Michael KellyReflecting on Marian devotion
When I was a child growing up in Tyrone, no summer was complete without the annual family pilgrimage to Knock Shrine.
We all piled in to my father’s red Fiat Strada and my mother had prepared a fantastic array of sandwiches to make sure everyone would be nourished in body as well as in spirit.
It was quite the journey to Knock and I remember we bristled as we crossed the border in to the South at the thought of the terrible roads pre-National Development Plan (now, the tables have turned and the bad roads are North of the border!).
I’m sure it often rained when we were in Knock, but I only remember days of glorious sunshine. I suppose that’s how nostalgia works. But, Knock is no place of mere nostalgia or sentiment. It is a spiritual powerhouse for Ireland.
Of course, as a child, I was more interested in the souvenir stalls than the shrine. I remember being proud as punch when my parents bought me a little plastic camera that rotated various images connected with Knock and Our Lady as one looked through the viewfinder.
Marian devotion has a very special place in Irish Catholicism. I’ve often wondered if this is due, in part at least, to the fact that sometimes the image of God that was presented was a negative one. When God is characterised as a vengeful judge waiting to dole our punishment rather than a loving father, the softer image of Mary as a mother tenderly comforting the child Jesus becomes very appealing.
I think it also has something to do with the important role mothers have traditionally played in Irish life and particularly in the lives of their sons. In this context, Our Lady emerges as a gentle persuader, an advocate even, for the sinner conscious of his or her unworthiness before God.
The image of Mary cradling the body of her lifeless son also serves as a powerful symbol of her painful experience of human suffering, an experience that speaks to everyone who suffers, especially mothers. Pádraig Pearse captured some of this in his beautiful poem The Mother when he wrote “Lord, thou art hard on mothers: We suffer in their coming and their going”.
I’m sure there were times in her life when Mary had no idea what her submission to the will of God would mean: the heartaches and sorrows. She must’ve often wondered where it all might lead and even if she could bear the burden, and persevere to the end.
But her faith never wavered, she persevered, and in her desire to know and follow the will of God in all things she is a powerful symbol of discipleship, even when we’re tempted to feel disheartened.
A Eucharistic shrine
While Knock is often thought of as a Marian vision, the central part of the apparition that can be sometimes overlooked is the witnesses' report of the central place of the altar and the lamb of God. Knock is, in fact, a Eucharistic apparition. Some have gone farther saying that Knock can even be understood as representing two of the other sacraments as well given that St John the Evangelist is depicted as a bishop (Holy Orders) and Mary is flanked by her husband St Joseph (Holy Matrimony).
A silent vision
A common feature in Marian apparitions around the world is a message delivered to seers. At Lourdes, Our Lady revealed herself to St Bernadette saying "I am the Immaculate Conception". Similarly, devotion to Our Lady of Fatima is synonymous with the so-called 'secrets' of Fatima that Our Lady revealed to Lúcia, Jacinta and Francisco. Knock was different: here, Maryís message was unspoken. In the Scriptures, Mary is depicted as pointing people to Jesus, maybe this is the message of Knock: Mary leading Ireland in to a closer relationship with God.