World Youth Day - Lourdes 150
Littlw Sisters of the Poor
Novitiate
Queens, NY
19 July 2008
Merci
In this homily, I make
reference to an event in Lourdes. Below are links to the
videos:
Lourdes website
Raw video
We gather here to celebrate a day of miracles. And I doubt
anyone here has a problem with miracles. Few of you would
stand up and protest that God is false and that miracles
are only an illusion. What gets really fun is picking which
one to celebrate.
Lets begin by naming a few. Thousands have spent more time
on airplanes traveling to Sydney than many spend each year
in Church. A youth sees a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary
in a dirty cave by a river in southern France. You make
weekend here with the Little Sisters of the Poor. I make
the pilgrimage to another Diocese in strange land called
‘Queens.’ But among the many miracles and
opportunities we have for considering them, I would like to
highlight a recent and rather unnoticed one.
Ingrid Betancourt was a candidate for the Presidency of
Columbia. Six years ago, militants kidnapped her among the
hundreds they have since taken hostage. After a dramatic
rescue, she was heralded throughout the world and has since
disappeared from the evening news amid stories of oil
prices rising. But she was determined to return to France
and go to Lourdes. On 12 July, armed with the rosary of old
buttons she made while held in captivity, she stood before
the Grotto and prayed the Rosary in Spanish and French. She
held her son’s hand and smiled as she tried to sing
the
Salve Regina but
could only look up at the line
post hoc exillium – “after this our
exile.” With a microphone, her mother, the Bishop and
a noisy press corps, she offered a pray to Mary - who she
called
Mama cheri - my
dear Mommy – to thank her for sustaining her
throughout those long years of beatings, torture,
deprivation and loneliness. She thanked Mary and said:
“merci
por mi liberte, merci por la vie” - Thank you for my liberty, for life.
And she clearly meant it.
It’s hard to see the video without be moved and
wondering if St. Bernadette looked all that different.
Standing in the spot that young girl stood 150 years ago,
the miracle of Lourdes is so clear. In the presence of that
visitor from Heaven, liberty and life are the grace of
Lourdes because Mary points to her Son who will
not break a bruised reed, a smoldering wick he will not
quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name
the Gentiles will hope. 150 years after those apparitions,
millions go each year to that same cave and stand there
looking. Some are healed in a spectacular and visible way
that strengthens the faith of so many who may doubt the
possibility of God acting in our world and in our lives.
Most have a different experience, but one that is no less
profound. Like Ingrid Betancourt, they stand in St.
Bernadette’s place and know a freedom and vitality
unlike any other. They know the gentle mercy of God in
their difficulties.
I’ve heard of people going to Lourdes or a healing
Mass who are not interested in religion as much as they
‘just want a miracle.’ It’s very
understandable. Whether in illness or sin, people are
oppressed and confined by their situations and conditions.
They are uncomfortable and difficult. Many have no great
desire to hear about penance or purification because they
really don’t need more of that, thank you very much.
They come with expectations, and some even come with hope,
that God will end the cruelty of their living and release
them from a life of pain. And we know by faith that God
will be true to His promise and do just that. It’s
just that He may do it without taking away what we think
and know to be so wrong and so bad.
Mary’s first words to Bernadette were
“penitence,
penitence, penitence.” She would also promise her
happiness not in this life but for ever in Heaven. Perhaps
that’s not what any of us want to hear whether we
come to our God for ourselves or for another. But the
miracle is that all who come to God, all who invoke the
Blessed Mother of God or any of the Saints, receives simply
because they asked. They are tested and find freedom in a
love that is not measured by blood tests or cholesterol
levels. They find life even as MRI’s and CAT scans
show ever more clearly what threatens earthly existence.
And so do all those who join in the apostolic mission of
caring for them. Like Ingrid, there is a joy of gratitude
that is a reflection of a thanksgiving greater than the
worst this world can offer.
So as ‘da yoots’ gather on the other side of
the world to celebrate and strengthen their early stages of
faith, we gather here among those who have traveled that
road much farther. We – and they - are living
testimonies to the miracles of the life and liberty our God
offers us. We hope in a God of gentle mercy and powerful
action. We hear His majestic Spirit in the whisper of
prayer. We see His tremendous glory in the unspoken
thanksgiving of a smile. Look around because the past 150
years of Lourdes witness to a miracle that is essentially
timeless. The Holy Spirit has filled the earth and the task
of every human being is to be filled with that grace.
And the hearts of those who have known it, or at least who
have begun to know it, respond and resound with one word of
prayer:
Merci!