|
Treasures of the Church- Shrines |
THE
SHRINE: Memory, Presence and Prophecy of the Living God
Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant People
Vatican City, May 8, 1999.
INTRODUCTION
1. The meaning and aim of the document
“All Christians are invited to become part of
the great pilgrimage that Christ, the Church and
mankind have made and must continue to make in
history. The shrine which is the goal of that
pilgrimage is to become ‘the Tent of Meeting’,
as the Bible calls the tabernacle of the
covenant.”(1) These words invite us to consider
the relationship between the notion of
pilgrimage(2) and that of the shrine, which is
usually the visible goal of the pilgrim’s
journey: “The term ‘shrine’ designates a church
or other sacred place to which the faithful make
pilgrimages for a particular religious reason,
with the approval of the local Ordinary.”(3) In
shrines, a meeting with the living God can take
place through the life-giving experience of the
Mystery which is proclaimed, celebrated and
lived: “At shrines, the means of salvation are
to be provided more abundantly to the faithful;
the word of God is to be carefully proclaimed;
liturgical life is to be appropriately fostered,
especially through the celebration of the
Eucharist and penance; and approved forms of
popular devotion are to be cultivated.”(4)
“Shrines are thus like milestones that guide the
journey of the children of God on earth;”(5)
they foster the experience of gathering and
encounter, and the building up of the ecclesial
community.
These characteristics apply in a unique way to
the shrines that have sprung up in the Holy
Land, in the places sanctified by the presence
of the Word Incarnate, and they can be seen
particularly in the places consecrated by the
martyrdom of the Apostles and all those who bore
witness to the faith by shedding their blood.
One can also find the entire history of the
pilgrim Church reflected in countless shrines,
“permanent witnesses of the Good News”,(6)
linked to the decisive events of the
evangelization or the faith-life of different
peoples and communities. Every shrine can be
seen as the bearer of a specific message, since
it vividly makes present today the foundational
event of the past which still speaks to the
heart of pilgrims. Marian shrines in particular
provide an authentic school of faith based on
Mary’s example and motherly intercession. Today
too, by their witness to the manifold richness
of God’s saving activity, all shrines are an
inestimable gift of grace to his Church.
A reflection on the nature and purpose of
shrines can thus be an effective aid in
receiving and living out the great gift of
reconciliation and new life that the Church
continually offers to all the disciples of the
Redeemer and, through them, to the whole human
family. This then is the underlying meaning and
aim of the present document; it wishes to
consider the flowering of the spiritual life
that takes place at shrines, the pastoral
activity of those who minister in them, and
their effects on the life of the local Churches.
The following reflection is only a modest aid
towards a greater appreciation of the service
that shrines render to the life of the Church.
2. Listening to God’s revelation
If reflection on shrines is to nourish faith and
prove fruitful for pastoral activity, it needs
to be rooted in an obedient listening to
revelation, which richly presents the message
and the power of salvation contained in the
“mystery of the Temple”.
In the language of the Bible, and especially of
Saint Paul, the term “mystery” refers to God’s
plan of salvation unfolding in human history.
When we contemplate the “mystery of the Temple”
in attentive listening to the Word of God, we
can glimpse, beyond the visible events of
history, the presence of the divine “glory” (cf.
Ps 29:9): the manifestation of the God who is
thrice-Holy (cf. Is 6:3), his presence in
dialogue with mankind (cf. 1 Kg 8:30-53), his
entry into time and space, his planting his
“tent” in our midst (cf. Jn 1:14). The outline
of a theology of the temple thus emerges, in the
light of which we can better understand the
significance of the shrine.
This theology is characterized by a growing
concentration upon certain focal points: in the
first place, the figure of the “cosmic temple”,
evoked for example by Psalm 19 with its the
image of the “two suns”, the sun of the Torah -
or of the revelation explicitly addressed to
Israel (vv. 7-14) - and the sun in the heavens
which “declare the glory of God” (vv. 1-6) in a
revelation that is silent yet universal,
effective and directed to all. Within this
temple the divine presence is everywhere felt
(cf. Ps 139) and a liturgy of ecstatic praise is
celebrated, as Psalm 148 makes clear, since
together with the creatures of heaven, it
mentions a universal “alleluia” intoned by 22
earthly creatures - as many as the letters of
the Hebrew alphabet - thus signifying the whole
of creation.
Then there is the temple of Jerusalem, where the
Ark of the Covenant was kept, the holy place par
excellence of the Jewish faith and the permanent
memorial of the God of history, who established
a covenant with His people and remains ever
faithful to it. The temple is the visible house
of the Eternal One (Ps 11:4), filled by the
cloud of His presence (cf. 1 Kg 8:10.13) and the
dwelling-place of His “glory” (cf. 1 Kg 8:11).
Finally, there is the new and definitive temple
which is the eternal Son, who came in the flesh
(cf. Jn 1:14), the Lord Jesus, crucified and
risen (cf. Jn 2:19-21), who makes of those who
believe in Him a temple built of living stones,
which is the pilgrim Church in time: “He is the
living stone, rejected by human beings but
chosen by God and precious to him; come to him
so that you, too, may be living stones making a
spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer
the spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet 2:4-5) By drawing
close to the One who is the “living stone”, we
construct the spiritual building of the new and
perfect covenant. We also prepare for the feast
of the Kingdom that is “not yet” fully realized,
thanks to our spiritual sacrifices (cf. Rom
12:1-2), which are pleasing to God precisely
because they are offered in Christ, through Him
and with Him, the Covenant in person. The Church
thus appears above all as “the holy temple,
visibly represented in the shrines of stone.”
(7)
3. The supporting arches
In the light of these scriptural testimonies, we
can come to a deeper understanding of the
“mystery of the Temple” in three ways, which
correspond to the three dimensions of time and
which serve as the supporting arches of a
theology of the shrine, namely, memory, presence
and prophecy of the God who is with us.
In relation to the unique and definitive past of
the event of our salvation, the shrine appears
as a memory of our origin with the Lord of
heaven and earth. In relation to the present of
the community of the redeemed, gathered in the
time between the first and the final coming of
the Lord, the shrine appears as a sign of the
divine Presence, the place of the covenant,
where the community of the covenant constantly
expresses and renews itself. In relation to the
future fulfillment of the promise of God, that
“not yet” which is the object of our greatest
hope, the shrine is set as a prophecy of God’s
tomorrow in the today of the present world.
Each of these three dimensions can inspire the
outlines of a pastoral plan for shrines, one
capable of translating into personal and
ecclesial life the symbolic meaning of the
temple, where the Christian community assembles,
called together by the Bishop and the priests
who are his co-workers.
I. THE SHRINE, A MEMORY OF ORIGINS
4. Memory of God’s work
A shrine is first of all a place of memory, the
memory of God’s powerful activity in history,
which is the origin of the People of the
Covenant and the faith of each believer.
