- Father Domingo Pacheco, chaplain of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University, and CEU UCH lecturer Isabel Serra organized the inclusion of CEU UCH students in this initiative from the Archidiocese of Valencia.
“Taking part in this pilgrimage with the sick has made me rethink the values I place on things and see them in a new light”. This is how Isabel Serra , a Nursing lecturer at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH), views her experience on the archdiocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes this summer.
Together with Nursing students, Dr Serra formed part of this initiative from the Archdiocese of Valencia, involving more than 1000 people, including volunteers, priests, healthcare staff and the sick.
Dr Serra found the experience greatly rewarding on a personal level: “It was so good to get the chance to share this experience with people with a disability and those suffering from illness. The looks of gratitude, the smiling faces, and, most important of all, to be able to pray at the grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared.”
A unique experience
“It’s an experience that is really worth having once in your life, because you stretch yourself to the limit and you gain so much enjoyment by giving your all to help the sick,” said María García, a CEU UCH student.
María is studying Nursing and said that her motivation to join the pilgrimage was to be able to help people and “get closer to God and the Virgin Mary”. She found it “a unique and incredible experience”, which she would repeat without a doubt.
“A gift” is how Teresa Bosch sees the experience. “It’s given me the chance to stop thinking about myself and to look at the Virgin Mary, to look at Christ through the sick, through individual people. I’ve seen Him in every detail, every word, and every smile.”
Another Nursing student, Teresa admitted that joining the pilgrimage wasn’t an easy decision: “I wasn’t sure how I could help the sick when they were looking to the Virgin Mary to console them. But I spoke to one of them and then I understood it all. I didn’t have to do anything. We were both there for the same reason, looking for solace and rest.”
