Easter 2023

We spent Holy Week 2023 in Lourdes. The liturgy was wonderful. Much of it took place in the Underground Basilica which holds about 25,000 people. At the Easter vigil, it was packed. There must have been about 300 priests concelebrating.

As we priests processed to the sacristy at the end, hundreds of people held out statues and rosaries and holy water for us to bless. The procession was quite rapid, and most priests tried to bless the objects by touching them as we passed. I felt that was a bit casual. So I stood at the back and blessed those that were brought to me. A long queue formed, and it went on so long that, in the end, we were forced to leave so that the janitors could lock up.

How did I bless? I touched the objects, or carrier bags containing them, and closed my eyes. I looked towards the Father and concentrated on his love and grace. I was like a conduit of blessing, because I focused on him. My own thoughts and attempts to formulate prayers did not matter. Gradually, people knelt down and asked me to bless them instead.

It carried on for a long time. There was a French speaking African married couple. I asked them to bless me, because I had become overwhelmed by the beauty of their sacrament of marriage as I blessed them. They were surprised that I asked them to do this, but they agreed to do it, but did it. The same long session of blessing happened after the main Easter Mass in the Underground Basilica next day. Once more, we had to leave because of the impatient looks of the janitors.

Starting afresh every day

I don’t think I could have done that if I had not spent time in the prayer of contemplation. That is when you leave thoughts, feelings and imaginations aside, and just stand in love before the Father. You cannot do this properly without being helped by Jesus. In fact, it is really sharing in the deepest movement of his heart, his infinite love for our Father.

Don’t think that I get wrapped up into the seventh Heaven. Most of the time I just stay there hoping to be in love. I will give you an example. This is how it went today.

I wake up with all sorts of problems filling my mind. Pictures of war-shattered cities, children being abused, politicians acting like children, Church members polarising, and widespread indifference. I get up and come before the Lord. I struggle to seek his face because these thoughts keep chasing each other in my head. My prayer is: ‘Father, show me your face. Jesus, help me to know and love the Father’. It carries on for a long time. I try to clear my head and put my thoughts and feelings on one side, and bit by bit I settle. Even though I want to, it is not often that I can rest quietly and peacefully in the Father’s presence. But I get a growing intimation of his peace. It is there somewhere deep inside, and things calm down.

I am convinced that Jesus prayed like this – it must have been a lonely lifelong struggle to find the Father’s face and touch everywhere in this very broken world. I am sure St Patrick, the young slave in Ireland, while he was minding sheep out on the hills at night, also prayed like this. What an effect proceeded from his prayer! The Irish are one of the few peoples that were converted without bloodshed, and they are a people quite capable of that.

What is going on when we begin to contemplate?

Imperceptibly but surely, we come to contemplation with some of the sin of the world clinging to us, and it is pulling us down. Often, we want to switch off and find distraction in other thoughts and activities, e.g. switch on the TV. But in this prayer, we are with Jesus, the child of God parting the cloud of darkness to let the light of the Father descend.

When that light penetrates there is healing warmth. Then things make sense, solutions occur, and hope is reborn. Also blessing and healing (salvation) descends on the earth. It remains and it is building up. It is like an indelible pen: it cannot be obliterated.

In the moments of peace and being wrapped in the arms of the Father, we are never alone. We are surrounded on all sides by our brothers and sisters in their needs and lifethrows. Consolation in the arms of the Father can never be individualistic. We may personally experience peace and enlightenment, but that will be small fry if we don’t have an open heart to the brothers and sisters.

This is how contemplation flows over into intercession. As we seek to see the face of God, even faintly we begin to experience the boundless generosity of his love. That very boundlessness demands an act of communion with other people as well.

One thing that was striking about the Easter Blessings in Lourdes was that the people were from all over the world, Africa, Australasia, South America, Europe and the States. It was a great blessing to me to witness their thirst for the Kingdom. It was a true experience of Church.