The Patriarchs had already commemorated their
encounters with God by building an altar or a
memorial (cf. Gn 12:6-8; 13:18; 33:18-20), to
which they would return as a sign of fidelity
(cf. Gn 13:4; 46:1), and Jacob considered the
place where his vision took place as a
“dwelling-place of God” (cf. Gn 28:11-22). In
the Biblical tradition, the shrine is not merely
the work of human hands, filled with
cosmological or anthropological symbolism, but a
witness to God’s initiative in revealing himself
to human persons and making his covenant of
salvation with them. The deepest meaning of
every shrine is to serve as a reminder in faith
of the salvific work of the Lord.(8)
In a spiritual climate of adoration, invocation
and praise, Israel knew that it was her God who
freely desired the Temple, not human
presumption. An exemplary witness to this is the
splendid prayer of Solomon, born precisely of
his powerful awareness of the reality of the
temptation of idolatry: “Yet will God really
live with human beings on earth? Why, the
heavens, the highest of the heavens cannot
contain you. How much less this temple built by
me! Even so, listen favourably to the prayer and
entreaty of your servant, Lord, my God; listen
to the cry and to the prayer which your servant
makes to you today: day and night may your eyes
watch over this temple, over this place of which
you have said, ‘My name will be there.’ Listen
to the prayer which your servant offers in this
place.” (1 Kg 8:27-29)
The shrine, then, was not built because Israel
wanted to capture the presence of the Eternal,
but just the opposite, because the living God,
who entered history, who journeyed with his
people in the cloud by day and in the fire by
night (cf. Ex 13:21), wanted to give a sign of
his fidelity and his continual active presence
in the midst of His people. Thus the Temple
would not be a house built by human hands, but a
place that would proclaim the initiative of the
One who alone builds the house. This is the
simple yet grand truth expressed in the words
spoken to the prophet Nathan: “Go and tell my
servant David, ‘The Lord says this: Are you to
build me a temple for me to live in? ... The
Lord furthermore tells you that he will make of
you a dynasty. And when your days are over and
you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall
appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you
and I shall make his sovereignty secure. He will
build a temple for my name and I shall make his
royal throne secure forever. I shall be a father
to him and he a son to me.’” (2 Sam 7:5.11-14)
The shrine thus becomes a sort of living
memorial of the origin from on high of the
chosen and beloved People of the Covenant. It is
a permanent reminder of the fact that God’s
people is born not of flesh or blood (cf. Jn
1:13), but that the life of faith is born of the
wondrous initiative of God, who entered history
to unite us to himself and to change our hearts
and our lives. The shrine is the efficacious
memorial of God’s work, the visible sign
proclaiming to all generations how great is his
love and testifying that he first loved us (cf.
1 Jn 4:19) and wishes to be the Lord and Saviour
of His people. As Gregory of Nyssa said in
reference to the shrines of the Holy Land, in
every shrine one can recognize “traces of the
great goodness of the Lord for us”, “the
salvific signs of God who gave us life”,(9) “the
memories of the mercy of the Lord in our
regard”.(10)
5. An initiative “from above”
What the Temple of Jerusalem signified in the
Old Testament finds its highest fulfilment in
the New Testament, in the mission of the Son of
God. He himself becomes the new Temple, the
dwelling of the Eternal One among us, the
Covenant in person. The episode of the expulsion
of the vendors from the temple (cf. Mt 21:12-13)
declares that the sacred space, on the one hand,
has been extended to all peoples, as we see from
a detail of great symbolical value, namely, that
the veil of the temple was “torn in two from top
to bottom.” (Mk 15:38) On the other hand, the
sacred space is concentrated in the person of
the One who – victorious over death (cf. 2 Tim
1:10) - comes to be the sacrament of the
encounter with God for everyone.
To the religious leaders, Jesus said: “Destroy
this Temple, and in three days I will raise it
up.” Citing their reply – “It has taken
forty-six years to build this Temple: are you
going to raise it up again in three days?” –
John the Evangelist comments: “But he was
speaking of the Temple that was his body, and
when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples
remembered that he had said this, and they
believed the scripture and what he had said.” (Jn
2:19-22)
In the economy of the new Covenant too, the
Temple is the sign of the initiative of God’s
love in history: Christ, the one sent by the
Father, God made man for us, the eternal high
priest (cf. Heb 7), is the new Temple, the
awaited and promised Temple, the sanctuary of
the new and eternal Covenant (cf. Heb 8). Both
in the Old and in the New Testament, therefore,
the shrine is a living memorial of the origin,
of the initiative by which God loved us first (1
Jn 4:19).Whenever Israel looked at the Temple
with the eyes of faith, whenever Christians look
in the same way at Christ, the new Temple, and
at the shrines that, from the edict of
Constantine on, they have built as a sign of the
living Christ among us, they recognize in this
sign the initiative of the love of the living
God for mankind.(11)
The shrine thus testifies that God is greater
than our heart, that He has always loved us and
has given us His Son and the Holy Spirit because
He wants to dwell in us, making us his temple
and making our bodies the shrine of the Holy
Spirit. As St. Paul says: “Do you not realize
that you are a temple of God with the Spirit of
God living in you? If anybody should destroy the
temple of God, God will destroy that person,
because God’s temple is holy; and you are that
temple.” (1 Cor 3:16-17; cf. 6:19) “The temple
of God is what we are the temple of the living
God, as he himself has said: I shall fix my home
among them and live among them; I will be their
God and they will be my people. (2 Cor 6:16)
The shrine is the place where the love of God,
who has planted His tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14),
is constantly made present. Therefore, as St.
Augustine says, in the holy place “there is no
succession of days as if each day were to come
and then go. The beginning of one does not mark
the end of the other, because there all of them
will be present at one and the same time. The
life to which those days belong will know no
setting.”(12) Thus, in ever new ways, the shrine
resounds with the joyful proclamation that “God
loved us first and gave us the capacity to love
him... He did not love us in order to leave us
as ugly as we were, but to transform us and make
us beautiful... How shall we be beautiful? By
loving Him, who is ever beautiful. In the
measure that love grows in you, in the same
measure will your beauty grow; for charity is
truly the beauty of the soul.”(13) A shrine thus
constantly reminds us that new life is not born
“from below” by purely human initiative, and
that the Church is not simply a product of flesh
and blood (cf. Jn 1:13), but rather that the
life of the redeemed and the ecclesial communion
in which that life finds expression are born
“from above” (cf. Jn 3:3), from the gratuitous
and amazing initiative of trinitarian love that
is prior to all human love (cf. 1 Jn 4:9-10).
6. Awe and adoration
What are the consequences for our Christian life
of this first and fundamental message that the
shrine transmits, insofar as it is a memory of
our origin in the Lord?
We can speak of three fundamental approaches.
In the first place, the shrine reminds us that
the Church is born of God’s initiative, an
initiative that the piety of the faithful and
the public approval of the Church acknowledge in
the foundational event at the origin of every
shrine. Thus, in everything associated with the
shrine and in everything that finds expression
in it, we need to discern the presence of the
mystery, the activity of God in time, the
manifestation of his efficacious presence,
hidden under the signs of history. This
conviction is further expressed in the shrine
through the specific message connected with it,
whether in regard to the mysteries of the life
of Jesus Christ, in regard to one of the titles
of Mary, “who shines forth to the whole
community of the elect as a model of the
virtues,”(14) or in regard to the individual
Saints whose memory proclaims the “wonderful
works of Christ in his servants.”(15)
One approaches the mystery with an attitude of
awe and adoration, with a sense of wonder before
the gift of God; for this reason, one enters a
shrine with a spirit of adoration. Anyone who is
incapable of experiencing wonder at the work of
God, who does not perceive the newness of what
God brings about through his loving initiative,
will not be capable of perceiving the profound
significance and beauty of the mystery of the
Temple, which is disclosed in the shrine. The
proper respect shown to a holy place expresses
the awareness that, in seeing what God has done,
we need to respond not with a human logic, which
presumes to define everything on the basis of
what is seen and produced, but with an attitude
of veneration, filled with awe and a sense of
mystery.
Surely, an adequate preparation is needed for an
encounter with a shrine, so that we can perceive
beyond its visible, artistic and folkloric
aspects the gracious work of God evoked by
various signs, such as apparitions, miracles,
the foundational events that represent the real
first beginnings of every shrine as a place of
faith.
This preparation will take place, first of all,
during the stops in the journey that leads the
pilgrim to the shrine; such was the case for the
pilgrims to Zion who prepared themselves for the
great meeting with the Shrine of God by singing
the Psalms of Ascent (Pss 120-134), which are a
true liturgical catechesis on the conditions,
nature and effects of an encounter with the
mystery of the Temple.
The topographical arrangement of the shrine and
its individual areas, the respectful behaviour
that is required of every ordinary visitor, the
attentive hearing of the word of God, prayer and
the celebration of the sacraments will prove of
immense help in enabling people to understand
the spiritual significance of their experience
there. All these actions together can express
the spirit of welcome radiated by the shrine,
which is open to everyone and, in particular, to
the many people who in the loneliness of a
secularized and desacralized world perceive deep
in their hearts a yearning for and an attraction
to holiness.(16)
7. Thanksgiving
In the second place, a shrine recalls God’s
initiative and makes us understand that that
initiative, the fruit of a pure gift, must be
received in the spirit of thanksgiving.
One enters a shrine above all to give thanks,
conscious that God loved us even before we were
capable of loving him; to express our praise of
the Lord for his marvellous works (cf. Ps 136);
to ask his forgiveness for the sins we have
committed; and to implore the gift of fidelity
in our life as believers and the help needed as
we make our earthly pilgrimage.
In this sense, shrines represent an
extraordinary school of prayer, where the
persevering and trusting attitude of the humble
testifies in a special way to their faith in the
Lord’s promise: “Ask and it shall be given to
you.” (Mt 7:7)(17)
To recognize the shrine as a memory of God’s
initiative is thus to learn the art of
thanksgiving, to foster in our hearts a spirit
of reconciliation, contemplation and peace. A
shrine reminds us that joy in life is first of
all the effect of the presence of the Holy
Spirit who also awakens in us the praise of God.
The more we are enabled to praise the Lord and
make our life a continuous act of thanksgiving
to the Father (cf. Rom 12:1) in union with the
one and perfect thanksgiving of Christ the
Priest, in particular through the celebration of
the Eucharist, the more will we welcome God’s
gift within us and allow it to bear fruit.
From this standpoint, the Virgin Mary is “a most
excellent model”.(18) In the spirit of
thanksgiving, she let herself be overshadowed by
the Spirit (cf. Lk 1,35), so that in her the
Word of God might be conceived and given to
mankind. In gazing upon her, we understand that
a shrine is a place where the gift from on high
is welcomed, the dwelling in which, even as we
give thanks, we allow ourselves to be loved by
the Lord, following his example and with his
help.
Shrines thus remind us that where there is no
gratitude, the gift is lost; where man does not
give thanks to the God who each day, even in the
hour of trial, loves him ever anew, the gift
remains ineffective.
Shrines testify that the vocation of life is not
dissipation, frivolity or escape, but praise,
peace and joy. A profound understanding of the
meaning of a shrine can help us to experience
the contemplative dimensions of life, not only
inside the shrine itself but everywhere. And
since the Sunday Eucharistic celebration is the
culmination and source of the whole Christian
life, lived as a response of gratitude and
self-oblation to the gift from on high, a shrine
invites us in a most particular way to
rediscover Sunday, “the day of the Lord” and
“lord of the days”,(19) the “primordial feast”,
“which is meant not only to mark the passage of
time, but to reveal its profound meaning”,
namely, the glory of God who is all in all.(20)
8. Sharing and commitment
In the third place, as a memory of our origin,
the shrine shows that this sense of awe and
thanksgiving should never be separated from
sharing with others and a commitment to others.
The shrine calls to mind the gift of a God who
has loved us so much that he pitched his tent
among us to bring us salvation, to be our
companion in life, one with us in our suffering
and in our joy. The founding events of the
various shrines also bear witness to this divine
solidarity. If God so loved us, so too must we
love others (cf. Jn 4,12), so that we may be the
temple of God by our lives. A shrine is an
impetus to solidarity, impelling us to be
“living stones” that support one another in the
edifice built on the cornerstone which is Christ
(1 Pet 2:4-5).
It would be fruitless to experience the “time of
the shrine” if this does not then draw us to the
“time of the road”, the “time of the mission”,
and the “time of service”, wherever God
manifests himself as love for the weakest and
poorest creatures.
The words of Jeremiah, echoed in the teaching of
Jesus, remind us that a temple, without faith
and without a commitment to justice, is reduced
to a “den of thieves” (cf. Jer 7:11; Mt 21:13).
The shrines mentioned by Amos are meaningless
unless the Lord is truly sought in them. Liturgy
without a life rooted in justice becomes a farce
(cf. Is 1:10-20; Am 5:21-25; Hos 6:6). The words
of the prophets call the shrine back to its
original inspiration, stripping it of empty
“sacralism” and idolatry, and making it a seed
which bears the fruit of faith and justice in
time and space. Then indeed the shrine, as the
memory of our origin in the Lord, becomes a
continuous call to the love of God and to the
sharing of gifts received. A visit to the shrine
will show its effects above all in a commitment
to charitable activities, in work for the
advancement of human dignity, justice and peace,
values to which the faithful will feel
themselves called anew.
II. THE SHRINE, A PLACE OF GOD’S PRESENCE
9. A place of the Covenant
The mystery of the shrine does not only call to
mind our origin in the Lord; it also reminds us
that once God has loved us, he never ceases to
love us. In the specific moment of history in
which we find ourselves today, faced with all
the contradictions and the sufferings of the
present, he is with us. The Old and the New
Testaments bear unanimous witness that the
Temple is not only a place where the saving past
is remembered, but also one where grace is even
now experienced. A shrine is a sign of God’s
Presence, a place where men’s covenant with the
Eternal One and with one another is constantly
renewed. In journeying to the shrine, the pious
Israelite discovered anew God’s covenant
fidelity to each “today” of history(21).
As they gaze upon the Lord, the new temple whose
living presence in the Spirit is evoked by every
church building, Christ’s followers know that
God is always living and present among them and
for them. The temple is the holy dwelling of the
Ark of the Covenant, the place where the
covenant with the living God is constantly
renewed and the people of God become aware that
they are a community of believers, “a chosen
race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” (1
Pet 2:9) As Saint Paul reminds us: “you are no
longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are
fellow citizens with the holy people of God and
part of God’s household. You are built upon the
foundations of the apostles and prophets, and
Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. Every
structure knit together in him grows into a holy
temple in the Lord; and you, too, in him, are
being built up into a dwelling place of God in
the Spirit.” (Eph 2:19-22) By dwelling among his
people and in their hearts, God himself makes
them a living shrine. A shrine built of “dead
stones” evokes the One who makes us a shrine of
“living stones”.(22)
A shrine is a place of the Spirit because it is
a place where God’s fidelity reaches out and
transforms us. People go to a shrine first of
all to call upon and to receive the Holy Spirit,
in order then to bring this Spirit to all the
activities of their lives. In this sense, a
shrine appears as a constant reminder of the
living presence of the Holy Spirit in the
Church, bestowed upon us by the Risen Christ
(cf. Jn 20:22) to the glory of the Father. A
shrine is a visible invitation to drink from the
invisible spring of living water (cf. Jn 4:14);
an invitation which can always be experienced
anew, in order to live in fidelity to the
covenant with the Eternal One in the Church.
10. A place of the Word
The expression “communion of saints”, found in
the section of the Creed which describes the
work of the Holy Spirit, can be seen as a rich
evocation of one aspect of the mystery of the
Church on her pilgrimage through history. By
filling the members of Christ’s Body, the Holy
Spirit makes the Church the living temple of the
Lord, as the Second Vatican Council recalled:
“The Church has often been called the building
of God (cf. 1 Cor 3:9)... This building has many
names: the house of God (cf. Tim 3:15) in which
his family dwells; the household of God in the
Spirit (cf. Eph 2:19-22); the dwelling place of
God among men (Rev 21:3); and, especially the
holy temple. This temple, symbolized by places
of worship built of stone, is praised by the
holy Fathers and, not without reason, is
compared in the Liturgy to the Holy City, the
New Jerusalem. As living stones we here on earth
are being built up along with this City (cf. 1
Pt 2:5).”(23)
In this holy temple of the Church, the Spirit
acts especially through the signs of the new
covenant that shrines possess and make
available. One of these is the Word of God. The
shrine is the place of the Word par excellence,
in which the Spirit calls us to faith and brings
about the “communion of the faithful”. It is
extremely important that a shrine be associated
with the persistent and receptive hearing of the
Word of God, which is no mere human word, but
the living God himself present in his Word. The
shrine, in which the Word of God resounds, is a
place of covenant, where God reminds his people
of his faithfulness, in order to shed light on
their journey and to offer them consolation and
strength.
A shrine can become an excellent place for
deepening one’s faith, in a special setting and
at a favourable time, apart from the ordinary.
It can offer possibilities for a new
evangelization, help to foster a popular piety
that is “rich in values”,(24) bringing it to a
more exact and mature consciousness of
faith(25), and it can facilitate the process of
inculturation.(26)
Each shrine needs to develop “a suitable
catechesis”(27) which, “while it is to take into
account the events that are celebrated in the
places to be visited and their peculiar nature,
should not overlook either the necessary
hierarchy in expounding the truths of the faith
or its proper place within the liturgical
itinerary in which the whole Church
participates.”(28)
In this pastoral service of evangelization and
catechesis, emphasis should be placed on the
specific aspects linked to the memory of each
particular shrine, to its own particular
message, to the “charism” entrusted to it by the
Lord and recognized by the Church, and to the
heritage of traditions and customs, frequently
very rich, that have taken root there.
In the same context of service to
evangelization, cultural and artistic
initiatives can be sponsored, such as
congresses, seminars, exhibitions, reviews,
competitions and gatherings on religious themes.
“In the past, our shrines were filled with
religious mosaics, paintings, and sculptures, to
teach the faith. Shall we have enough spiritual
strength and genius to create ‘moving images’,
of great quality, and adapted to the culture of
today? It is a question not only of the first
proclamation of the faith in a world that is
often very secularized, or of catechesis to
deepen this faith, but it is a question of the
inculturation of the Gospel Message at the level
of each people, of each cultural tradition.”
(29)
To this end, a shrine needs the presence of
pastoral workers capable of helping people to
enter into dialogue with God and to contemplate
the immense mystery that enfolds and attracts
us. The significance of the ministry of the
priests, religious and communities in charge of
shrines must be stressed,(30) and consequently
the urgent need for them to receive proper
training for the service they are called to
provide. At the same time, encouragement should
be given to lay people trained to carry out the
work of catechesis and evangelization associated
with the life of the shrine. In this way shrines
too will express the wealth of charisms and
ministries that the Holy Spirit awakens in the
Lord’s Church and pilgrims will benefit from the
varied witness given by the different pastoral
workers.
11. A place of sacramental encounter
Shrines, as places in which the Spirit speaks
also through the specific message which the
Church recognizes as associated with each
shrine, are also privileged places for the
celebration of the sacraments. This is
especially true for the Sacraments of
Reconciliation and the Eucharist, in which the
Word is most powerfully present and at work. The
sacraments bring about an encounter of the
living with the One who constantly preserves
them in life and grants them ever new life in
the consoling power of the Holy Spirit. They are
not rote rituals, but events of salvation,
personal encounters with the living God who in
the Spirit goes forth to meet all those who come
to him hungering and thirsting for his truth and
peace. When a sacrament is celebrated in the
shrine, therefore, it is not that something “is
done”, but rather that someone is encountered.
Indeed, that someone is Christ, who becomes
present in the grace of the Spirit in order to
give himself to us and to change our life,
incorporating us ever more fruitfully into the
community of the covenant, the Church.
As a place of encounter with the Lord of life,
the shrine as such is a clear sign of the
presence of God at work in the midst of his
people, for there, through his Word and the
sacraments, he gives himself to us. Pilgrims
thus approach a shrine as the Temple of the
living God, the place of the living covenant
with Him, so that the grace of the sacraments
may liberate them from sin and grant them the
strength to begin again with a new freshness and
new joy in their hearts, and thus to become, in
the midst of the world, transparent witnesses of
the Eternal.
Pilgrims often come to shrines particularly
well-disposed to seek the grace of forgiveness;
they should be helped to open themselves to the
Father “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4),(31) in truth
and in freedom, consciously and responsibly, so
that their encounter with his grace will give
rise to a truly new life. A fitting community
penance service could lead to a richer
experience of the individual celebration of the
sacrament of Reconciliation, which “is the means
to satisfy man with the righteousness that comes
from the Redeemer himself.”(32) The places where
this celebration takes place should be
appropriately arranged to foster a spirit of
recollection.(33)
Since “pardon, freely granted by God, implies in
consequence a real change of life, a gradual
elimination of evil within, and a renewal in our
way of living,” the pastoral staff of shrines
should support the pilgrims’ perseverance in the
fruits of the Spirit in every possible way. They
should also be especially attentive to make
available that expression of the “total gift of
the mercy of God” which is the indulgence.
Through indulgences, “the repentant sinner
receives a remission of the temporal punishment
due for the sins already forgiven as regards the
fault.”(34) In the profound experience of the
“communion of saints” that the pilgrim has in
the shrine, it will be easier for him to
understand “how much each of us can help others
– living or dead – to become ever more
intimately united with the Father in
heaven.”(35)
As for the celebration of the Eucharist, it
should be kept in mind that it is the center and
the heart of the whole life of the shrine, an
event of grace which “contains the Church’s
entire spiritual wealth.”(36) For this reason,
it is appropriate that the unity that flows from
the sacrament of the Eucharist should be
manifested in a special way, by gathering
together in one celebration the different groups
of visitors. In the same way, the Eucharistic
presence of the Lord Jesus should be adored not
only by individuals, but also by all pilgrim
groups, making use of special pious exercises
prepared with great care, as in fact happens in
many shrines, based on the conviction that the
“Eucharist contains and expresses all the forms
of prayer.”(37)
Above all, the celebration of the sacraments of
Reconciliation and the Eucharist gives shrines a
particular dignity: “Shrines should not be
considered marginal or less important, but
rather essential places, places where people go
to obtain Grace, even before they obtain
graces.”(38)
12. A place of ecclesial communion
Given new birth by the Word and the sacraments,
those who have come to the shrine of “dead
stones” become a shrine of “living stones” and
are thus capable of having a renewed experience
of that communion in faith and holiness that is
the Church. In this sense, we can say that a
shrine is the place where the Church of people
alive in the living God can be reborn. There,
each individual can rediscover the gift that the
creativity of the Spirit has given to him or her
for the benefit of all. In the shrine too,
everyone can discern and develop his or her own
vocation and become open to living it out in
service to others, especially in the parish
community, where human differences come together
and are articulated in ecclesial communion.(39)
For this reason, careful attention should to be
paid to the pastoral care of vocations and of
the family, itself the “privileged place and
shrine where the great and intimate events in
the history of each unique human being are lived
out.”(40)
Communion with the Holy Spirit, brought about
through communion with the sacred realities of
the Word and the sacraments, gives birth to the
communion of saints, God’s People, made such by
the Holy Spirit. In a particular way, the Virgin
Mary, “model of the Church in the order of
faith, charity and perfect union with
Christ”,(41) venerated in so many shrines,(42)
helps the faithful to understand and accept the
working of the Holy Spirit that brings about the
communion of saints in Christ.
The intense experience of the Church’s unity
which shrines provide can also help pilgrims to
discern and welcome the promptings of the Spirit
that lead them in a special way to pray and work
for the unity of all Christians.(43) Shrines can
be places where ecumenical commitment is
strongly promoted, since there the change of
heart and holiness of life that are “the soul of
the whole ecumenical movement”(44) is fostered
and the grace of unity given by the Lord is
experienced. In the shrine too, a practical
“sharing in spiritual activities and resources”
can occur, especially through common prayer and
in use of sacred places,(45) which greatly
promotes the path of unity when the criteria
laid down by Church authorities are fully
respected.
This experience of Church must be particularly
fostered through the fitting welcome given to
pilgrims to the shrine. This should take into
consideration the specific characteristics of
each group and each individual, the yearnings of
their hearts and their authentic spiritual
needs.
In the shrine, we learn to open our heart to
everyone, in particular to those who are
different from us: the guest, the stranger, the
immigrant, the refugee, those of other
religions, non-believers. In this way the shrine
does not only exist as the setting for an
experience of Church, but also becomes a
gathering-place open to all humanity.
Indeed, it should be realized that on numerous
occasions, due to historical and cultural
traditions and to greater ease of travel, the
Christian faithful are joined in their
pilgrimages to shrines both by members of other
Churches and ecclesial Communities and by the
followers of other religions. A certainty that
the plan of salvation embraces them too,(46) a
recognition of their oftentimes exemplary
fidelity to their own religious convictions,(47)
and a common experience of the same historical
events open new horizons and show the urgency of
ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue. Shrines
can enable this to be carried on in the presence
of the holy Mystery of God, who welcomes
everyone.(48) At the same time, it must be kept
in mind that shrines are meeting-places for an
encounter with Christ through the Word and the
sacraments. Consequently there is need for
constant vigilance against all possible forms of
syncretism. Shrines are likewise meant to be a
sign of contradiction with regard to
pseudo-spiritualistic movements, such as the New
Age movement. Rather than a generic religious
sentiment based exclusively on the heightened
use of natural human faculties, shrines strongly
insist on the primacy of God and the need to be
open to his saving work in Christ for true human
fulfilment.
III. THE SHRINE, A PROPHECY OF THE HEAVENLY
HOMELAND
13. A sign of hope
The shrine, as a memory of our origin in the
Lord and a sign of the divine presence, is also
a prophecy of our ultimate and definitive
homeland: the Kingdom of God, which will come
about when, according to his promise: “I shall
set my shrine in their midst forever.” (Ez
37:26)
As a sign, the shrine does not only remind us
whence we come and who we are, but also opens
our eyes to discern where we are going, the goal
of our pilgrimage in life and history. The
shrine, a work of human hands, points beyond
itself to the heavenly Jerusalem, our Mother,
the city coming down from God, all adorned as a
bride (cf. Rev 21:2), the perfect eschatological
shrine where the glorious divine presence is
directly and personally experienced: “I could
not see any temple in the city, for the Lord
Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the
temple.” (Rev 21:22) In that city and temple
there will be no more tears, no more sadness, or
suffering, or death (cf. Rev 21:4).
The shrine thus appears as a prophetic sign of
hope, an appeal to a broader horizon which
discloses the promise that does not disappoint.
Amid life’s difficulties, the shrine, an edifice
of stone, points to the homeland glimpsed from
afar but not yet attained, anticipation of
which, in faith and hope, sustains Christ’s
disciples on their pilgrim way. It is
significant that after the great trials of the
Exile, the Chosen People felt the need to
express a sign of their hope by rebuilding the
Temple, the shrine of adoration and praise.
Israel made every possible sacrifice to restore
this sign to her eyes and heart, not only
because it would remind her of the love of God
who chose her and lived in her midst, but also
because it would evoke a yearning for the
ultimate goal of the promise towards which God’s
pilgrims travel in every age. The eschatological
event on which the faith of Christians is
founded is the rebuilding of the temple which is
the body of the Crucified One, brought about by
his glorious resurrection, the pledge of our
hope (cf. 1 Cor 15:12-28).
A living icon of this hope is first and foremost
the presence in shrines of the sick and the
suffering.(49) Meditation on God’s saving work
helps them understand that through their
sufferings they are sharing in a privileged way
in the healing power of the redemption
accomplished by Christ(50) and proclaiming
before the world the victory of the Risen One.
