To mark the recent feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Bishop Michael gathered with many of the faithful, together with the pilgrimage Spiritual Director, Fr Pat Conroy, and committee members of the newly formed Dioceses of Clonfert and Galway Lourdes Pilgrimage Committee, for the celebration of Holy Mass. The liturgy included a water gesture recalling the healing grace of Lourdes, as well as the Anointing of the Sick, offering prayerful support and comfort to those in need of strength in body and spirit.
Sincere thanks to Fr Diarmuid, to Louise, and to the Parish Pastoral Council for their generous preparation and service in making this celebration such a prayerful and grace-filled occasion. May Our Lady of Lourdes continue to intercede for all who seek her Son’s healing and peace.
Bishop Michael’s Homily
I really love tonight’s First Reading:
“Oh, come to the water, all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk.” (Is 55)
Here the great Prophet Isaiah gives voice to the eternal invitation of God to each and every one of us: to come to Him, whatever state we find ourselves in. In fact, Isaiah tells us that God has a particular heart for those who live without — the poor and the hungry, the sick and the lost — those in need of any kind.
Tonight, we gather here in Oranmore in response to that great call of God to come to Him in our need. We gather in the church dedicated to Mary Immaculate, in the days following the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Through the visits of Our Lady to the young Bernadette Soubirous, beginning on 11 February 1858, God once again invited a broken, sick, and weary humanity to “come to the water” — to come to Him for healing, wholeness, and peace.
For a girl of little formal education, Bernadette always displayed striking and genuine wisdom. One of my favourite sayings of hers is: “If your dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces … never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. That’s the beauty of being alive … we can always start all over again.” These are the words of someone who experienced, in many ways and on many occasions, the shattering of dreams that life can bring. Yet, with faith in God and with His presence and help, she picked up those pieces and began again.
Tonight, I am conscious of my own life, with its struggles and challenges. I am conscious of all those gathered here — many with greater struggles and challenges than my own: relationships strained or broken; dreams shattered; promises unfulfilled; those weighed down by the heavy burden of pain and illness; those who suffer the dark shadows of depression or addiction; innocents who have endured abuse; those who mourn the loss of loved ones; those who feel betrayed or worn down by poverty and want; those who endure the violence of war and bloodshed; the homeless, the migrant, the refugee; those who reach out for help, who cry out for justice; those who can barely begin to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and start again.
Tonight, the presence of God Himself fills this place. I can sense Him whisper, “Come to Me.” Tonight, God reaches down to us. Tonight, He invites us — as He did through Isaiah, through Bernadette, and through His own Mother — to come to Him. If we have no money, come. Come, whatever our condition. Here, God desires to give us “good things to eat, rich food to enjoy.” Here, He longs to nourish us, to sustain us, and to heal us in our brokenness and weakness along the journey of life.
Make no mistake: this place, this night, is filled with the power of the presence of God. When we come to Him, things begin to change. In God’s way and in God’s time, they are brought toward what is good. Let this be our hope now.
Amen.