Papal Legate celebrates Mass at Ireland's National Marian Shrine - Knock

Shrine of Knock

On Saturday, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Papal Legate Cardinal Marc Ouellet prayed with pilgrims at the Apparition Chapel at Ireland's Marian Shrine of Knock, Co Mayo in the Archdiocese of Tuam. After prayers, Cardinal Ouellet was chief celebrant at Mass in the adjacent Basilica.

Concelebrants included the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown; Archbishop of Tuam and custodian of the Marian Shrine, Archbishop Michael Neary; Bishop Christopher Jones, Bishop of Elphin; Bishop John Kirby, Bishop of Clonfert; Bishop John Fleming, Bishop of Killala; Bishop Michael Drennan, Bishop of Galway; Bishop Brendan Kelly, Bishop of Achonry; Father Richard Gibbons, Parish Priest of Knock; and over seventy priests from the Archdiocese of Tuam and surrounding dioceses.

The congregation of around 6000 people included pilgrims attending the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. During the Mass the Sacrament of the Sick was offered and Mass was followed by a Eucharistic procession in the Basilica in which the Papal Legate carried the monstrance.

The text of Cardinal Ouellet's homily follows:

On the occasion of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Pope Benedict XVI wanted me, as Papal Legate, to extend his special apostolic blessing for Ireland. He asked me to come here on his behalf to this National Shrine at Knock so that you may know of his special care for you and of his daily prayer that you and all the people of Ireland may know the Lord's peace, consolation and comfort.

Dear brothers and sisters, the Holy Father knows that the Church here is suffering at this time and is in need of hope and renewal. He entrusts all your hurts, your sufferings and your struggles to Our Lady of Knock, the Queen of Ireland. Let us be confident that there is light beyond this present darkness and that our faith is stronger than the evil of this world and our own failures.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which falls by design the day after the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. These two hearts are inseparable, they belong to each other and to God's unfathomable mercy; they belong to us, the children of God.

Let us rejoice and be glad! God, in His mercy, forgives us of our sins and failures and, in His grace, makes all things new. Let us praise Him and be grateful for His immense goodness and mercy. The prophet Isaiah, in the first reading today, lifts us up with his message of hope, announcing days of renewal and of rejoicing.

The Gospel reminds us of a dramatic moment in the life of the Holy Family. While returning from their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph could not find the young Jesus for three days. What anguish for them! Mary's question to Jesus reveals her anxiety and the reality that their family life was not without the difficulties of daily life faced by every human family. Jesus asks, "Did you not know that I must be busy with my father's affairs?" (Lk. 2:49). But the Gospel tells us, "They did not understand what he meant" (Lk. 2:50). But the Holy Family always placed everything in God's hands.

We often face similar difficult situations in family life, which is often tested and strained by tensions, separations and misunderstandings. The Church, as God's family, is also challenged and criticised, sometimes for legitimate reasons and at other times not. We need hope and renewal at all levels. However, whenever we attempt to renew ourselves on our own without placing everything in God's hands, we fall again into the same patterns of division and discouragement.

The French poet Charles Peguy reveals his own life story through the story of a peasant who was going through a very difficult family situation. His wife was a non-believer, and one of his three children was gravely ill. He was on the edge of despair and did not know what to do. He suffered terribly until he was inspired one morning to take to the road and make a pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady, walking from Notre Dame de Paris to Notre Dame de Chartres.

"She is a mother," he said. "She will take care of my children as she has taken care of so many for two thousand years. She can certainly handle three more. She is a mother, the Mother of God, our Mother".

And so it happened. The peasant entrusted his children to Our Lady with total confidence and abandonment, certain that she would answer his prayers.

Upon returning home, the man was surprised how much relief his bold gesture had brought him. Yes, a bold gesture of faith, which came naturally to our ancestors, but is all-too-often forgotten nowadays.

Dear brothers and sisters, I am happy to pray with you here today and to entrust the Church in Ireland to our Immaculate Mother. Mary's Immaculate Heart is a heart full of love that knows no boundaries, made in the image of Her Son's Sacred Heart: a Heart formed in her womb, all-encompassing and seeking always to aid, console, encourage and strengthen everyone.

A sign of His special grace for the sick and the needy will be today that some of you receive the sacrament of anointing. May they experience peace and consolation as they unite their suffering to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Here at this beautiful shrine for the second time, I am once again struck by the unique image of the apparition. The centre of the apparition is the Lamb on the Altar, symbolizing the glorious sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Our Saviour. Around Him we see the Church represented by the prominent figures of Mary, St Joseph, and the Beloved Disciple. As we see them worshipping the Lamb, we are drawn into the mystery of God's presence and His merciful love.

Let us be grateful for the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist, celebrated in a special way during this 50th International Eucharistic Congress here in Ireland; let us also be grateful for the many blessings God has bestowed upon the Universal Church through many Irish saints, missionaries, monks and pilgrims.

I would like to end this homily praying to Mary, our beloved Mother, with the same words that the Blessed Pope John Paul II said here on Sunday, 30 September 1979:

'May our ears constantly hear with the proper clarity your motherly voice: "Do whatever my Son tells you". Enable us to persevere with Christ. Enable us, Mother of the Church, to build up his Mystical Body by living with the life that he alone can grant us from his fullness, which is both divine and human', Amen.