Kilmore Diocesan Pilgrimage To Lourdes
Mass At The Grotto 28 May 2015
Bishop Leo O’Reilly
We have gathered here from the dioceses of Plymouth, Wrexham, Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Kilmore and from many other places to celebrate this Mass at the grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette. As you know, at the time those apparitions occurred this was a desolate place, a place on the outskirts of the village, a place where dogs roamed and rubbish was dumped. But it became the place where God touched the life a poor, ignorant girl and through her brought a message of healing to the world.
The theme of this year’s pilgrimage is “The Joy of Mission”. It is obviously inspired by Pope Francis’ Exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel“. In that exhortation the Pope tells us that ” we cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings; we need to move from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry”(15). It’s not enough to just hold on to what we have and try to maintain the current services. He calls on us to go out – to leave our comfort zones and go out to the margins, to the poor, the sick, the rejected and despised. And he wants us to do that joyfully. He himself is a wonderful witness to Gospel joy. He famously said, in his first Exhortation, “an evangeliser must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!”
The reflection that was prepared here in Lourdes for this year’s pilgrimage takes up that theme of going out to the margins. It sees this happening in Mary’s instruction to Bernadette to tell the priests to build a church near the grotto, in the desolate place on the outskirts of the town where she appeared. There was already a parish church in centre of the town. In that instruction Mary is teaching us that the Church is not called to occupy the centre of our society, but is urged to move always towards the peripheries. In doing so it is simply following the example of Jesus who came to bring the good news to the poor and to minister to those on the margins of society.
I think that even those who are not from Ireland here will be aware of the referendum that took place last week-end and which has introduced same-sex marriage into our Constitution. Despite the opposition of many civic groups campaigning for a No vote the proposal to redefine marriage in the Constitution was successful. Despite the clear witness of the Church to the importance of marriage and family for the well-being of society and its concerns about the consequences of redefining such a fundamental institution, the referendum was passed by an almost 2 to 1 majority.
It is a watershed moment in our history. It marks a decisive step in a process of secularisation of our society, of displacement of the Church from the centre of Irish life to the margins. Over the past 20 years we have seen the introduction of divorce, civil partnerships, legislation for limited abortion and now gay marriage. We have seen religious services effectively banished from national radio and the marginalisation of religious discourse in public life. The ‘liberals’ are now emboldened to name the next targets – the repeal of the Constitutional protection of unborn life and the removal of Church involvement in education.
Naturally many people are dismayed by the passing of the referendum and by the progressive relegation of the Church to the margins. But we have to ask, what is God saying to us in this new situation? Because God is right here in this new situation. God does not want us to be a despondent Church, a Church standing, Canute-like, in the waves, commanding the tide to go back, but knowing that ultimately we are doomed to defeat.
We have to learn the lesson of Lourdes, which is also the message of Pope Francis – that the Church is not called to occupy the centre of society. It’s not called to be powerful or politically influential. It is called to witness to the truth and to work for the common good. So, we should not be dejected if our voice is not heeded by the majority. It is not our task or desire to impose morality on an unwilling population. We are called to be witnesses to the joy of the Gospel. That is our mission and we must try to discover the joy of mission.
Once again Pope Francis is a sure guide:
“Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ…I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which only ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ”(49).
The only way our Church will be a witness to the joy of the Gospel is by each one of us witnessing to that joy in our own lives and reaching out to those on the margins. There is no place I know where that witness is stronger than here in Lourdes. There is no place I know that is better for learning the joy of mission than Lourdes. Despite the fact that nearly everyone who comes here, carries some burden of pain or sorrow, people are joyful here and there is a wonderful sense of peace and joy pervading this place. There is a wonderful sense of service, of ministering to the sick and disabled and the marginalised. The joy in Lourdes is quiet but it is deep. It’s often there amid tears and heartbreak. It is a sense of consolation and reassurance that is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
St Bernadette discovered the joy of mission in her encounter with Mary in this marginal place. We pray to St Bernadette and to Mary to help us to discover the joy of witnessing to Jesus as we become once again, in the words of Pope Francis, a Church of the poor and for the poor.
