Pilgrims descend on Fatima shrine ahead of Pope's
visit
Vatican Radio) Tens of thousands of pilgrims are descending
on the Marian Shrine of Fatima ahead of Pope Francis' visit later on Friday.
The Holy Father is due to fly to Portugal from Rome's Fiumicino Airport this
afternoon and is expected to arrive at the air base of Monte Reale at 16.20
local time.
Our Correspondent in Fatima, Chris Altieri has been out and
about and sends this report on the powerful devotion at this beloved Marian
Shrine.
All throughout the day on Thursday, as afternoon turned to
twilight and twilight gave way to evening, and even after night fell, a steady
and slowly but visibly increasing stream of pilgrims built.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims are now descending on the great
square that stretches between the “new sanctuary” – the Basilica of the Most
Holy Trinity – and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary – both imposing
structures of some grace and genius, the former in a decidedly modern style and
the latter a harmonious blend of elements established in many architectural
traditions and periods, including a bell tower, vaulted ceilings, a colonnade,
and more than a dozen pieces of impressive statuary – the centrepiece of which
is the statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the niche of the tower: it is
the work of the Dominican priest-sculptor Thomas McGlynn (a US citizen),
crafted according to the indications of the seer and Discalced Carmelite Sister
Lucia herself, and paid for by the Catholic faithful of the United States.
The story of the statue makes for great reading.
It is this reporter’s first time here, though, and the thing
that has been the most powerfully affecting particular of the sanctuary complex
is the chapel of the apparitions, built on the exact spot of the apparitions in
Fatima in 1917.
Pilgrims of every age and state of life in the Church – some
flush with the exuberance of youth, some filled with gratitude for the graces
of a life abundantly blessed, and others, too – people who, to look them in the
eyes, have doubtless “seen the elephant” – approach the tiny covered chapel all
day long – many of them on their knees – circumambulating the site, pausing,
praying, hearing Mass and offering their Rosaries, sometimes singly and in
silence, and more often in groups.
The most startling thing about it is how there is … nothing
strange or starling about it, really: Our Blessed Lady seems to the pilgrims
I’ve observed to be a daily companion, familiar, even – their faith is as
comfortable as a sturdy old pair of walking shoes, and definitely simple –
simple as the Divine nature itself, which Mary carried in her womb, the
bottomless secrets of which she, and she alone, has contemplated with such
perfect intimacy.
Here, though, in this place, one hundred years ago, the sun
danced in the sky at the command of the Queen of Heaven, who had come to visit
simple shepherd children.
It is here that Pope Francis is coming as a pilgrim among
pilgrims – and here, we have a powerful interpretative key to the programme of
his Pontificate.
Time, and tie again, the Holy Father has encouraged popular
devotion – those ancient and venerable practices of piety that Catholics can’t
quite seem to quit, and everyone else doesn’t seem to “get” – and here, in
Fatima, he is coming to recall the attention of the world to the power of a
simple prayer.
“With Mary, I come as [a] pilgrim in hope and in peace,”
Pope Francis has said in the motto of this voyage, which he himself has
insisted is a pilgrimage.
He is, in other words, trusting the power of popular
devotion to move the faithful, and – who knows? – perhaps even move the world
once again from the brink of self-destruction.
He is also trusting the faithful to be powerful agents of
change in the world, precisely by means of the prayerful witness of faith,
which opens hearts to the work of charity.
In Fatima, awaiting Pope Francis, I’m, Chris Altieri
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét