The Archbishop of Canterbury has given a sermon at Lourdes, saying the Roman Catholic pilgrimage site can inspire people to spread the Christian faith. Dr Rowan Williams told an international Mass at the shrine in France to pray for "the overshadowing strength of the Spirit to carry Jesus wherever we go".
He is among a group of Anglican representatives taking part in 150th anniversary celebrations at the shrine.
A peasant girl said she saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary there in 1858.
Millions of Catholics every year visit the holy site where the visions were claimed by Bernadette Soubirous, who was later made a saint.
In his sermon, Dr Williams said that 150 years ago the people of Lourdes "knew all they thought they needed to know about the Mother of God".
He said: "They needed to be surprised by this inarticulate, powerless, marginal teenager who had leapt up in the joy of recognition to meet Mary as her mother, her sister, bearer of her Lord and Redeemer.
"Our prayer here must be that, renewed and surprised in this holy place, we may be given the overshadowing strength of the Spirit to carry Jesus wherever we go, in the hope that joy will leap from heart to heart in all our human encounters.
"And that we may also be given courage to look and listen for that joy in our own depths when the clarity of the good news seems far away and the sky is cloudy."
The archbishop highlighted Bernadette's initial inability to understand her visions and explain them to others.
Dr Williams said this offered "good news" to people seeking to take on the Christian mission, but who "find their efforts slow and apparently futile, and for all who still can't find their way to the 'right' words and the open commitment".
"Our first and overarching task is to carry Jesus, gratefully and faithfully, with us in all our doings," the archbishop said.
"If we are faithful in thus carrying Christ with us, something will happen, some current will stir and those we are with will feel, perhaps well below the conscious surface, a movement of life and joy which they may not understand at all."
He added: "It certainly isn't for us as Christians to bully and cajole, and to try and force people into commitments they are not ready to make - but we can and should seek to be there, carrying Jesus, and letting his joy come through, waiting for the leap of recognition in someone's heart."
Organisers of the anniversary celebrations say that an average of 20,000 pilgrims a day have been visiting the shrine in the foothills of the Pyrenees this year.
Miracles
A total of eight million visitors are expected throughout the year, including a large number of ill or disabled people.
Many believe the water of a spring, in the grotto where the visions were seen, has curative powers.
The Catholic Church recognises 67 miracles as having occurred at the site.
Last week Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his first papal Mass at the shrine in front of more than 200,000 pilgrims, including the church's leader in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
The anniversary service is being celebrated by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
Dr Williams was invited to preach at the International Mass by the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, Jacques Perrier.
Monsignor Andrew Faley, of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said Dr Williams' visit demonstrated the strength of the relationship between the Anglican and Catholic Churches.
"It's a great opportunity to recognise the place of the Virgin Mary within our shared tradition," he added.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: YBN)