Opening of Limerick Diocesan Pilgrimage

22 June 2006

Yesterday was the longest day of the year – but even on that day, the sun does not shine directly into this grotto. One might say that, for centuries this place remained in shadow, waiting for the luminous lady who came to Bernadette.

The light that shone from Mary was a reflected light – it was a reflection of her Son, the true light that enlightens everyone, the light shining in darkness that darkness cannot overcome.

Darkness cannot overcome the light of Christ because it is the light of God, the light and love which, as the poet Dante puts it, ‘move the sun and the other stars’,

Each of us comes to this grotto carrying some darkness of our own: sickness, loneliness, betrayal, lost friendships, worry, sorrow, guilt, disappointment, a sense of inadequacy. We are here because, even though the darkness sometimes seems overwhelming, we believe in the light of Christ which tells us, as Pope Benedict put it, that God loves us “with all the passion of a true love”. We Christians, he said, are people who have come to believe in God’s love for us.

The light that was reflected by the Blessed Virgin in this grotto is the love of her Son. It is a fully human love; it is also the eternal divine love. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you”. His love for us is an expression of the infinite love which flows forever in the heart of the Blessed Trinity.

We are to love another as he loves us. Lourdes is a place of love – the love that we express to God as individuals and as members of God’s family; the love of pilgrims for each other and for all those we carry in our hearts; the love of helpers for invalids and invalids for helpers. It is never a one-way thing. Whoever gives generously receives; whoever receives gratefully gives. How often we see that happen here! So the light that shone in this grotto nearly 150 years ago now shines among us. But it must not simply remain here in Lourdes.

What we learn here is not just a theory to be tucked away at the back of our minds, not just a souvenir to be carried home as a good memory. What we learn here is how to live more fully the life we received in Baptism. That life was symbolised by the flickering candle which our parents accepted on our behalf. It was accepted not just as a souvenir but as a sign of the light of Christ, which all baptised people are meant to carry into the world.

That is the symbol that is dramatically shown when each of us carried a candle around the sanctuary during the torchlight procession. So the procession reminds us of who we are – people who carry the light of Christ on our journey.

At the end of our pilgrimage we will return home to continue carrying the light in our own lives. The theme of this year will be a challenge to us: Keep Your Lamps Lit.

We will return home to what we are tempted to think of as “the real world” – a world dominated by economics and politics and news and sport and by our own worries and pains – all very important. But in the end, like everything else in light they will be empty and frightened of the dark, of death, of evil unless we allow some rays from the light of Christ to shine on them and from them.

We are the ones who have to point to the light and allow it to shine in us. There is no part of our lives – joys, pains, sorrows, hopes, fears, successes and failures – that does not find its final meaning and purpose in the light of Christ, in the love that moves the universe.

As individuals and as communities (parishes, clusters, associations, prayer groups and above all as families) we need to learn in prayer, in reflection, in action, in speaking to one another about our faith, what Christ is asking of us, what hope he is offering us, how the light of his love can shine more brightly in each of these areas of life.

And then we need to have the courage to let it be seen what that light means to us in our actions and attitudes.

That is our challenge, to Keep our Lamps Lit.

BENEDICT XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 10.

Deus Caritas Est, 1.