Homily V :: Sunday Mass in St.Judes :: Reflection on Lourdes Trip
I had the privilege last week to accompany some of our parishioners to Lourdes, the famous Marian Shrine which this year celebrates its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. While there I was very impressed by the depth of faith I saw. So many people are unwisely writing the death notice for the Catholic Church if the crowds in Lourdes are anything to go by. Thousands of people go through the gates of the Shrine daily and are drawn to the side of a mountain where they believe something extraordinary happened to a young girl and because of her witness and faith Lourdes is as it is today.
Lourdes is a place where the gospel is lived very concretely, where the sick are healed, the good news is proclaimed, and the Kingdom of God appears to break through. These thousands of people, all different, all speaking out of a different culture are somehow united as one family. This is shown especially at the torch light procession each evening when all the various countries come and sing the Ave together. It is above all a place where people are not ashamed or afraid to be called a follower of Christ. Many people dismiss it because of its over commercialism, and yet once you enter the Domain that is all gone and people are only intend on praying and worshipping God and Mary his Mother. Today's gospel describes very well what it should mean to us to be a follower of Christ and how we might spread the good news of his Kingdom. The lesson is above all simplicity of life, who you are is of importance, not what you are, or even what you have.
Bernadette Soubrious is a model for us who want to live the way God wants us to live. She was not very learned, had very little to call her own, suffered great opposition and hate, and yet Pope Pius XII said of her the following, 'In spite of mockeries doubts and opposition, the voice of this child has impressed itself on the world'. Today we need I think to follow her example all the more. We who are often confused and bewildered by the pace of change in society, we who look for answers and for hope, we who perhaps allow ourselves to become too much inward looking or at worse indifferent to the call of God today. The life of the Saint of Lourdes carries with it a timeless message; do not be afraid of witnessing to your faith no matter what. A question for us all today is, 'are we willingly to witness to Jesus, beginning this very minute? I am, are you?
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