Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Grotto Mass, September 6, 2024
Homily of Archbishop Dermot Farrell

 “Go tell the priests to build a chapel here and to come [here] in procession”

We are drawn here this morning on pilgrimage by the apparition of Mary, our Blessed Mother, in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous in this very place where we stand. It was this young person that the Immaculate Conception chose to bring her request that people “come here in procession”.

Today, we are pilgrims rather than tourists. Anyone who thinks that our pilgrimage is only an external experience, might think again! Last Sunday in the Gospel, Jesus brought home to his disciples that it is not external observance, or indeed the lack of it, that ultimately determines our relationship with God, but what happens in our hearts. What happens in our hearts, what happens “in hiddenness,” as St Matthew calls it (see Matt 6:6), flows into our lives, and what happens in our lives, what we do, can shape our hearts. The act of kindness or generosity can melt a hardened heart, just as an act of violence or aggression can wound the heart, can destroy a life, as we have been so tragically reminded of in recent days. Our hearts are always being transformed by God; when we welcome God’s overture to us, God’s embrace, it becomes visible in our work for justice and peace, and the care of our common home. Our journey is not just a journey between Dublin and Lourdes; it is also a journey inwards—to new places within, or to places in our hearts and in our souls where we haven’t been for a while.

Our pilgrimage is not just a pious visit or a running away from our problems. We are seeking something deeper, something that will both transform us, and sustain us when we return home. Travelling to Lourdes on pilgrimage always has as its true goal an inner journey of transformation. Lourdes is a sacred place, a place with the power to change form us by bringing us into contact with Lord through space and time in a place set apart. But to remember St Paul’s words, without love, what we do, is nothing, and that includes our pilgrimage (see 1Cor 13:4-7).

Our pilgrims are in the forefront of all our gatherings. At their service, members of the hospitality team—nurses, doctors, young people from 29 schools and from Crosscare and many other volunteers—who have made a commitment to serve the pilgrims. For you, coming to Lourdes is proving itself in the hard reality of everyday, in faithful care and generous service.

When we go on a pilgrimage, perhaps we ask ourselves what will it bring. Because of the things that pilgrims experience they are able to journey inwards. In that journey, reality becomes ever more open. When we reach the point of perceiving things in our heart, then it is that change really begins to happen. In many ways, a real pilgrimage is ultimately about an end, a pilgrimage is much more an extended way of beginning: it has an extraordinary purpose. We listen to the voice of the Lord who is summoning us; we internalise it so that “it is not I, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20). Ultimately, both Mary’s answer to God’s messenger, and Bernadette’s answer to Mary becomes a prayer.

During our pilgrimage, we can experience the closeness of the Lord in many different ways—a visit to the baths, a time of prayer at the Grotto, the outpouring to the Virgin Mary of all the concerns of our hearts, participation in the devotions and processions. In these practices we are following the pattern of Bernadette’s encounter with the Lady: we enter the Grotto, touch the rock, drink and wash ourselves with the water of Lourdes, light candles, participate in the devotions characteristic of our Church: praying the Rosary, going on processions, and meditating on the way of the Cross. We are nourished by the Bread of Life, and place ourselves before Lord, in simplicity and humility in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. As in our ordinary lives at home, our deepest listening during our time here in Lourdes will be done “with the ear of the heart” (St Benedict) “God speaks in the depths of the person, without the noise of words,” to use an expression of Bernadette herself. The moments of deepest communion in our lives are beyond words: the embrace of a husband and wife, the holding of a new-born, the moment of death; these sacred moments, where God-given mystery is tangible, these moments are woven in silence. Sometimes in our own lives in the face of immense suffering and pain, there can only be a dread silence—a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God.

To come to Lourdes is to be confronted with Bernadette, who remains an inspiration for the life of faith. We can easily forget who and how Bernadette was: the material poverty of her early life and her cultural poverty: she has little education, and really only learned to read and write French in her teens. Even in the convent in Nevers some of the sisters looked down on this simple uneducated girl. Yet she was amazingly strong and courageous, and displayed significant integrity and resilience. That is to say nothing of the depth of faith that is to be found in her.

Looking at Bernadette in the light of the gospel we can see how she lives out Beatitudes—which proclaim that God is visible in the pure in heart—in a myriad of ways: blessed are the poor, as well as the poor in spirit; her meekness and purity in heart are the opposite of aggression, cynicism and self-sufficiency. Like all great saints, the tiny Bernadette is a parable of the Kingdom, and a mirror of Christ. In her, we can see Christ in his poverty. We can see his humanity laid bare; in Bernadette’s openness to what was happening to her, and her obedience to “the beautiful Lady,” we see Christ’s openness to the Holy Spirit, and his obedience to the voice of his Father. All of this is not only a model for us, but a genuine call, true encouragement, consolation, and empowerment. A real pilgrimage is a journey towards that “place” where change begins for ourselves, where we are confronted with the question of Christ, “what about you, will you too go away” (see John 6:67).

These days of pilgrimage are a time of grace, a gift. They are a time to step out of life’s ordinary rhythms, and be open to the overture of the Lord. When we hear the Word of God addressed to me in the same way that Bernadette heard it and responded to it, our day-to-day worlds are turned upside down. We too will be propelled beyond the confines of our confined world, into a bigger family, the incomprehensible kinship of the Lord. In advance, we can never know what demands that relationship with the Lord will demand of us. Such faith develops and grows over an entire lifetime. Yet, that long journey must start with a small step which sometimes might mean establishing a break with one’s past.

To come here, is to respond to the ten spoken words of Our Lady of Lourdes transmitted to the Church by Saint Bernadette. Give these 10 words. May St Bernadette accompany and inspire us. May Mary, the Immaculate Conception direct our gaze to the Risen One who, not only walks by our side, but also goes ahead of us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, show us the way towards the kingdom of your Son! May the hope of the ancient hymn to Our Lady, the Ave Stella Maris be our hope and our prayer in these days:

Vitam praesta puram
iter para tutum
ut videntes Iesum
semper collaetemur

(Keep our life unblemished,
make our way secure
till we find in Jesus
joy for evermore)

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us
St Bernadette, pray for us

+Dermot Farrell
Archbishop of Dublin