Together with them, all those who accompany and
assist them with active charity are witnesses of
the hope of the Kingdom inaugurated by the Lord
Jesus, starting precisely with the poor and the
suffering: “Go back and tell John what you have
seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame
walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised to life, the good news is
proclaimed to the poor.” (Lk 7:22)
14. An invitation to joy
The hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rm 5:5)
fills our hearts with joy (cf. ibid., 15:13). In
shrines, the People of God learns to be the
“Church of joy”. All who have entered the
mystery of the shrine know that God is already
at work in our human world which even now,
despite the darkness of the present time, is the
dawn of the time to come, that the Kingdom of
God is even now present among us and so our
hearts can already be full of joy, trust and
hope, in spite of the pain, death, tears and
blood that cover the face of the earth.
Psalm 122, one of the Psalms sung by the
pilgrims journeying towards the Temple, says: “I
rejoiced that they said to me, ‘Let us go to the
house of the Lord.’ ” This witness echoes the
sentiments of all those who go to shrines, and
above all the joy of meeting their brothers and
sisters (cf. Ps 133:1).
In shrines, we celebrate the “joy of
forgiveness” that impels us to “celebrate and
rejoice” (Lk 15:32), since “there is rejoicing
among the angels of God over even a single
repentant sinner” (Lk 15:10). There, gathered
around the one table of the Word and the
Eucharist, we experience the “joy of communion”
with Christ that Zaccheus experienced when he
welcomed the Lord into his home “with joy” (Lk
19:6). This indeed is the “perfect joy” (Jn
15:11) that no one can ever take away (cf. Jn
16:23), treasured in a faithful heart which has
itself become a living temple of the Eternal
One, a shrine of flesh for the worship of God in
spirit and truth. Together with the Psalmist,
each pilgrim is invited to say: “I shall go to
the altar of God, to the God of my joy. I will
rejoice and praise you on the harp, O God, my
God.” (Ps 43:4)
15. A call to conversion and renewal
As a sign, the shrine gives witness that we are
not made to live and die, but to live and
triumph over death through the victory of
Christ. As a consequence, the community
celebrating its God in the shrine remembers that
it is a pilgrim Church journeying towards the
Promised Land in a state of constant conversion
and renewal. The shrine at hand is not the last
step of the journey. Tasting the love of God
there, the faithful realize that they have not
reached their final destination. Instead they
sense a more powerful yearning for the heavenly
Jerusalem, the desire for heaven. Thus, shrines
make us acknowledge both the holiness of those
to whom they are dedicated and our condition as
sinners who need to begin anew each day the
pilgrimage towards God’s grace. They make us
realize that the Church “is at once holy and
ever in need of being purified,”(51) since its
members are sinners.
The Word of God helps us to keep this tension
alive, especially in the prophetic criticism of
shrines which have become places of empty
ritual: “Who has asked you to trample through my
courts? Bring no more futile cereal offerings,
the smoke from them fills me with disgust. New
moons, Sabbaths, assemblies – I cannot endure
solemnity combined with guilt... Cease doing
evil. Learn to do good, search for justice,
discipline the violent, be just to the orphan,
plead for the widow. (Is 1:12-17) Sacrifice
pleasing to God is a broken, contrite heart (cf.
Ps 51:17). As Jesus affirmed: It is not anyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the
kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the
will of my Father in heaven.” (Mt 7:21)
The need for continuous conversion is
inseparable from the proclamation of the goal to
which theological hope is directed. Every time
the community of the faithful gathers together
in the shrine, it does so to remind itself of
that other shrine, the future city, the dwelling
of God, which we wish to begin building already
in this world and which we cannot help but
desire, filled with hope, conscious of our
limitations, striving to prepare as best we can
the coming of the Kingdom. The mystery of the
shrine thus reminds the pilgrim Church on earth
of her contingency, of the fact that she is
directed to a greater goal, the future homeland,
that fills the heart with hope and peace. This
stimulus to constant conversion in hope, this
witness of the primacy of God’s Kingdom, of
which the Church is the beginning and the
first-fruits, must be particularly encouraged in
the pastoral care which is provided in the
shrine, for the growth of the community and of
individual believers.
16. Symbol of the new heavens and the new
earth
The shrine takes on a prophetic significance,
because it is a sign of that greater hope that
points to the final and definitive destination,
where each individual will be fully human,
respected and fulfilled according to the
righteousness of God. For this reason, the
shrine becomes a constant call to critique the
myopia of all human projects that would impose
themselves as absolutes. It can therefore be
considered a protest against every worldly
presumption, against every political
dictatorship, against every ideology that claims
to say everything there is to be said about man,
since it reminds us that there is another
dimension, the Kingdom of God, that is yet to
come in its fullness. In the shrine, the
Magnificat is constantly echoed. There the
Church “sees uprooted that sin which is found at
the early history of man and woman, the sin of
disbelief and of ‘little faith’ in God;” there,
“Mary boldly proclaims the undimmed truth about
God: the holy and almighty God, who from the
beginning is the source of all gifts, he who
‘has done great things in her’.”(52)
Shrines bear witness to the eschatological
dimension of the Christian faith, the tension
experienced as it moves towards the fullness of
the Kingdom. This is the foundation and source
of the moral and political vocation of the
faithful to offer, in history, a critical
reading of human projects in the light of the
Gospel, one that reminds men and women of their
higher destiny, prevents them from being
impoverished by the myopia of materialism and
obliges them to serve unceasingly as the leaven
(cf. Mt 13:33) of a more just and more humane
society.
Precisely because they are reminders of another
dimension, that of the “new heavens and the new
earth” (Rev 21:1), shrines stimulate us to live
as a critical and prophetic ferment in these
present heavens and in this present earth and
they renew the vocation of Christians to live in
the world, while not being of the world (cf. Jn
17:16). This vocation is a rejection of the
ideological exploitation of any sign whatsoever,
in order to be a stimulating presence at the
service of the edification of the whole person
in each person, according to the will of the
Lord.
In this light, we can understand how a
thoughtful plan of pastoral action can make
shrines places of education in ethical values,
particularly justice, solidarity, peace and the
protection of creation, and thus contribute to
the growth of quality of life for everyone.
CONCLUSION
17. A convergence of efforts
Shrines are not only human achievements, but
also visible signs of the presence of the
invisible God. For this reason, they call for an
appropriate convergence of human efforts and a
proper awareness of the roles and
responsibilities of those concerned with the
pastoral care which they provide, precisely to
bring about a full recognition and a fruitful
reception of the gift that the Lord gives to his
people through each shrine.
Shrines offer a valuable service to the
individual particular Churches, above all by
making available the proclamation of the Word of
God and the celebration of the sacraments of
Reconciliation and the Eucharist.(53) This
service expresses and strengthens the historical
and spiritual bonds linking shrines with the
Churches in whose heart they were born. It
demands that the pastoral action carried out by
the shrine should be fully incorporated into
that of the Bishops, with particular concern for
what pertains particularly to the “charism” of
the place and the spiritual benefit of the
faithful who go there on pilgrimage.
