-
People must have wondered why hundreds of men and
women, young and old visit the Basilica of the Holy Rosary at Bandel or other
shrines in India. Many do so in order to fulfil a vow made in the past, others
come to pray, still others to see. The sacred promise to go on a pilgrimage to
the Basilica is a way of telling God how desperate, how earnest they are in
praying for protection and good life. How well do the shrines come
to help in the daily journey of Christians? In them one expresses with simplicity one’s faith, which is enriched by
many initiatives: retreats, courses, ritual offerings, moments of prayers and recollection
etc. that lead them, in turn, to a lived charity. For this reason it is
important that pilgrims, arriving at a shrine, feel at home and can pray in
silence before the Lord and experience God's mercy in the confessional.
Shrines
and New Evangelization
"The
Shrine doors open for new evangelization": this was the theme of the International Conference for Rectors of
Sanctuaries (27-29 Nov 2018) held in Rome in the presence of about 600 rectors of
shrines from all over the world, including Loreto, Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe,
etc. With the apostolic letter of Pope Francis, Sanctuary in Ecclesia, Pope
Francis transferred the powers related to the shrines directly to the
Pontifical Council for the promotion of the new evangelization, highlighting
the missionary dimension of the Church.
As a testimony of charity the
Shrines are asked to keep “popular piety” (changed from ‘popular religiosity’,
cf. EN 48) alive which “is the immune system of the Church” as one speaker held.
(Cf. Gianantonio, Santuari: preghiera, misericordia,
cordialità, in “ La Madonna di Castelmonte”, Feb 2019, n.2, p. 12.). Welcoming
attitude is, in the first place, the important mindset reserved for pilgrims.
We know that more and more often our shrines are not welcoming places. Hospitality
is important for the Church's journey and for the pastoral ministry of shrines:
pedagogy of evangelization, proclamation of faith, silent guardian of faith,
and of mystery and beauty. The Marian shrines should respond well to the Church’s
directions and suggestions. In the daily journey that the Church takes, the
shrines become the places where our people most willingly gather to express
their faith in simplicity and in accordance with the various traditions,
practices, religious rituals and cultural expressions of the place and people.
They are moments of faith, witnessing the same love and live the same hope.
Many shrines have arisen precisely because of the request for prayer that the
Virgin Mary has addressed to the visionary, so that the Church may never forget
the words of the Lord Jesus to pray without ceasing (Lk 18:1) and to remain
vigilant while waiting for his return (cf. Mk 14:28).
Silence
for the Sacred
In
addition, shrines are called to facilitate the individual pilgrim’s prayer in
the silence of his/her heart. With the words of the heart, with silence, with
his formulas learned from memory as a child, with his gestures of piety, each
one must be helped to express his/her personal prayer. There are many who come
to the shrine because they need to receive a grace and then return to thank for
having received it, often for having received strength and peace in the trial.
This prayer makes the shrines fertile places, because of the piety of the pilgrims
or autonomous groups, who set out on a journey to reach these holy places. It
is sad when it happens that, upon their arrival, there is no one to give them a
word of welcome and to welcome them as pilgrims who have often made a long
journey to reach the shrine. And worse still, is when they find the door
closed! And priests are not available. We
cannot give more attention to material and financial needs, forgetting that the
most important subjects of pilgrimage are the pilgrims. They're the ones who
matter. More than food and lodging, each one of them must be made to feel ‘at
home’, as if a long-awaited family member finally has arrived. It must also be
considered that many people visit the shrine because it is a local tradition;
sometimes the works of art attract the people, or because it is located in a
natural environment of great beauty.
Place
of Prayer
The
shrine is above all a place of prayer. Most of our shrines are dedicated to
Marian piety. Here, the Virgin Mary opens the arms of her maternal love to
listen to everyone's prayer and intercede. The feelings of every pilgrim felt
in the deepest of his/her heart are those experiences that are felt by Mary.
Here she smiles, giving consolation; she sheds tears with those who cry. She
presents to each the Son of God in her arms as the most precious possession
that every mother possesses. Mary makes herself a companion of every person who
raises his/her eyes to her, asking for a grace, certain to be fulfilled. The
Virgin responds with sensitivity to all with the intensity of her gaze, which
the artists have figured on her face. For the pilgrims the Virgin Mary is alive
in the miraculous statue. She guides her devotees to contemplation and encourages
them to Church prayers and sacraments. Shrines would do well to encourage the
pilgrims to pray the prayers of Church (Lauds, offices, vespers, etc.); that
they always be nourished and grow in the knowledge of God's love.
