Given for the International Mass at the Basilica of Pope Pius X in Lourdes on 21st July 2024.
‘Come here in procession’. This is the theme of pilgrimages to Lourdes this year. This is what we have done, from so many different parts of the world, speaking different languages, yet united in this desire: to be here in Lourdes, to be here with Mary, to be here in the unity of our faith.
St Paul speaks about our unity. He says: ‘You that used to be so far apart’ are now being brought together. He is talking about the conflicts that existed between the followers of Jesus of Jewish origin and those who were Gentiles. They were often at loggerheads.
In our world today there is so much conflict, division and hostility. They have no place here. Rather, in this great celebration we glimpse a new humanity, a single family of people, mighty in diversity, strong in unity.
St Paul tells us the source of this unity: we are brought very close to each other ‘by the blood of Christ’, a blood poured out for us in all time and poured out here on this altar. St Paul tells us that Jesus has ‘actually destroyed in his own person’ the hostilities that keep us apart. The peace he brings through his death on the Cross can ‘create one single New Man in himself’. Jesus, in his humanity, in taking on our flesh, carries our sins. Jesus, in his divinity, the Eternal Word of God, overthrows that sin and creates new life, in each of us, and between us. Then Paul says: ‘Through him – Jesus – all of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father’.
This is our procession, our pilgrimage: our journey to the Father, to the homeland of heaven, through, with and in Our Blessed Lord. There is no other way. Our processions in Lourdes are an expression of that journey.
Here we learn to walk together, as brothers and sisters not divided between those who help and those who are helped. All of us need support and help. All of us, without exception, can give support and help to others. Each of us is weak and each of us has strength. On this way to the Father we exchange these gifts: if I come sure in strength and wanting simply to help others, I will go home having received more than I gave. If I come as one clearly in need of assistance, I will go home having given strength to those around me.
Such is the pilgrimage we make, at Mary’s invitation. We come to her, as did Bernadette. We come to Jesus who, in this Mass, is lifted up so that he might draw us closer to himself. Let the sights, the sounds, the prayers, the processions of Lourdes open our minds and hearts to him. Then, as we return home, we can be a rock in a world of anxiety and uncertainty; we can be a fountain of living water in the midst of a thirsty world. This is our calling. This is our mission. This is our joy and peace. Amen.
✠ Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster