Stay, Stray, Play and Feast: Gave de Pau: A River Runs Thru It (Immaculate Lourdes Series 6}

Gave de Pau
A River Runs Thru It
Immaculate Lourdes Series 6

On our way to the Lourdes Sanctuary, the sight of the beautiful
river that runs thru the Domain caught my family’s attention.

We later learned that it was the Ousse-

…a tributary of the Gave de Pau.

Gave de Pau is a river of south-western France

named after from the city Pau, through which it

flows from its source in the Pyrenees mountains.

The Ousse river was so clear,

... we could see the smoothness of the rocks underneath
and it amazed us, as we have never seen a river this

pristine in any urban centers in the Philippines.

My daughter got tempted to descend on its grassy

slope, gently inclining into the clean sandy bank-

…and took a draft of the cool water in a cup of her hands

and commented; “it’s so cold and so clean you can drink it.”

The city of Lourdes reminds me so much of Naga City, the
city where we came from. Just like Lourdes, it is also a
pilgrim city where the Lady of Penafrancia is found.

It is considered as the largest Marian devotion in Asia.

Just like Lourdes, a river also runs thru it.

The Naga River, a tributary of the Bicol River

plays an important role in the Marian pilgrimage

being the site of the Penafrancia fluvial procession.

Unlike the pristine Ousse, Naga River is murky and polluted.

The plant life is dead, there are no more fish, and even if there
were it wouldn't be wise to eat them. For decades, people
treated the river like it was a sewer and a dumping ground.

It is a dead river and the only time it becomes alive

is during the annual Penafrancia fluvial procession.

The miracle of the venerated Lady of Penafrancia

is probably due to the fact that nobody gets sick among

CamSur

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Gave de Pau: A River Runs Thru It (Immaculate Lourdes Series 6}

No comments:

Post a Comment