourdes, and it was special for him, and I was like, "G- great. Okay, Father. For sure. Let's do it. Let's put Lourdes onto this itinerary." And in fact, we ended up making it the final site, and it worked out so beautifully that this could be, like, what we were working towards, like the goal, as we l- got to gel as a group better and get to know each other better and then go deeper and deeper in our reflections on the bus and, you know, our encounters with the saints so that we could go, kinda make this, like, our... how do I express this? Like, like aim towards a deeper spiritual healing, and there were many who had physical healings they were asking for as well. And wow, I just have to say I was blown away. I, my expectations were kind of low, to be honest, about Lourdes, and then as we approached Lourdes, we got there in the late afternoon or early evening, and, we all had a really good view of this beautiful town nestled in a valley with a dramatic hilltop fortress sort of right in the middle of the town and then snow-capped Pyrenees Mountains beyond. It was so enchanting and beautiful. And so we settled into our hotel, which was right on the, the Sarthe River. It was very nice, the nicest hotel we'd been in. And then we had one full day in Lourdes the following day. So I gave the pilgrims information for those who wanted to go do the baths where you fully immerse, which was kind of, like, not for sure if they'd be able to make it or not. I was getting conflicting information about whether those baths were open or not, whether they were open to all. At any rate, it seemed like if you wanna do the baths at Lourdes, you're gonna have to wait several hours and it was really sweet because some of our pilgrims were like, "That is why I signed up for this whole pilgrimage. That is the main thing I wanna do." And so then I was really concerned, like, "Oh my gosh, I hope they are really- are able to do it." There's also another option where you can do a water gesture. So there are all these spigot, faucet sort of situations, like lining the riverside, in the sanctuary area of Lourdes, and you can use those any time to wash your hands and face and whatever other parts of your body that you wanna, you know, put water on while you're standing out there in public. My mom and I did this at different times, but we compared notes later, and we both were like, "Yeah, I was like, you know, putting that everywhere I could," you know? And like lifting up my pant legs and putting it all on my legs and et cetera. But you know, it's, as our priest pointed out in, or one of our priests pointed out in his homily that morning, he's like, "Terri- Saint Bernadette did not do full immersion in the miraculous spring. Uh, she just washed her face with mud." So, most of our pilgrims who waited for several hours to do the full immersion were able to do it, but some of our pilgrims, including my mom, who waited for several hours, the cutoff ended right before it was their turn. But they were in a really good humor about it, and als- and still just had a beautiful experience in their time in Lourdes. And we had talked about healing and inner healing in the bus on the way to Lourdes. So okay, here's a little plot twist. There was some flooding in this region such that the train service actually couldn't go all the way to Lourdes as previously planned. So we took the high-speed train to this town called Dax, D-A-X, and there our pilgrimage company arranged for a tour bus to come meet us and bring us the rest of the way, which was about a two-hour bus ride. We had this bus ride together where we were talking about, inner healing and, we talked about some of the, principles of, healing that are in Dr. Bob Schuch's book, Be Healed, as well as in, the ministry The Heart of the Father Ministries and Abba's Heart, this book by Neal Lozano, and his son, Matt Lozano, is involved in the ministry as well. And I have had healing prayer at an event I went at once from Matt Lozano, and I really love their method, their, like, principles of there's this five-step process you go through, to, like, renounce the lies that you've been bound by and then, find forgiveness and, Father talked us all through these five steps. Okay, so there's another thing I'm gonna put in the links here, these five steps of healing and, and links to these ministries and books. So we were, we were prepared, you know, somewhat to, to have an inner healing experience, and oh my goodness, when our main, I guess... Yeah, the priest that I knew from my youth group days, he was like our main pastor, if you will, of the pilgrimage, and then the other priest that he invited to come along with him so that he wouldn't be alone with a pilgrimage group of, you know, 40-plus women, let's call him the vicar of our... He was like the associate priest of our, our pilgrimage, and he was absolutely wonderful too. But the, the main priest, gave a homily at the mass that we had in the basilica. W- okay, th- there's like five or six basilicas at Lourdes. So we were in the upper basilica, but in the crypt of the upper basilica. He gave this homily all about healing our wounds, especially our mother wounds, and then he read this reflection, about a mother's blessing that actually was, for most of it, an apology f- from the voice of the mother, and so you kind of fill in your own mother, for all the ways that she may have fallen short. And then at the end of it... And it lists in detail multiple ways that... So, like, probably one or more of them have happened In your own childhood. And then at the end, she apologizes and says, "No, that I just love you." And there's like words of blessing and affirmation, and it's so beautiful. There was not a dry eye in our group. Like we were sobbing and crying in the pews there. I was so thankful I brought my little packet of tissues in my backpack that day because it really touched our hearts deeply. And in fact, I need to ask him if he's willing to share that, because that was super powerful. So that was the start of our day. And by this day, my sweet 14-year-old daughter who was along with me, she had been such a trooper, so patient through me being the leader and needing to be, you know, split my attention a lot of the time between her and serving the needs of our pilgrimage group and like figuring out how to pivot when, say, there's like, unexpected things going on, answering questions and whatnot. But this day in Lourdes was pretty open. All we had was morning mass and then a group dinner in the evening. So I told my sweet girl like, "This is your day. What do you wanna do? We'll do what you want." And it was such special time 'cause she chose, the things that she wanted, which were to like go find some crepes, go pray a rosary at the grotto where Mary appeared. We did the water gesture, and the crepes actually weren't so good, so then, she went with grandma, my mom, to go get, ice cream in the evening because I did actually say to our pilgrims that, before our group dinner if anyone wants to meet with me or either of the two priests to talk with us or have us pray with you or f- with the priests if you would like them to hear your confessions, you know, we'll be available to you. So my mom took my teen daughter at that time, and they got a, an ice cream to make up for the so-so crepe. That was kind of disappointing for her. But a real highlight for me was sitting with my daughter in, a pew in the open air chapel in front of the grotto where Mary appeared. This was in May, so there were wild flowers growing all along the grotto. I'm just praying a very peaceful rosary with her. And, you know, I asked... She named some intentions, and I named some intentions, and as we prayed, we could hear birds singing. We felt the breeze blowing by. The river was flowing behind us. It was, ah, it was just so peaceful. It was just really, really lovely. I just felt really filled with gratitude and just this renewed gratitude for her, my sweet girl. Now I have two girls, two daughters who are out of the house 'cause they are college age, and, like I just have this deeper awareness that this time with her is passing quickly, and how privileged I am to be with her. And then, like, how much I just wanna be present in a positive way for her, especially after hearing that mother blessing prayer that we had heard that morning. So that was a really special time. And then, other things other pilgrims did during their day in Lourdes were hike up the Pic du Jer hike, up one of the mountains that's surrounding this valley. Some pilgrims prayed the rosary at 3:00, that, that there's a public rosary in Lourdes. Many of us actually also went to the Eucharistic procession, which actually that day it was like a benediction service and Eucharistic adoration service in this underground basilica. I think it's the St. Pius X Basilica. It was astonishingly powerful and moving, and my mom said it's just like, it's like the, like the closest she's felt to heaven. And it reminded me of the spirit of World Youth Days when I'd been back in my youth. There was like a procession inside the basilica. There was incredible music. The cantor's voice was like an angel. The procession had... It was, you know, the Eucharist processing in solemnity, preceded by these banners from different pilgrimage groups. And inside this basilica, which is sort of oval shaped, it's like this underground oval, there were banners of lots of different saints hanging all around us. And again, it really did feel like, like the veil between heaven and earth is so much thinner than we really realize, and all these saints are this great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. And it's like a modern style basilica, so lots of concrete, but the focus, like it ended up so that the focus is so much just on the action at the altar and the Eucharist. Anyway, that was very powerful and moving, and such a great way to conclude the pilgrimage that we... This journey we'd all been on with each other. Pretty sure I, that was, like I was crying at, at part of this, just sort of overwhelmed by, what is this? That like, just this, The sense of Jesus' reality and presence and goodness and power and mercy, and yeah, it was really special. And then we had our group dinner, but before our group dinner, in our hotel, we re- we met in, I think it was the bar, and we all shared fruits from the pilgrimage, and it was really special to hear from the different women, you know, how this touched them, and we all shared intentions to pray for for each other, and I was so, so grateful. So then we had our group dinner, and then the next morning left at 3:10 