Given at Mass on the Westminster Diocesan Pilgrimage to Walsingham on the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, 24th September 2022
Introduction to Mass
It is our privilege to be here, on our diocesan pilgrimage, on the very day of the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. Welcome! Welcome also to those who are coming for the Feast Day, especially to the musicians who will enrich our celebration and have already done so. Thank you.
Homily
The Scripture readings we have heard just now are so rich. Each one deserves our full attention. The Gospel with its familiar account of the Annunciation and the wonderful words of Mary: ‘Let it be done to me according to your word!’ These words unlocked for us the coming of Christ and the unfolding of our hope and joy. Today we honour Mary with full hearts!
St Paul, in the second reading, emphasises this very point: that through the words and heart of this wonderful woman, redemption enters this world, transforming it from bottom to top, removing every sense of futility in life and creating clear purpose and confidence. Now we know who we are, where we have come from, the final destination of our life’s journey and how to make this pilgrimage, day by day.
But perhaps it is the first reading, less familiar to us, that is nearest to our hearts. There we heard words of rejoicing at the coming of the Lord ‘to live among you’ (Zechariah 2:14). I think we may apply these words also to Mary, who so clearly came among us in this very place. We sing and rejoice to be here in Walsingham!
This is the Shrine of the Joys of our Blessed Lady. Yes, we often ponder and turn to Mary in her title of Mother of Sorrows, but here we join her in her joys, as she joins us in ours!
In the opening hymn of the Mass, we proclaimed some of those joys.
The nurturing of her child is the first of which we sang. Now, this is a joy known to every mother. But we share it in another way, for Mary's nurturing of her child leads to the nurture we receive through him, the ‘everlasting bread’, at every Eucharist.
Then we sang of the joy of Mary seeing the risen Christ. This joy is promised to us too, even if, for now, we only glimpse his presence in our prayer. Indeed we glimpse his presence quite powerfully in this Holy Mass.
The coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, in power and splendour, embraced Mary, too, just as we sang. It was her great joy. For her, of course, it was a second coming of the Holy Spirit, the first being the conception of her child at that moment of the Annunciation. This coming launched the great mission of the Church, which Mary never ceases to proclaim.
And this is our joy, also, to receive the Holy Spirit and to be part of this great mission. The gift of the Holy Spirit upon us comes especially in the anointing that marks our lives: in baptism, in confirmation, in ordination for some, in the sacrament of the sick. The same Holy Spirit who was given to Mary, comes to us in these precious moments, strengthening us for our pilgrimage and sending us out, like Mary, to be those who proclaim the joy and consolation of our faith.
At this moment too, here and now, we share in the joy of this coming of the Holy Spirit, for it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that the bread and wine we place on this altar becomes for us the real presence of the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus.
Then, the final verse of the hymn, ‘the chiefest joy of Mary’ that ‘when on earth her work was done’ she was ‘raised on high and crowned with grace’ - the coronation of Our Blessed Lady as Queen of heaven! And then our prayer, so beautifully expressed: ‘May thy Son, the world’s redeemer, grant us all to see his face!’
And that is indeed in our prayer today for our deceased monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. May she now be embraced in the joy of heaven.
These joys of Mary we share, and it is so important that we remember and rejoice in them today, here, in Walsingham.
But I cannot finish these few words without looking ahead to our final hymn so special to this place. There we will cry out, ‘Lady of Walsingham, Lady of England, listen to a pilgrim’s prayer, come back O Mary, come back to England, back to your Dowry, this island so fair.’ We ask her to ‘come back to Walsingham, Nazareth of England’, ‘to reign in our hearts’, to teach us the way of peace, the ways of love and justice. Yes, we need her presence more than ever, in the difficult times we face, for the ending of futile wars, which destroy so much and so many.
Forgive me, however, if I offer a comment on this lovely hymn. It is not so much that we should pray for a return of Mary, for she has never gone away. She never leaves us. It is we who have gone missing. It is we who have to return to her! We who fill our minds and hearts with so many distractions and anxieties, leaving little space for her gracious presence and calming love. Yes, let us return to Mary in a fresh and heartfelt way. Yes, let this day mark a new beginning in our devotion to her so that she will indeed teach us the ways of peace, of love and of justice, day by day in our homes. She is our Mother and we should never forget to turn to her, making our hearts her home, prepared, loving and responsive. Let us become, each day, a small house of Nazareth, filled with our Saviour’s presence, for then the joys of Mary will be our joys too and the promise of this great shrine will be fulfilled. Amen.
✠ Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
Photo: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk