Bishop Leo O’Reilly’s Homily

at the Grotto, Lourdes,

Diocesan Pilgrimage, 28th May 2011

We begin our annual pilgrimage in the holiest place in Lourdes – the spot where Mary appeared to Bernadette over 150 years ago. There are many things that bring us here. But I think the basic reason for all of us is the desire to come close to God, to be touched by his presence, to be healed in body or soul or spirit, to drink at the stream of God’s grace which is somehow more real and more abundant in the days we spend here.

Something has drawn us here. Some burning bush has caught our attention as it caught the attention of Moses and implanted in us the desire to come closer. And like Moses, as we come closer, we realise we are standing on holy ground. We may not take off our shoes, but we try to purify our hearts and repent of our sins. We lay aside our business, our worldly concerns, our plans and our projects, and for these few days we try to focus our attention on God, on Mary and on St Bernadette

This year we are invited to unite ourselves with St Bernadette in praying the Our Father. We are invited to turn our attention more closely to the prayer we say so often, the Lord’s Prayer. The fact that we say it so often carries the danger that it becomes just a routine, an empty formula to be rattled off without thinking. So at this time we are invited to slow down, to say it more consciously, to mull over it and let it sink into our hearts. We are invited to unite ourselves in spirit with Bernadette as she knelt on that spot over there, took out her rosary, and began to the Our Father.

When Bernadette came on her third visit to the Grotto here she plucked up the courage to ask Our Lady, very politely: “Madame, would you be kind enough to tell me your name?” And eventually Mary told her. When God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, Moses asked God, what is your name? And God revealed his name: I am who I am. What this tells us is that prayer is not just about saying a lot of words, but about talking to a person. It’s about a relationship with a person. Did you ever find yourself in conversation with someone and you can’t remember their name. It’s not only embarrassing. It’s pretty impossible. The first thing you need to know if you want to talk to somebody is their name. The most revolutionary thing that Jesus revealed to us about God was his new name – Abba, Father. And Jesus invites us to call God by the same name that he used himself. Jesus’ Father is Our Father.

Jesus revealed God to us as someone who comes so close that God is now family and we can speak to him in the intimate way we would speak to our parents. He has invited us into his family as brothers and sisters of Jesus his Son. We dare to call God Father. A little over a week ago we had the state visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland. Her graciousness charmed all but the uncharmable. And yet there was a great formality about it. There was huge amount of talk about the correct protocols to use when meeting her or addressing her. I’m sure those who were in charge of protocol had nightmares trying to ensure that there were no embarrassing gaffes – that nobody called her Elizabeth darling, or gave her a peck on the cheek or a hug. We don’t have to worry about protocols or gaffes when we are talking to God. He is our Father. We can talk to him with Bernadette, our sister in Christ. We can bring our needs and our cares to him with confidence. We can speak to him with the confident assurance of a child talking to her dad.

The first two words of the prayer give it its name: the Our Father. That little word ‘our’ is important. We don’t say ‘my’ Father, although God is my Father. We say ‘Our Father’ because we are not praying as isolated individuals, but as members of a community. We are God’s family. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, God’s children speaking to our Father.

And if our prayer is a prayer with others, it must also be for others. Our prayer is not just about our own personal needs and desires. It embraces those around us, especially those who are sick or bereaved or suffering in any other way. We represent the communities of our different dioceses here. We pray for their needs too. We think of all the needs of our troubled planet, those afflicted by hunger and poverty, natural disasters and war. That little word ‘our’ stretches the horizons of our concerns and our prayers to include the whole Church and the whole world.

So, as I said, we are in a holy place. We stand on holy ground. These days in Lourdes are our burning bush moment. We have a chance to be quiet and to pray, to come close to God, to get to know God a bit better. Cherish the quiet moments, here at the grotto, during the Masses, in the adoration chapel, during the processions, doing the Stations. And if you need to use words, don’t use too many. All you really need to say is the prayer that Jesus taught us, the Our Father.