Given at the Mass for the visit of the Relics of St Bernadette, in the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden on 28th October 2022
Lourdes comes to Willesden. It is a great joy to celebrate this Mass in the presence of the relics of St Bernadette here at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden. Our Blessed Lady spoke to St Bernadette during the 13th apparition on 2nd March 1858 and said, ‘Go and tell the priests that people are to come here in procession and to build a chapel here’. Faithfully this command has been fulfilled. The pilgrimages and processions of people began, with those who were sick and in need, quickly at the heart and centre of Lourdes. It is the place where the people of the Beatitudes, the poor of the Magnificat and those who are sick find their home. Here they discover the meaning of wisdom as we heard in the first reading.
Today St Bernadette comes to Willesden. We gather to be in her presence by ‘touching’ her remains on earth united with her life in heaven. Heaven and earth are united today in a very real and personal way. We gather to venerate her and ask her prayer through Our Lady to her Son, Jesus. It is as though St Bernadette is nudging Our Lady who is asking her Son for our needs.
What is it that appeals about St Bernadette? Why are we so attracted to this humble saint? Precisely, because she shows us the way to holiness and sainthood through her humility, simplicity, poverty, sickness and carrying of the cross. She relates the joy of the first meeting with Our Lady on 11th February 1858. She describes her as a ‘girl in white, no bigger than me’ and called her ‘the Lady’ or ‘Aqueró’ a patois word meaning ‘that’. It is love at first sight.
St Bernadette says, ‘I lifted up my eyes in the direction of the Grotto. I saw a lady dressed in white: she had a white dress, a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot, the same colour as the chain of her rosary. When I had seen that, I rubbed my eyes; I thought I was mistaken. I put my hand in my pocket; I found my rosary. I wanted to make a sign of the cross; I could not bring my hand to my forehead: it fell down. The vision made the sign of the cross. And my hand trembled; I tried to do it and I could. I started to say the rosary; the vision moved her own beads but she did not move her lips. When I had finished my rosary, the vision disappeared all of a sudden. I asked the two others if they had seen anything, they said no.’ (Adam Simon, Bernadette of Lourdes, p.22). She is confused that her sisters do not see anything but says to them after the meeting, ‘My God! How I would like to go back to the banks of Massabielle’.
During the third apparition, Saint Bernadette asks the Lady to write down her name. She replies, ‘It is not necessary,’ ‘What I have to say does not need to be written down.’ The Lady laughs and Bernadette joins in her laughter; she hears the lady’s sweet and gentle voice and knows that this is real. The Lady asks her, ‘Would you kindly have the grace to come here each day for a fortnight?’ She addresses her in the formal French form of ‘vous’, normally reserved for adults and important people. This makes Bernadette feel very special; it is the first time she has been addressed formally using ‘vous’. It is the way that the God addresses each one of us.
For the rest of her life, St Bernadette remembers the smile of the Lady towards her, a smile that takes away her asthma in the presence of the Lady, a smile that will support and encourage her later in the convent in Nevers. In a conversation when she was asked to describe the smile, she replied, ‘Sir, you would have to be in heaven to recreate that smile.’ She will also remember that the Lady said, ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other.’ She is prepared to lose everything and give away everything for the sake of Jesus – this evening’s gospel.
In some of the later apparitions, the Lady says to St Bernadette, ‘Penitence. Pray to God for the conversion of sinners. Go on your knees and kiss the ground in penitence for sinners.’ Bernadette humbles herself by doing this, she finds the spring and drinks water which is like mud, she eats grass. She humbles herself to do penance. The beautiful smile of Our Lady which penetrated to the heart of St Bernadette which they first met becomes the face of sadness when she speaks of sinners. Bernadette reflects this sadness in her own face. She writes, ‘When the Lady is happy, I am happy. When she is sad, I am sad.’
In the final apparitions, on the Feast of the Annunciation, Our Blessed Lady announces her name, ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’. The parish priest, Fr Peyramale, now believes that Our Lady has visited St Bernadette. St Bernadette lights a candle and leaves it at the Grotto.
We come in the vigil of prayer, to light candles, to pray the rosary, to celebrate the Mass. Our Blessed Lady teaches us through St Bernadette of our dignity, especially in sickness or poverty. She teaches us to pray the rosary for our needs and the needs of the world. In that prayer we discover the mystery of Christ in his joyful sorrowful, glorious and luminous mysteries; they invite us to imagine the scenes from Jesus's life that show us the way to know him, to love him, and to trust in him. It is this way which will help St Bernadette to face the local opposition of the clergy and the over-zealous curiosity of the townspeople. It is this way that will enable her to leave Lourdes for the safety of the convent in Nevers. It is this way that will enable her to endure the criticism, sarcasm, and the petty jealousies of the convent. She will remember the smile of the Lady and so be able to fulfil all her menial tasks with a smile which radiates the beauty and the glory of God. Through this visitation of Saint Bernadette to Willesden, may our prayer be deepened, our penance be strengthened, and our faithfulness to spread the message of the smile of God to all those we meet in many different circumstances wherever they may be increase. Like Mary may we ponder all these things in our heart.
Bishop John Sherrington