March to Lourdes | Lithuania

In recent years, a pandemic has disrupted the Lithuanian Maltesers’ pilgrimage to Lourdes in France. Nevertheless, this has prompted a search for ways to continue the long tradition of united marching.

For the second year in a row, the Young Maltesers proclaimed April as the month of the "March to Lourdes". This year, in celebration of the Year of Youth and Volunteering, all Maltesers were invited to strengthen the community, improve physical activity and remember the Lourdes journey by walking together distance as long as to Lourdes in France and back to Lithuania. The overall goal was 53 million steps. It became a tradition to end the April marches in the Lithuanian Lourdes – in the grotto of the Count Tiškevičius Palace Park in Palanga.

On the 30th of April, Malteser priest Vytautas Rapalis, the priest of Palanga parish, Kęstutis Balčiūnas, and the rector of Telšiai Bishop Vincentas Borisevičius Priest Seminary, Saulius Stumbra, celebrated the Mass. We prayed for Ukraine, the Maltesers’ community, and the sick. Moreover, the sick and disabled were given the viaticum. After the Mass, the entire Maltesers' team and the people in care shared sunny agape.