The novices of the Madrid novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ have collaborated as stretcher-bearers for the sick with the Hospitalité de Notre Dame de Lourdes, at the French sanctuary, from May 15 to 29, 2022. They were accompanied by two priests: Father Nikolaus Klemeyer, LC, the novitiate rector, and Father Jesús Navarro, LC. While the novices carried out their service, Father Navarro assisted the Lourdes Hospitality of Madrid, and Father Nikolaus served as an auxiliary confessor at the Sanctuary. The young men currently in the novitiate are brothers Agustín Tena, Rodrigo Herrera, Rodrigo López, and Santiago Esparragoza.
Father Nikolaus explained to us that “‘a period of social service is planned in the formation of the novitiate’”. It is a time dedicated to serving others, where young people “are formed in attitudes of attention, dedication, and openness”. Carrying out this service at the Lourdes Sanctuary, the novitiate rector explains, has, in addition to caring for the sick, “a particular feature: the opportunity to get to know, live with, and collaborate with many ecclesial realities: movements, priests, apostolic associations”.
“My service has been almost exclusively sacramental,” Father Nikolaus told us when asked about his mission in Lourdes. “I was an auxiliary confessor at the Sanctuary: and this has been a renewing experience, in which one touches with God’s love the most hidden needs and sufferings of the human heart.”
