Knock, Ireland’s International Eucharistic and Marian Shrine, I consider to be a very special place. For many years I have made pilgrimages to Our Lady’s Shrine, initially visits with my family during childhood, and then as I got older, I went there numerous times for various purposes including for a school retreat with my first year class in secondary school, summer youth festivals, young adult retreats, and in the last several years to serve in ministry at the Prayer Guidance Centre, for retreats with different groups, and to spend some quality time at the Shrine with my parents. There is something precious about Knock that particularly resonates with me, I think it is the gift of serene peace which I usually receive while I’m there.
The serenity and peace of Knock Shrine helps me to leave aside the noise and busyness of my day to day life and enter into the stillness and contemplative presence of God. The beauty and peacefulness of the churches and the tranquility of the expansive grounds at Knock give me the grace of a prayer space where I can lovingly and trustfully give to Jesus all of my painful memories, baggage, brokenness and weaknesses; and then accept the healing grace and mercy of Christ in the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.
The Apparition Chapel is a place particularly conducive to silent prayer. In the Apparition at Knock Mary said nothing, she appeared in a posture of prayer with her hands and eyes raised upwards, along with Saint Joseph her husband, protector of the Holy Family and Guardian of the Church; and Saint John the Evangelist, the apostle who holds the book of Scriptures open in his left hand. In the Apparition the Lamb of God is on the altar at the centre, Jesus who died on a Cross at Calvary to take away our sins.
Being at Knock always prompts me to ponder the hidden mysteries of God in the silence of my heart. God speaks in the silence of the Apparition. In a special message transmitted by video link during Mass at Knock on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, 19th March 2021, Pope Francis said that the Virgin Mary’s silence during the Apparition “is a language; indeed, it is the most expressive language we have. The message which comes from Knock is that of the great value of silence for our faith”. The Holy Father declared the Shrine to be “an International Sanctuary of Special Eucharistic and Marian Devotion”.
Mary chose to appear in 1879 at Knock, a small village in the West of Ireland, among fifteen men, women and children, ordinary people, at a distressing time for the locality which was in the midst of a region where there had been various famines and economic challenges during the 1870’s – just thirty years after the Great Famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49. Since the Apparition pilgrims from all four corners of the world have visited Knock to pray, reflect and reconnect; expressing their complete confidence in the Mother of Jesus Christ, embracing her as their Heavenly Mother. Mary as Mother of the Church stands at the centre of the Christian Community. Through her total docility to the will of God she is the model for discipleship.
Part of the mystery of human existence is the experience of suffering and trials during life. We don’t know why this is, but I believe that there is a special and particular grace that flows from God during times of difficulty. In these times, such as the present time of the Covid-19 pandemic, believers can ask Jesus, through Mary, for help. Praying the prayers of the Rosary and pondering the mysteries comprising the significant moments in the life of Jesus is a particular way of invoking the Virgin Mary’s intercession and of encountering the consolation and peace of God. When Christians open themselves to the presence of the Holy Spirit like Mary did, they can reveal in the midst of a broken world the healing fruits of the Spirit – ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ (Galatians 5:22-23).