Experience
of Mercy
No
one in our shrines should feel like a stranger, especially when one comes to meet
a priest with the weight of sin. The sanctuary is a privileged place to
experience mercy that knows no boundaries. This is one of the reasons that led to
designate the "Door of Mercy" (main entrance) even in the shrines
during the extraordinary jubilee year of Mercy. In fact, mercy, when it is
lived, becomes a form of real evangelization, because it transforms those who
receive mercy into witnesses of mercy. First, the sacrament of reconciliation,
which is so often celebrated in shrines, needs well-formed priests, holy,
merciful and capable of making true encounter with the Lord who forgives.
Finally,
the works of mercy are to be lived in a particular way in shrines, because in
them generosity and charity are carried out in a natural and spontaneous way as
acts of obedience and love to the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary. This is a great
pastoral responsibility that has been entrusted to the priests – the ‘care-takers’
of the Shrines. According to Pope Francis, the shrine is a place of the
pilgrim's encounter not only with God, but also of the encounter of pastors
with their people. The Lord goes to the shrine to meet his people which is so
essential, to go out to meet his people, to understand the people of God,
without prejudice (cf. Liturgy of 2nd February); the people endowed with
that ‘sense’ of faith (sensus fidei, LG 12). This meeting is essential.
Popular
Piety and Rituals
Here
we touch on an aspect of evangelization that cannot leave us insensitive. We
want to talk about that reality which is often referred to today as ‘popular
religiosity’. Both in the regions where the Church has been implanted for
centuries and where it is in the way of being implanted, there are special
expressions of the search for God and faith among the people. For a long time this
was considered less pure, sometimes despised. Today, these same expressions
form everywhere the object of a rediscovery. The bishops had deepened its
significance during the synod (1974), with the theme: "Evangelization
in the modern world", with remarkable pastoral realism and zeal.
Popular religiosity, certainly has its limits.
Every
religion has its own rituals that serve us in many ways e.g. grace before
meals, various prayers said at different times of the day, etc. They add meaning and joy to our routine
activities. Pilgrimage to the shrine as an expression of popular piety with
certain rituals boost the participants’ spirit. For example, rituals that
students (getting our parents’ blessing before exams), sportsmen (while
entering the field) resort to, give us strength when they face situations that
are beyond their control. It improves their confidence and focus. A community
pilgrimage to the Shrines gives a sense of belonging and solidarity. The
various rituals performed at the shrine hold person strong, keep steady, and
help praying regularly even when not felt like praying. Many socio-religious
rituals hold people in love, affection, graciousness, civility, and good
manners. They too sustain love, marriage, family, friendship, neighbourliness
and our relationships beyond feelings. Therefore, we need to understand the
power of popular piety, pilgrimages and meaningful rituals.
On
a cautious note, popular religiosity with various ritualistic expressions often
leads to many deformations of religion, many superstitions. It often remains at
the level of cult manifestations, without committing a genuine adherence to faith.
It can also lead to the formation of sects, and endanger the true Church
community. The apostolic
exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi, issued
by Pope Paul VI states:
“But
if it is well oriented, above all by a pedagogy of evangelization, it is rich
in values. It manifests a thirst for God which only the simple and poor can
know. It makes people capable of generosity and sacrifice even to the point of
heroism, when it is a question of manifesting belief. It involves an acute
awareness of profound attributes of God: fatherhood, providence, loving and
constant presence. It engenders interior attitudes rarely observed to the same
degree elsewhere: patience, the sense of the cross in daily life, detachment,
openness to others, devotion. By reason of these aspects, we readily call it
"popular piety," that is, religion of the people, rather than
religiosity. Pastoral charity must dictate to all those whom the Lord has
placed as leaders of the ecclesial communities the proper attitude in regard to
this reality, which is at the same time so rich and so vulnerable. Above all
one must be sensitive to it, know how to perceive its interior dimensions and
undeniable values, be ready to help it to overcome its risks of deviation. When
it is well oriented, this popular religiosity call be more and more for
multitudes of our people a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ” (EN 48).
No comments:
Post a Comment