Under the guidance of the individual Bishops or
of the whole Episcopal Conference, depending on
each case, the specific pastoral identity and
organizational structure of shrines should be
defined in their proper statutes.(54) The
sharing of shrines in the diocesan plan of
pastoral care requires that arrangements be made
for the specific preparation of the persons and
the communities to which each shrine is
entrusted.
It is equally important for cooperation and
forms of association between shrines to be
encouraged, especially among those in the same
geographical and cultural area, as well as the
coordination of their pastoral activity with the
pastoral care of tourists and human mobility in
general. The remarkable growth of such
initiatives – from international congresses to
continental and national meetings(55) - calls
attention to the increasing numbers of people
visiting shrines. It is also a reminder of
pressing new needs and has given rise to new
pastoral responses to the changing challenges of
places and time.
The “mystery of the temple” thus offers a wealth
of possibilities for meditation and fruitful
activity. As a memory of our origin, the shrine
calls to mind God’s initiative and helps
pilgrims to recognize it with a sense of awe,
gratitude and commitment. As a place of the
divine presence, it bear witness to God’s
faithfulness and his constant activity in the
midst of His people, through his Word and the
sacraments. As a prophecy, or a reminder of our
heavenly homeland, it makes us remember that
everything is not finished, but must yet be
accomplished fully in accordance with God’s
promise which is our goal. Precisely by showing
the relativity of everything penultimate in
regard to our ultimate homeland, shrines point
to Christ as the new Temple of mankind
reconciled with God.
Keeping in mind these three theological
dimensions of the shrine, the pastoral care
provided in shrines should be concerned to
foster a constant renewal of the spiritual life
and of commitment to the Church, in an intense
and critical vigilance towards all cultures and
human achievements, yet also in a spirit of
cooperation, open to the demands of ecumenical
and interreligious dialogue.
18. Mary, the living shrine
The Virgin Mary is the living shrine of the Word
of God, the Ark of the New and Eternal Covenant.
In fact, Saint Luke’s account of the
Annunciation of the angel to Mary nicely
incorporates the images of the tent of meeting
with God in Sinai and of the Temple of Zion.
Just as the cloud covered the people of God
marching in the desert (cf. Nm 10:34; Dt 33:12;
Ps 91:4) and just as the same cloud, as a sign
of the divine mystery present in the midst of
Israel, hovered over the Ark of the Covenant
(cf. Ex 40:35), so now the shadow of the Most
High envelops and penetrates the tabernacle of
the new covenant that is the womb of Mary (cf.
Lk 1:35).
Indeed, Luke the evangelist subtly links the
words of the angel to the song that the prophet
Zephaniah raises to the presence of God in Zion.
To Mary, the angel says: Rejoice, you who are
filled with Gods grace! The Lord is with you¼
Mary, do not be afraid... You are to conceive in
your womb and bear a son... (Lk 1:28-31). To
Zion, the prophet says: Rejoice, exult with all
your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! ... The Lord
is king among you, Israel, you have nothing more
to fear... Zion, have no fear... the Lord your
God is there with you, the warrior-Saviour.” (Zeph
3:14-17) In the “womb” (be qereb) of the
daughter of Zion, symbol of Jerusalem, site of
the temple, the presence of God with his people
is made manifest. In the womb of the new
daughter of Zion, the Lord establishes his
perfect temple in order to have full communion
with mankind through his Son, Jesus Christ.
This theme is reasserted in the scene of Mary’s
visit to Elizabeth. The question that the latter
addresses to the future mother of Jesus is
significant: “Why should I be honoured with a
visit from the mother of my Lord?” (Lk 1:43).
Her words evoke those of David before the Ark of
the Lord: “How can the ark of Yahweh come to be
with me?” (2 Sam 6:9). Mary is thus the new Ark
of the Lord’s presence. In passing we may note
that here the title Kyrios, “Lord”, applied to
Christ, appears for the first time in the Gospel
of Luke. This is the title that translated the
sacred name YHWH in the Greek Bible. Just as the
ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom
for three months, filling it with blessings (cf.
2 Sam 6:11), so too Mary, the living Ark of God,
remained three months in the house of Elizabeth
with her sanctifying presence (cf. Lk 1:56).
Here the statement of St. Ambrose is
instructive: “Mary was the temple of God, not
the God of the temple; hence only he who was at
work in the temple is to be adored.”(56) For
this reason, “the Church, throughout her life,
maintains with the Mother of God a link which
embraces, in the saving mystery, the past, the
present and the future, and venerates her as the
spiritual mother of humanity and the advocate of
grace,”(57) as is shown by the presence of
numerous Marian shrines all over the world,(58)
which constitute an authentic “missionary
Magnificat”.(59)
In the many Marian shrines, the Holy Father
states, “not only individuals or local groups,
but sometimes whole nations and societies, even
whole continents, seek to meet the Mother of the
Lord, the one who is blessed because she
believed, is the first among believers and
therefore became the Mother of Emmanuel. This is
the message of the Land of Palestine, the
spiritual homeland of all Christians because it
was the homeland of the Saviour of the world and
of his Mother. This is the message of the many
churches in Rome and throughout the world which
have been raised up in the course of the
centuries by the faith of Christians. This is
the message of centers like Guadalupe, Lourdes,
Fatima and the others situated in the various
countries. Among them how could I fail to
mention the one in my own native land, Jasna
Gora? One could perhaps speak of a specific
‘geography’ of faith and Marian devotion, which
includes all these special places of pilgrimage
where the People of God seek to meet the Mother
of God in order to find, within the radius of
the maternal presence of her ‘who believed’, a
strengthening of their own faith.”(60)
To this end, those who are responsible for the
pastoral care of shrines should be ever
attentive that the various expressions of Marian
piety are integrated into the liturgical life
which is the center and the very meaning of the
shrine.
In approaching Mary, pilgrims should feel
themselves called to experience that “paschal
dimension”(61) which gradually transforms their
life through the hearing of the Word, the
celebration of the sacraments and a commitment
on behalf of their brothers and sisters.
From the encounter of communities and
individuals with Mary, “Star of
evangelization”,(62) pilgrims, like the Apostles
before them, will be impelled to proclaim by
word and by witness of life “the mighty works of
God.” (Acts 2:11)
Vatican City, 8 May 1999.
† Archbishop Stephen Fumio Hamao
President
† Archbishop Francesco Gioia
Secretary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of
Migrants and Itinerant People, Pilgrimage in the
Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 (11 April 1998),
32; the text refers to Ex 27:21;
29:4.10-11.30.32.42.44.
(2) Cf. ibid.; Document of the Italian Episcopal
Conference «Venite, saliamo sul monte del
Signore» (Is 2,3). Il pellegrinaggio alle soglie
del terzo millennio (29 June 1998).
(3) Code of Canon Law, can. 1230.
(4) Ibid.. can. 1234, §1.
