This year's Novena was particularly special, as 2026 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Knock Basilica.
He says that Knock has become a place for people to "step away from the noise" and breathe, rather than getting swept up in the business of everyday life.
"For fifty years, this Basilica has welcomed people from every part of Ireland and from much further afield - people carrying all sorts of things with them: their hopes and fears, their joys and their worries, their gratitude, their questions, their grief. And perhaps that is why the theme of this Novena is so appropriate: 'Sheltered in God’s Love,'" Bishop Coll said.
"Because that is what people come here looking for. Not necessarily answers to everything. Sometimes simply somewhere to breathe. Somewhere to step away from the noise for a while. Somewhere to remember that whatever is happening in our lives, God is still there. And that is something very special about Knock."
"The apparition was silent. Mary, Joseph and Saint John stood here before the Lamb of God. There were no words. No explanation. No instructions. Just a presence. And perhaps that silence has something important to say to us today. Because we live in a very noisy world. There is always something demanding our attention. Our phones, our screens, the news, social media, work, money, politics, the pressures of family life."
Bishop Coll also said that despite how connected we are now, we are more restless and lonely than ever despite all of the advancements being made.
"We are constantly being asked to do something, decide something, achieve something, improve something. And yet, for all our technology and all our progress, many people seem more restless than ever. We are connected (technologically) to more people than any generation before us - and yet many people feel lonely," Bishop Coll said.
"We have more choice - and yet many are unsure what life is really about. We have become very good at managing life - but perhaps we have become less good at simply living it."
"And that is where I found the thinking of Iain McGilchrist helpful. He is not a theologian. He is a psychiatrist and thinker who has spent years reflecting on how we see the world. And, without getting too technical, his basic point is quite simple. He says that we have become very good at looking at things, breaking them down, measuring them, analysing them, controlling them. And that is useful. We need those abilities."
"But, if that becomes the only way we see the world, we can lose something very important. We stop seeing life as something to receive and wonder at. We start treating everything as something to use. We can even begin to treat people that way. We look at what they can do, what they can achieve, what they can contribute. We can even begin to treat ourselves like that - as if our value depends on what we accomplish."
The Bishop emphasised that this way of viewing the world, in a utilitarian way, can strip you of the joy of love, and the joy of the simple things in life.
"Yet that is not how love works. You don't measure the value of a child by what that child achieves. You don't love someone because they are useful. You simply love them. And perhaps that is one of the great things we need to rediscover: not everything in life has to be achieved or controlled. Some things have to be received," Bishop Coll said.
"A beautiful sunset. A child's laughter. A friendship. A moment of silence. The presence of someone we love. And, above all, the presence of God. You cannot put God under a microscope."
"You cannot manage God. You cannot reduce faith to an argument that solves everything. There comes a point when we simply have to open our hearts and receive. And that, I think, is part of what Knock teaches us."
"Look at the apparition. Mary does not speak. She simply stands there. And perhaps she is saying to us: 'Stop for a moment. Be still. Look. Receive. God is here.'"
And that brings us beautifully to today's Gospel. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. And what happens? Two people meet. Mary carries within her the mystery of Christ. Elizabeth recognises that something wonderful is happening. And Mary responds with the Magnificat: 'My soul magnifies the Lord.'"
"There is something very beautiful about that. Mary does not have everything worked out. She does not know how the future will unfold. But she trusts. She receives what God is doing. She allows herself to be part of something bigger than herself."
"And perhaps that is faith. Not having all the answers. But trusting enough to say: 'God, I don't understand everything, but I trust you.'"
According to Bishop Coll this faith and trust in God gives Knock its purpose, to remind people that they need not carry everything by themselves.
"That is why people come to Knock. We come with our questions. We come with our worries about our families. We come thinking about those who are sick. We come remembering those who have died. We come worried about our children and grandchildren, about the future of our Church and our country. And sometimes we come simply because we don't know what else to do," he said.
"And here, somehow, we are reminded: You don't have to carry everything yourself. There is a love greater than your own. There is a God who sees you, knows you and loves you. There is somewhere - and someone - in whom you can rest. That is what it means to be sheltered in God's love."
"But shelter is not the same as hiding. Knock is not a place where we come to escape from life. It is a place where we come to find strength for life. We come here, we place ourselves in God's hands, and then we go home. Back to our families. Back to our work. Back to the ordinary struggles and responsibilities of life."
"But hopefully we go back differently. A little less anxious. A little less afraid. A little more trusting. A little more able to see the people around us not as problems to be managed, but as people to be loved. And perhaps that is one of the things Ireland needs most today. Not simply more information. Not simply more technology. Not simply more wealth or more choice. But a rediscovery of the human heart. A rediscovery of wonder. A rediscovery of belonging. A rediscovery of God."
"Fifty years after this Basilica opened, we give thanks for all the people who have found shelter here. And we pray that generations yet to come will find it too. Because the world may change. Ireland may change. But the human heart does not change that much. It still longs to be loved. It still longs to belong. It still longs for meaning. And, whether we recognise it or not, it still longs for God."
"So, as we stand here today, let us place ourselves once more under the shelter of God's love, so often beautifully expressed as being gathered under Our Lady’s mantel."
"Let us place our families there. Our worries. Our hopes. Those we love. Those who are sick. Those who have died. And our young people and their future."
"And let us ask Mary, who stood here silently pointing us towards her Son, to teach us again what she knew so well: to trust, to receive, to wonder and to say, with her, 'My soul magnifies the Lord.' And may every person who comes to Knock discover what so many have discovered before us: that whatever life brings, we are not alone. We are held. We are loved. We are sheltered in God’s love."