Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lourdes (Agenzia Fides) – On Monday, September 15, at the end of his pastoral visit to Lourdes, the Holy Father visited the Oratoire de l’Hôpital (the Chapel where St. Bernadette received her First Communion), the Fourth Part of the “Jubilee Path.” There he remained in prayer for some time. Later, he presided the Mass celebrated in the esplanade in front of the Basilica Notre-Dame du Rosaire, for the sick. During the Mass, he also administered the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to a group of sick persons.
“Yesterday we celebrated the Cross of Christ, the instrument of our salvation, which reveals the mercy of our God in all its fullness,” the Pope said in his homily. “Today, as we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, we contemplate Mary sharing her Son’s compassion for sinners... Mary dwells in the joy and the glory of the Resurrection. The tears shed at the foot of the Cross have been transformed into a smile which nothing can wipe away, even as her maternal compassion towards us remains unchanged... Mary loves each of her children, giving particular attention to those who, like her Son at the hour of his Passion, are prey to suffering; she loves them quite simply because they are her children, according to the will of Christ on the Cross.”
Christians have always sought the smile of Our Lady, the Pope said. “This smile of Mary is for all; but it is directed quite particularly to those who suffer, so that they can find comfort and solace therein. To seek Mary’s smile is not an act of devotional or outmoded sentimentality, but rather the proper expression of the living and profoundly human relationship which binds us to her whom Christ gave us as our Mother. To wish to contemplate this smile of the Virgin, does not mean letting oneself be led by an uncontrolled imagination... In the smile of the most eminent of all creatures, looking down on us, is reflected our dignity as children of God, that dignity which never abandons the sick person. This smile, a true reflection of God’s tenderness, is the source of an invincible hope.”
In response to a prolonged suffering, man can even be led to despair of the meaning and value of life, Benedict XVI commented, and there is a need for the close presence of family and friends, and “also the closeness of those who are intimately bound to us by faith. Who could be more intimate to us than Christ and his holy Mother, the Immaculate One?... I would like to say, humbly, to those who suffer and to those who struggle and are tempted to turn their backs on life: turn towards Mary! Within the smile of the Virgin lies mysteriously hidden the strength to fight against sickness and for life. With her, equally, is found the grace to accept without fear or bitterness to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.”
The Pope continued by saying that to seek the smile of the Virgin Mary is “not a pious infantilism... In the very simple manifestation of tenderness that we call a smile, we grasp that our sole wealth is the love God bears us, which passes through the heart of her who became our Mother...Mary’s smile is a is a spring of living water... From her believing heart, from her maternal heart, flows living water which purifies and heals.”
Benedict XVI then reflected on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. “Christ imparts his salvation by means of the sacraments, and especially in the case of those suffering from sickness or disability, by means of the grace of the sacrament of the sick. For each individual, suffering is always something alien. It can never be tamed... The grace of this sacrament consists in welcoming Christ the healer into ourselves. However, Christ is not a healer in the manner of the world. In order to heal us, he does not remain outside the suffering that is experienced; he eases it by coming to dwell within the one stricken by illness, to bear it and live it with him... Without the Lord’s help, the yoke of sickness and suffering weighs down on us cruelly.”
At the end of his homily, the Pope affectionately greeted those working in the areas of public health and nursing, as well as those who, in different ways, in hospitals and other institutions, are contributing to the care of the sick, all the hospitaliers, the brancardiers who work to attend the sick pilgrims who visit Lourdes: “I should like to say... how much their service is appreciated. They are the arms of the servant Church.” The Pope also encouraged those who, “in the name of their faith, receive and visit the sick, especially in hospital infirmaries, in parishes or, as here, at shrines.” “Mary entrusts her smile to you, so that you yourselves may become, in faithfulness to her son, springs of living water. Whatever you do, you do in the name of the Church, of which Mary is the purest image. May you carry her smile to everyone!” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 17/9/2008)