(5) Pope John Paul II, Homily in Corrientes,
Argentina (9 April 1987).
(6) Pope John Paul II, Angelus (12 July 1992).
(7) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium, 6.
(8) The various shrines of ancient Israel (Shechem,
Bethel, Beersheba, Shiloh) are all linked to the
stories of the Patriarchs and are memorials of
the encounter with the living God.
(9) Epist. 3,1: Sources Chrétiennes 363,124.
(10) Ibid., 3,2: SCh 363, 126.
(11) In shrines, it is possible «to enkindle the
fire of divine love in every home», as Theodoret
of Cyr observes with regard to the Church built
in honor of St. Thecla (Historia Religiosa 29,7:
SCh 257, 239).
(12) St. Augustine, Letter to Proba,
130,8,15.
(13) St. Augustine, Commentary on the Letter
of John, IX,9.
(14) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium, 65.
(15) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Constitution. Sacrosanctum Concilium,
111.
(16) Cf. Pope John Paul II, Homily at the Shrine
of Belém, Brazil (8 July 1980).
(17) The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes
that «for pilgrims who are in search of their
own living springs, shrines are exceptional
places where the various forms of Christian
prayer may be lived ‘as Church’ » (2691) .
(18) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium, 54 and 65.
(19) Pseudo-Eusebius of Alexandra, Sermons 16:
PG 86, 416.
(20) Pope John Paul II writes in his Apostolic
Letter Dies Domini (31 May 1998), «There is also
a rediscovery of ancient religious practices,
such as pilgrimages; and often the faithful take
advantage of Sunday rest to visit a shrine
where, with the whole family perhaps, they can
spend time in a more intense experience of
faith. These are moments of grace which must be
fostered through evangelization and guided by
genuine pastoral wisdom» (52).
(21) One thinks again of the Songs of Ascent to
the temple of Jerusalem and of the image of God,
the guardian of Israel, that they present (cf.
esp. Pss 121 and 127).
(22) Gregory of Nyssa writes: «Wherever you are,
God will come to you, if the dwelling in your
soul is found to be such that the Lord can dwell
in you» (Epistula 2,16: SCh 363, 121).
(23) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium, 6.
(24) POPE PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975), 48.
(25) Cf. POPE JOHN PAUL II Homily at the Shrine
of Zapopán, Mexico (30 January 1979).
(26) Cf. INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION,
Doc. Fides et Inculturatio (1987), III,
2-7.
(27) PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE PASTORAL CARE
FOR MIGRANTS AND ITINERANT PEOPLE, Walk towards
the Splendour of God. Your God Walks with You.
Proceedings of the First World Congress on the
Pastoral Care of Shrines and Pilgrimages (Rome
26-29 February 1992), Final Document, 8, p. 216.
(28) Pilgrimage in the Great Jubilee of the Year
2000, 34.
(29) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message for the Fiftieth
Anniversary of the International Catholic
Organization for Cinema (31 October 1978).
(30) Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4.
(31) Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Dives in Misericordia (30 November 1980), 1.
(32) Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 20.
(33) For a basic orientation with regard to the
catechesis and the celebration of the Sacrament
of Reconciliation, cf. Pope John Paul II, Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et
Paenitentia (2 December 1984).
(34) Pope John Paul II, Bull of Indiction of the
Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 Incarnationis
Mysterium (20 November 1998), 9.
(35) Ibid., 10. Cf. POPE PAUL VI, Apostolic
Constitution Indulgentiarum Doctrina (1
January 1967).
(36) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Decree
Presbyterorum Ordinis, 5.
(37) Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2653; cf.
POPE PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter Mysterium Fidei
(3 September 1965); CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE
WORSHIP, Instruction Inaestimabile Donum
(3 April 1980).
(38) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Letter to Archbishop
Pasquale Macchi on the Seventh Centenary of the
Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto (15 August
1993), 7.
(39) Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Decree Apostolicam Actuositatem, 10.
(40) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Address at the General
Audience (3 January 1979); cf. SECOND VATICAN
ECUMENCAL COUNCIL, Decree Apostolicam
Actuositatem, 11.
(41) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium, 63.
(42) As Pope John Paul II has stated: «Marian
shrines are like the house of the Mother,
refreshment and rest points on the long road
that leads to Christ. They are forges, where,
through the simple and humble faith of the ‘poor
in spirit’ (cf. Mt 5:3), one comes in contact
again with the great wealth that Christ has
entrusted and granted to the Church,
particularly the Sacraments, grace, mercy,
charity towards our brothers who are suffering
and sick» (Angelus, 21 June 1987).
(43) Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Decree Unitatis Redintegratio, 4.
(44) Ibid. 8.
(45) PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN
UNITY, Directory for the Application of
Principles and Norms on Ecumenism (25 March
1993), 29 and 103.
(46) Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 16.
(47) Cf. POPE JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter
Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 6.
(48) Cf. POPE JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter
Tertio Millennio Adveniente (10 November
1994), 52-53.
(49) Cf. POPE JOHN PAUL II, Homily at the Mass
for the Sick in St. Peter’s Basilica (11
February 1990).
(50) Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 41;
cf. POPE JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter
Salvifici Doloris (11 February 1984).
(51) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium, 8; cf. Decree
Unitatis Redintegratio, 6-7.
(52) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter
Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987), 37.
(53) On the other hand, it is particularly
appropriate that the Sacraments of Baptism,
Confirmation and Matrimony be celebrated in the
parish of residence; in this way the faithful
will be helped to grasp the community
significance of these sacraments; cf. POPE JOHN
PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles
Laici (30 December 1988), 26.
(54) Code of Canon Law, can. 1232. The French
Episcopal Conference, for example, has issued a
Charter of Shrines.
(55)The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care
of Migrants and Itinerant People is active in
this area, as is demonstrated by its
organization of two World Congresses (Rome,
26-29 February 1992 and Ephesus, Turkey, 4-7 May
1998) and two at a regional level (Máriapocs,
Hungary, 2-4 September 1996 and Pompeii, Italy,
17-21 October 1998), cf. the relative
Proceedings.
(56) De Spiritu Sancto III, 11:80.
(57) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter
Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987), 47.
(58) POPE JOHN PAUL II reminds us: “I know very
well that every people, every country, indeed
every diocese, has its holy places in which the
heart of the whole people of God beats, one
could say, in more lively fashion: places of
special encounter between God and human beings;
places in which Christ dwells in a special way
in our midst. If these places are so often
dedicated to his Mother, it reveals all the more
fully to us the nature of his Church,” Homily at
the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, Ireland (30
September 1979).
(59) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message to the Third
Latin-American Missionary Congress (Bogotá,
6 July 1987).
(60) POPE JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter
Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987), 28.
(61) CONG. FOR DIVINE WORSHIP, Circular Letter
to the Presidents of the National Liturgical
Commissions Orientamenti e proposte per la
celebrazione dell’Anno mariano (3 April
1987), 78. Notitiae 23 (1987), p. 386.
(62) POPE PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December l975), 82.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
Copyright © 2006- SCTJM
