With an engaging smile on his lips, Luc Maury puts on his hospital uniform, a blue and white scarf reminiscent of the colors of a rugby club in the Basque Country. For him, the meaning of the hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes, just like that of the Landes, is not an empty word but a real commitment. “Each moment lived with a pilgrim is specific. What he experiences must be unique and remain in his memory. It is our role to allow this. »
For seven years, Luc, a sales executive, has lost count of the days and weeks spent in Lourdes and his commitment as vice-president of Landes hospitality. Like more than 20,000 people from 60 countries, it participates in welcoming sick and disabled people.
Originally from the Somme, he now lives in the Landes, on the border of Béarn. Its geographical proximity is an asset. It is enough to see him as at ease in the corridors of the reception of the Hospitality Notre-Dame de Lourdes as in the different places of the sanctuary: the basilicas, the swimming pools, the Massabielle grotto… He takes the time to say hello to everyone you know.
“The sick give us grace”
He is a guide for those who come to Lourdes for a pilgrimage or for a day. At 56, he spends no less than 45 days a year in the Marian city. All it takes is a phone call for him to respond to the absence of hospital workers, in this period when everything has to be rebuilt because of the Covid pandemic. He can count on Daniel Pezet, the president of the Hospitality Notre-Dame de Lourdes, but especially on his own companion, Florence, also a hospitable. Its presence takes on a very special significance. Our commitment to hospitality is a call that came through her. She took part in the Flanders pilgrimage mass and found herself wearing the same beret as another Hospitaller. Just a sign that was enough to mark even more his desire to be here. With Florence, they have become inseparable to experience hospitality as a couple. She is more contemplative, and I am more of a preacher in the Dominican definition. Both spend their holidays in the heart of the Marian city.
To welcome pilgrims, especially the sick, disabled, isolated or the needy from all countries, Luc does not count his time. He takes care to facilitate their pilgrimage while participating in the services of the great celebrations and all the times when their presence proves necessary. “We are there for the sick, the pilgrims… The image that they will keep also depends on this benevolence in which we are. (…) In the current atmosphere, with all that has been experienced, it is essential that we leave that to the pilgrims. » With these years as a Hospitaller, Luc speaks with emotion of what he witnesses and what he receives. “It’s poignant, pathologies can be extremely serious but hope is always present. The sick give us grace. »
“Go drink and wash at the fountain”
It is at the swimming pools, fundamental places of manifestation of faith and hope, precisely, that you will be able to meet Luc. He is particularly involved in it and knows each hospital worker. There, he welcomes the pilgrims with benevolence, a term that he never ceases to recall at the height of the fervor of his commitment.
Covid obliges, the sanctuary of Lourdes had to adapt. In the absence of being able to use the swimming pools for an indefinite period, a gesture has been devised to allow those who wish to renew their baptism. Rediscovered with the pandemic, this gesture of water takes on its full meaning: it always begins with a time of welcome with Luc, who asks for the first name then offers to pray together before explaining what Bernadette Soubirous experienced in 1858. “The lady said to me: ‘Go drink and wash yourself at the fountain.’ » This respect and this attention to pilgrims, Luc evokes with ease and humility. “You have to keep the enthusiasm. We take the time to celebrate this gesture. Some people have traveled 1000 km or more in order to be here. Our presence must facilitate this moment. »
Lourdes water is an essential component in a pilgrimage to the sanctuary, present from the first day of our Christian life. Like all the other Hospitallers, he knows the importance of respecting this time of prayer and hope.
“My best friends are hospitable”
This commitment for Luc is not only that of hospitality. He discovered, with Florence, a real family. “My best friends are hospitable and we are having a good time. We went to Ireland on a motorbike, and it was the hospitable people who welcomed us. » Here in Lourdes, it doesn’t matter whether Luc is a salesman or Florence a nurse. “In outfit, we are all the same. We are entirely dedicated to pilgrims. Hospitality is a very big family. Honestly, few know what everyone does in life. We are there to serve and when we are friends, it is a plus. »
As you walk through the sanctuary, you will be able to see the many chasubles, jackets in the name of the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes or other regions and outfits like that of Luc, impeccable with the medal in his jacket pocket. Between the most seasoned, like the young people who get involved, the hospital staff are at the heart of everything that makes Lourdes special.
In August, Luc and the others will be present, as throughout the year. They know that they have the responsibility to transmit the message of Lourdes and to leave no one unattended. From 6 o’clock in the morning, the hour of the opening of the doors of the sanctuary, and until late at night, he stands at the service, with his natural benevolence, inseparable from the hospitable commitment.
In Lourdes, Luc Maury brings the sense of hospitality to life