On this day, my dear friends, each year we gather together in one of the Parish Churches of the Diocese to celebrate as a family, as the Diocesan Lourdes Family. The occasion of our meeting and celebration is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, a Feast which transports us all to the Grotto of Massabielle and the 'AVE' sung by thousands of pilgrims from over all the world who go there in answer to Mary's invitation. This annual diocesan event is an occasion to renew our commitment as a caring people, a people with a compassionate heart, a people who seek the Face of Christ in our sisters and brothers, especially our invalids. We place them at the heart of our annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of our Lady of Lourdes and through and with them we encounter there, in a unique way, " the Lord who heals the broken heart, the God who seeks the lost and who finds them".
Today also, my dear friends, we, together with the whole Church throughout the world, celebrate the 11th World Day of the Sick. Since its inception in 1992 the Holy Father has wished to link the highlighting of our care for the sick and needy with the liturgical celebration of the Feast of our Lady of Lourdes. Each year the World Day of the Sick is celebrated at a special Marian Shrine and this year the main celebration takes place today at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. The Holy Father, in his special Message for this special day, states: " The Church, entrusting herself to our Lady, is inspired to bear renewed witness to charity, in order to be a living icon of Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan, in the numberless situations of physical and moral suffering in the world today". The Holy Father underlines in his Message the model of society which is being promoted today in so many parts of the world, a model, he says, which " bears the stamp of the culture of death and is therefore in opposition to the Gospel Message. Faced with this worrying fact", he says," how can we fail to include the defence of the culture of life among our pastoral priorities? Catholics", he says, " working in the field of health care have the urgent task of doing all they can to defend life when it is most seriously threatened and to act with a conscience correctly formed according to the teaching of the Church".
Each time, my dear friends, we gather as a Lourdes family either in a Parish Church at home or at the Shrine in Lourdes we proclaim the culture of life and entrust our invalids and our needs to the loving and maternal hands of the Virgin Mother Mary. As we gather this evening we cannot but have in our prayer the great need for peace and reconciliation in our world. Especially this week we must storm heaven so that the gift of peace, which Christ left to the world through His Church, may become evident in the decisions which will be made by the world's leaders. The threat of war overshadows our world and the possible loss of innumerabe innocent lives is unthinkable. In this year, dedicated to the Holy Rosary, the Holy Father " entrusts to the power of this prayer the cause of peace in the world". " The grave challenges", he says, " confronting the world at the start of this new Millennium, lead us to think that only an intervention from on high, capable of guiding the hearts of those living in situations of conflict and those governing the destinies of nations, can give reason to hope for a brighter future. The Rosary", he continues, " is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is ' our peace' ( Eph. 2:14).
You will all remember how the Rosary is so highlighted during our Pilgrimage to Lourdes. Let us endeavour to bring it back into our homes and families, especially in this Year of the Rosary, and let us implore, through its recitation, the protection of the Virgin Mary so that peace may become a tangible reality in today's world.
My dear fellow pilgrims, let us today implore from our heavenly Mother her special protection for the Church in our land. At a time when the credibility of the Church is being called into question, may She inspire and encourage all of us to show forth in our daily lives of Christian witness the Face of Christ the Saviour. May we all recognise that He is the Head, She the Mother and we the Members. May we all be so bound together by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Love, that all who come into contact with us may truly say that they have encountered the Living Lord. Let us now ask for healing and forgiveness, for love and compassion. These are the attributes most evident in the hearts of pilgrims to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. On this Her Feastday may we, as a Diocesan Church, be renewed and restored. May all those who play such a pivotal role in our diocesan pilgrimage, the Doctors and the Nurses, the Chaplains, the Brancardiers and the Handmaidens, the Youth and the Cloyne Hospitalite' and in particular the invalids and the sick be truly touched by Mary and be brought closer to Her Son, Jesus. As we sing our 'AVES' may we always note that at the heart of each 'Ave' is the Person of Jesus. May our lives become truly an Icon of the Living Saviour to the world in which we live. Devotion to Mary and pilgrimage to Her Shrine must always bring us into greater union with Her Son, Jesus. Remember the last words she is quoted as having said in the Gospel: " Do whatever He tells you".
May I conclude with the final words of the Holy Father in His Message for
today: " I entrust you all to the Immaculate Virgin...May she hear the
prayers that rise from the world of suffering, may she dry the tears of those
in pain, may she stand beside those who are alone in their illness, and by
her motherly intercession may she help believers who work in the field of
health care to be credible witnesses to Christ's love".