Day 5: Let Rivers Of Love Flow Out Of Your Life

From Loyola, Spain, to Lourdes, France


From Loyola in Spain, we crossed the French border. It was Sunday when we drove into beautiful Lourdes.
Our Mass was at a convent near our hotel. But Fr. Joseph Skelton had to do a 30-minute Sunday Mass (I’ve never seen him do that!) as another pilgrim group from Ireland was going to use the chapel.
Yes, Lourdes is always filled with pilgrims. Each year, 4 to 6 million people visit Lourdes. (Just as a point of comparison: The entire Philippines–with our Boracay, Bohol, Palawan, Cebu, etc.–attracts only 2 million tourists a year.)
I later learned that Lourdes is the 2nd most visited religious site in the world. (Ganges of India is 1st, and Mecca in Saudi Arabia is 3rd.)
What makes them come to Lourdes?
Because in 1858, a poor girl named Bernadette saw Mary in a Grotto. This young visionary would see Mary for a total of 18 times. This visitation would change Lourdes–and the world. (From a small town of 4,000 people, it now has 400 hotels.)
Today, I observe the thousands of pilgrims around me. All are sick. Physically. Spiritually. And all are filling up their water bottles with the healing water from the Grotto, drinking, washing, and blessing themselves and their friends.
This sight causes me to cry. Because 150 years ago, in one of those 18 apparitions, Mary told Bernadette to “drink from the spring”. But there was no spring around her. So the young girl dug the soil beneath the grotto–and saw only mud. But she kept on digging, until clear spring water came out.
Since that first trickle 150 years ago, the miraculous waters continue to flow at the rate of 122,000 liters an hour! It rages with abundance–like God’s wild river of love for you.
Isn’t this a perfect picture of your life?
You were once but dirt.
And your sins remind you of your origin.
But your life, what was once dirt and mud, can now become a powerful river of healing for millions of people.
How?
By allowing God to use you to bless the world.
Friends, let your life be a pilgrimage site for others.
When you love others genuinely, from the heart, I’ve discovered that many thirsty people will come to you. They will drink deeply from the stream of healing, flowing out of your life.
Love, my friends.
And the world will be healed.

PS. People have been writing me, asking where I preach regularly. If you live in Metro Manila or its suburbs, don’t miss the FEAST–a powerful weekly gathering designed to bless your life. With inspiring preaching, lively worship, and Sunday Mass. See you every Sunday, 9am-12noon, at The Arena, Pinaglabanan, San Juan. For more information, call Tel. No. (632) 7259999 or email us at support@kerygmafamily.com.

PS2. I hope you don’t mind receiving a daily email from me for my 15-Day Marian Pilgrimage Diary. But I decided to email you daily so that you can forward this email to your friends who may need to read this message.

PS3. I wish to thank all those who have written to me, thanking me for sending them each month the inspiring Kerygma magazine for FREE, plus my Life Dreams Success Journal. (The Life Dreams Success Journal is a small powerful tool I made that has already helped many people write their dreams, thus helping them fulfil their goals.) Yes, I give away a FREE all-year subscription of Kerygma magazine plus the Life Dreams Success Journal to all KerygmaFamily members who support the ministry through a regular monthly love offering of at least P100 or $20 only. If you’re not yet a KerygmaFamily member, log onto http://www.kerygmafamily.com/ now and receive Kerygma magazine each month plus the Life Dreams Success Journal for FREE. PS4. KERYGMA TV will be back starting May 8, 2007 at 10:00 p.m. on ABC 5. Don’t miss it!