in the morning to make our bus to the Toulouse Airport, where we're gonna fly out of. And I will say that, suffering is part of pilgrimage, even though there were all these incredible experiences. So there were so many wonderful, special, beautiful things that happened, but also there was suffering, and suffering is part of pilgrimage. It's part of life. Like, all life is a pilgrimage towards our heavenly homeland. And,, I share this because we have to just know that's part of the journey, and it's not to be afraid of it, or surprised by it, or,, indignant that it's there. There will be unexpected things that happen. There will be, sickness sometimes or injury. And in this case, a lot of us got sick on our way back home or shortly after we got home., There was actually a lot of COVID positive tests that we were all sharing about on our group chat after we got back home. And I would do it all over again knowing I would get sick again, no question. Absolutely. But also having the sickness is... Like, now I have even more to offer the Lord to be part of the prayer for the intentions of this pilgrimage and for the graces that I hope will deepen in myself, my daughter, my mom, my... I actually had a dear aunt who came on this with us, and all the women who came. But they... You know, so many of them had very dear intentions that they were praying for, so I can offer my sickness as a prayer for them. And actually, my daughter and I, with our COVID that we got, upon returning, we bounced back really quickly. I'm so thankful, and I'm still praying for the other pilgrims who, are still sick with, a lot of them with COVID or other things. I wonder if it's just, you know, being on the bus together, for all this time, if we just... If that is what makes it spread. Because when Nathan and I went on a Holy Land pilgrimage that we led in 2022, we brought all of our kids with us, and we had a big group then, too, of about, over 40 pilgrims. A lot of us got sick during or after the pilgrimage as well, and there were a lot of positive COVID tests that we were sharing about in the group chat afterwards. So, I think looking ahead at future pilgrimages, I will just encourage all pilgrims to really boost their immune system as best you can. But you know, also, like, it's just a strain on your system, changing up all your routine, you know, traveling around. So, anything we can do to try to stay healthy is good, and also just seeing the spiritual value of suffering so that we're not totally horrified by it is also good. There were older women on the pilgrimage, so I am definitely praying hard for them to recover well. and so maybe if you're listening, you can pray for them also. But yeah, there, there is some suffering and some real highs. And I found myself two days after returning home, I'm still, like, exhausted from COVID and jet lag and, know, pretty sick at that point. But I found myself at the laptop opening a tab researching, plans for coming back to France. I just wanted to look at, like, hotels in Paris and, information about w- what to do next time, 'cause I'm so excited to go back sometime. So France just continues to inspire me, the French saints, French culture, language, and I'm gonna keep leaning into this direction. And I'm not quite sure where the creative juices are gonna take me. I do know that I'll be teaching a course in French language this summer of 2026 online. So I will be sharing more information about that once the course is organized and available for registration. But it will be basically a half year of high school French. But it'll be open to adults also. I have a textbook that I'm going to use that I really like. And I'm also thinking about what else to create besides another pilgrimage or two or three or four, however many times I go. But maybe some sort of online resource tying into all these themes. So we'll see what becomes of that. But I want to encourage you, if you have something like this in your life that inspires you, lean into it. This is your blue flame. France is definitely a blue flame for me, and I take this term from Jen Fulwiler's book, Your Blue Flame. And a lot of times in life, we women put off or, don't lean into our blue flame, and that is really sad. That is a disservice not just to yourself, but to the people around you. Because when you are lit up, when you are doing the thing that lights you up and leaning into it- It not only gives you energy and fuels you, but it creates a ripple effect of good for those around you and those who love you. So this is part of your self-care, which is really important for you, whether you're a busy mom with young kids at home, or you're in those busy years of kids in school or leaving the nest, or maybe you're, a hardworking career woman or retired woman, devoted to your kids and grandkids and volunteering. It's still important to find what lights you up, and how can you put more of that in your life? It's okay if it's just you that likes it, and it's not directly serving the people around you because it can and it will, because of your enthusiasm. Because you will show up with more energy for those around you when you're excited about,, your blue flame stuff. So I hope that you will just live the joie de vivre joy of life in your, life today, and know of my prayers to Our Lady for you. God bless.