27 April 2013 Our Lady of Montserrat The veneration of Our Lady of Montserrat, Patroness of Catalonia, is extremely ancient, predating the seventh-century Arab invasion of Spain. The statue was hidden at the time of the Islamic incursion and discovered in the ninth century, at which point a chapel was built to venerate it. King Wilfrid later founded a Benedictine abbey there. The shrine was originally regional in appeal, but the miracles attributed to the Virgin of Montserrat became so numerous, news of them was carried far and wide; the fame of the shrine spread well beyond the borders of Catalonia. In Italy one can find more than one-hundred and fifty churches or chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Montserrat. Some of the first churches to be founded in Mexico, Chile and Peru were also dedicated to her, not to mention numerous monasteries, towns, mountains and islands throughout the American continent named in her honor. Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195-7 Marian shrines are ‘divine signs’ Countless pilgrims daily visit numerous shrines of Our Lady to discover God’s ways or to renew them to find peace of soul and consolation in affliction. In these places of prayer, the Blessed Virgin makes the soul’s encounter with her Son easier, his presence more accessible. Every Marian shrine is a “permanent antenna of the Good News of salvation”. (John Paul II, “Address to rectors of Marian shrines”, 22 January 1981, in F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195) For centuries countless Christians have had recourse to Our Lady of Montserrat for her intercession to keep them going when life was hard. At her shrine they all found what they sought: peace of soul, God’s call to a greater self-giving, a cure, or consolation in tribulation. The liturgy of this feast is centred on the mystery of the Visitation, “which is the first undertaking of the Blessed Virgin. Montserrat offers us, therefore, very worthwhile lessons for our journey as pilgrims.” ((John Paul II, “Address at Montserrat”, 17 November 1982) We must remember our goal is specific and very well defined: heaven. The destination determines to a great extent what transport to use, the baggage to bring and provisions along the way. The Blessed Virgin tells us not to carry too many things, nor wear cumbersome clothes, and to walk briskly towards our Father’s house. She reminds us that nothing on this earth is permanent; and that everything must be subordinated to the completion of the journey, of which perhaps we have already covered a considerable portion. Moreover, on the journey we have to do as Mary did when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth: She “arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39), with a quick and joyful gait. Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195-6 The Significance of Marian Shrines A particular manifestation of the motherhood of Mary with regard to mankind is to be found in places where she meets with them — ‘houses which she inhabits’; houses where a particular presence of the Mother is felt. Such places and such houses are very numerous; and very varied — alcoves in dwellings or wayside shrines where the image of the Mother of God shines out, chapels and churches erected in Her honor. But there are also some places where people ‘feel the presence of the Mother to be particularly alive’. Sometimes these places radiate their light fulsomely; they attract people from afar. Their brightness may cover a diocese, an entire nation, sometimes more nations and even continents. These are ‘Marian shrines’. In all these places that singular testament left by the Crucified Lord is realized in a marvelous manner: man there feels consigned and entrusted to Mary. Man hastens there in order to be with her as with his own Mother, man opens his heart to her and talks about everything. ‘He takes Her into his house’, that is, into all his problems, which are sometimes difficult; and others’ problems: of families, of society, of nations, of the whole of mankind. Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p204 The Holy Spirit, the Gift of Holiness We must now reflect on the fact that Pentecost began ‘on the very evening of the Resurrection’ when the Risen Lord breathed on those in the Cenacle and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them.’ This is the Easter gift whereby, according to a relationship of causality even before that of chronology, ‘Christ gave the Holy Spirit to the Church’ as the divine gift; and as the incessant and inexhaustible ‘fount of sanctification’. ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ... And sanctification begins with remission of sins. First there is ‘Baptism’, the sacrament of total cancellation of sins; then ‘Penance’, the sacrament of reconciliation with God and the Church; then the ‘Anointing of the Sick’. But this work of sanctification always attains its culmination in the ‘Eucharist’, the sacrament of the fulness of holiness and grace. In this marvellous flow of supernatural life, what place is due to ‘Confirmation’? The same sanctification is expressed in reinforcement of it as well, that is, in ‘Confirmation’. In it, too, is the superabundant fulness of the Holy, sanctifying Spirit, operating in a special dynamism, the efficacy of inner-inspired and directed action. The nature of the Sacrament of Confirmation flows out in this ‘conferring strength’, communicated to each of the baptized, to make him or her a perfect Christian and soldier of Christ, ready to testify courageously to his resurrection and its redemptive power: ‘Then you are to be my witnesses ...’ Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p218 • It is said that in the year 1419, Our Lady de Haut, in Hainault, restored a child to life who had been dead three days. — Justus Lipsius, History of Our Lady of Haut, c. 19. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Haut (Hainaut, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) • “Notre Dame d’Haut”. Hainaut, France. Church built by Le Corbusier, 1955. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • “Nuestra Señora de Montserrat”. Spain. 1535. “Patrona de Cataluña”. ... Black madonna. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady “La Moreneta”, Spain. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)