Given at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden on Thursday 26 October 2016.
It is good to be speaking about God’s mercy at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, a holy place to which pilgrims have travelled for over a thousand years. When we are in need of help, it is so often to our mother that we look. In the gospel (John 19: 25b-27) that we have just heard, Jesus gives Mary to the Church as our Mother and St John welcomes her warmly into his home. Tonight we join our prayer with hers as we look towards her and ask her intercession to her Son for our world and its needs.
Above my bed, there is a crucifix which my aunt, my godmother, gave me as a baptism present when I was a few days old. This crucifix has been moved between many houses and is now treasured as a memory of baptism and my family. My aunt is now in a nursing home and lives with dementia so she has little awareness, if any, of who I am. The Cross unites us in baptism and also in her suffering. I am sure that Our Blessed Lady stands at the foot of the Cross and offers her prayers for my aunt.
The Cross unites us in the mercy of God and the promise of the hope of eternal life. When we look upon the Cross, there we see the promise of God’s mercy which is poured out for us and for all people. On my crucifix, the metal figure of Christ is very serene, somewhat like the figures of Christ one sees in the Stations of the Cross at Westminster Cathedral. I see him reigning from the Cross as the High Priest, as a King in glory, though at the same time he bears the wounds and scars of his Passion and Suffering. He offers himself to the Father; he is both the One sacrificed and the One who offers himself. He is the perfect gift to the Father. From his Cross, Christ gives new life which pours from his side, which has been pierced by the lance. From the wound flow blood and water. I find myself saying, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ In our need, the love of God reaches out as mercy to us to forgive our sins so that we may be restored into friendship with him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
These words remind us that every day at Mass, the priest holds up the Body and Blood of Christ and says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.’ This moment unites us in a profound way with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross who gives his life so that we may receive God’s mercy. From his side there flows out the water of baptism that washes away our sins and the blood of the Eucharist which nourishes and feeds us. We share in the gifts from the fountain of life not just for ourselves but so that we can be merciful to others.
These words remind us of the time early in Jesus’ ministry when he came to John the Baptist and asked for baptism in the river Jordan. John points to him and says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. He recognises him as the Messiah, as the Christ, and tells his listeners of the promise which Jesus brings.
As Christ shows mercy to them, they learn the meaning of mercy by watching his actions and hearing his words. The life of Jesus reveals the One who gives himself away in love and acts mercifully towards others: Jesus seeks out and finds the lost sheep, helps the woman who is bent double to stand upright, prepares a feast to welcome home the prodigal son, forgives the woman who is caught in adultery, gives food to the hungry and consoles Martha and Mary as they grieve for their brother Lazarus who has died. The gaze of the Father’s mercy is seen in the eyes of Jesus who looks compassionately on those he meets and touches them with his healing. He sees our need, our sin, and bestows abundant mercy upon us. He forgives and saves us and calls us tenderly into his love. No-one is lost. Pope Francis has repeated again and again over these three years, that the Church must be open and welcoming to those who might easily be forgotten, shunned or ignored, those on the margins, in irregular situations and those whose lives are fragile and seem to fail and fall foul in the eyes of rules and practices. God’s mercy reaches into all these situations and tries to help the person find a home in the Church. As Jesus says, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt 9:13).
Like any gift, the joy of receiving it is to share it with others. We are invited to learn from his example and allow the gaze of mercy to fall upon persons whom we meet, especially those who are in need.
Through grace, we are filled with faith and love in Christ Jesus. We are summoned to see in fresh ways with the eyes of Christ and so to see every person as a new creation, one to whom we are invited to reach out in mercy. It is as though a cataract has been removed and our eyes have gained new sight and vision. People who have had a cataract removed are moved to tears as they see again a world in colour and focus.
We are ambassadors for Christ and so called to see Christ in our neighbour and proclaim his mercy to others. The corporal and spiritual acts of mercy are practical ways in which this gift of mercy is to be shared with others: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, burying the dead, sheltering the traveller, comforting the sick, and freeing the imprisoned. Perhaps less well known are the spiritual acts of mercy: instructing the ignorant, counselling the doubtful, admonishing the sinner, bearing wrongs patiently, forgiving offenses willingly, comforting the sorrowful and praying for the living and the dead.
As we come as pilgrims to this Shrine of Our Blessed Lady at Willesden, we ask the help of Mary, the Mother of God, who shares intimately in our lives as a Mother who sees our tears and hears our sighs. She continues to stand at the foot of the Cross, silently but watchfully, praying for her children. She beholds the Lamb of God. She is the Mother of Mercy. We know that we can trust in her and that she will embrace us with maternal tenderness and hide us in the protecting veil of her cloak. There we are safe and can finger the beads of our rosaries and pray,
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail our Life, our Sweetness and our Hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.