“I have been cured. Since I have been coming here, I am a different person. I feel that my soul has been cured. I have faith.”
The air you breathe in a place like Lourdes is hard to describe. You can feel pain and suffering mixed in with the healing power of love and tenderness.
This is what is captured in the documentary “Hospitalarios: The hand of the Holy Mother.” It shows the day-to-day lives of patients, their families, and the volunteers who help them on their pilgrimages to this remote location in the French countryside.
JESÚS GARCÍA-COLOMER
Director “Hospitalarios”
“Lourdes is not a vacation destination. There are many other more desirable locations. However, the realities of illness and the stories of how these people make the complicated journey there will make you see and feel a tangible experience of faith.”
“For 36 years, I delayed coming but I have a very insistent sister and she convinced me. I came here for her.”
“The first encounter with Lourdes I think is a slap in the face. It's such a big impact that makes you look at yourself in the moment and find yourself very small.”
The documentary portrays two things. First, how the sick overcome the shame of constantly needing help. Second, how contact with suffering changes families and volunteers.
JESÚS GARCÍA-COLOMER
Director “Hospitalarios”
“I always say you must go to Lourdes with a sick person at least once in your life because it will teach you a lot. You'll learn not only about Lourdes, but also about yourself and your limits. You really get to know Lourdes, to decipher it, to truly experience it when you go with someone sick.”
“Letting others help you is an incredible exercise in humility, surrender, and love. It is amazing and we don't realize it.”
'You have a lot of doubts. There are people here who suffer greatly.”
'I was angry and sometimes still get angry because I don't understand God.'
Every year about 2 million people pass through this small French town because they hear miraculous cures occur there.
However, what this documentary shows is that true miracles happen inside, in people's hearts.
