Pope Francis stressed commitment to Our Lady in a video message Friday as Ireland’s Knock Shrine, which has held the status of national Marian Shrine for decades, is elevated to the status of an International Sanctuary of Special Eucharistic and Marian Devotion.
By Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ
Pope Francis on Friday sent a video message to the Irish faithful indicating the elevation of the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock to the status of the International Sanctuary of Marian and Eucharistic.
“I like to use this means of communication to be with you at such an important moment in the life of the Sanctuary,” the pope said.
The date chosen for the event is March 19, the liturgical ceremony of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Since the appearance of August 21, 1879, when the Blessed Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and John the Apostle, appeared to a number of villagers, the pope has said, ‘the Irish people, wherever they found themselves, they expressed their faith and devotion to Our Lady of Knock. ”
After appearing 142 years ago, Knock became one of Ireland’s most popular religious sites, welcoming thousands of pilgrims each year. In 1979, Pope St. John Paul II visits the sanctuary. Pope Francis also visited Knock in August 2018 during his Apostolic visit to the country as part of the World Meeting of Families.
A missionary nation
In recognition of the many Irish priests who left their homeland to become ‘missionaries of the Gospel’, as well as the many lay people who emigrated to distant lands but still maintained their devotion to Our Lady, Pope Francis served the Church in Ireland to the faith.
“You are a missionary people,” he said.
“How many families over the course of almost a century and a half have handed over the faith to their children and gathered their daily labor around the prayer of the Rosary, with the image of Our Lady of Knock at the center.”
The great value of silence
“The arms of the Virgin, outstretched in prayer, still show us the importance of prayer as the message of hope emanating from this sanctuary,” the pope confirmed.
He recalled that in the appearance of Our Lady at Knock, “the Virgin says nothing”, but her silence is a language – “the most expressive language we have.” Knock’s message is therefore that of the “great value of silence for our faith”.
This silence in the face of mystery does not mean that we have stopped understanding, but rather ‘understanding while being supported by the love of Jesus’, the pope explained. It is also a silence in the “face of the great mystery of a love that can not be repaid unless the confidence in surrender to the will of the merciful Father.”
The Holy Father further noted that this is the silence that Jesus asks of us in the Gospel of Matthew: “Go to your inner room, close the door, and pray secretly to your Father. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. Do not babble in prayer like the Gentiles, who think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him ”(Matthew 6: 6-8).
The responsibility to welcome everyone
Pope Francis emphasizes the “great responsibility” attached to the newly exalted International Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock.
‘You accept that your arms should always be open as a sign of welcome to every pilgrim who may arrive from any part of the world and ask nothing in return, but only recognize him as a brother or sister who shares the same experience of brotherhood prayer, ”the pope insisted.
He further expressed his desire that this welcome “may cooperate with love and become an effective witness of a heart open to receiving the Word of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives us strength.”
In closing his message with an appeal to God’s blessings upon all, Pope Francis prayed that the Eucharistic mystery, which unites us in communion with Jesus and with one another, ‘can always be the rock on which we fulfill our calling as’ missionary disciples’ can live out faithfully. like Mary. He also begged Our Lady to ‘protect and comfort us with her merciful face’.