Marian shrines have a very important place in the life of the Church today

Fr. Michel Daubanes, rector of the Lourdes shrine, visited Torreciudad on July 19 and 20. Torreciudad is a Marian shrine in Aragon, Spain, built by Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, and consecrated on July 7, 1975, under the title of Our Lady of Torreciudad. Devotion to Mary under the title of Virgin of Torreciudad is said to date back to the eleventh century. 

During his stay, Fr. Daubanes took the opportunity to greet the bishop of Barbastro-Monzón, Msgr. Ángel Pérez Pueyo, and to have dinner with him. Fr. Daubanes kindly answered several questions related to Marian shrines, the difficulties of Christian families, and his impressions of Torreciudad and the Marian Route:

• The Pope insists that Christians have to bear joyful witness to Christ. What role can Marian’s shrines play in the new evangelization of our society?

M. D.: I think that Marian shrines have a very, very important place in the life of the Church today. A life that must be missionary, as Pope Francis says when he affirms that we are missionary disciples. It is at the shrines that the very numerous pilgrims come to return to the Virgin Mary, to entrust her with their prayers, to intercede for themselves, for their family members, and even for those around them. The shrines offer them many opportunities to nourish their faith and their joy, their joy of believing, their joy of being Christians, and their joy of living.

In a Marian shrine, whether in Lourdes, in Torreciudad, in Fatima, or anywhere else in the world, what seems very important to me (today as yesterday, but today in particular) is the fact of receiving the joy of forgiveness, the joy of living sacramental forgiveness through the possibility of confession. In our societies there is perhaps a growing tendency not to live the sacrament of confession, of forgiveness, of reconciliation, and it is a great pity because without the sacrament one can be overwhelmed, stunned in one’s life of faith, in a life of relationship in which there is no possible forgiveness. The very fact of receiving, of benefiting from God’s mercy, truly allows us to return to faith with great joy, with great faith and serenity.

The other aspect that I see that can characterize shrines is the beauty of the liturgy. If the liturgy is more beautiful, if the prayer is more beautiful, the pilgrims will be more nourished by that liturgy and, in fact, invited to listen to it in the joy of returning to faith more strongly in daily life. They achieve this through, of course, the sacrament of the Eucharist, the celebration of the Mass, but also relevant is everything that comes from popular piety (for example, the nocturnal torchlight procession in Lourdes), in which the shrine allows the pilgrim to truly live and understand his faith.

And then, perhaps the last aspect I would like to highlight is the fraternal spirit that exists in these sanctuaries, the solidarity, the charity, the fraternity that is lived within the sanctuary, which impacts and moves each person beyond their stay of a few hours. Pope Francis told us this in Fratelli tutti, and I think this is ideally expressed in Lourdes, for example, through the service of charity, the service of hospitality, volunteering alongside the sick and people in chronic conditions. This effort ensures that everyone leaves the sanctuary with a big smile on their face.

Adapted from: www.exaudi.org