By Fr Soroj Mullick, SDB –
No one in Marian shrines should feel like a stranger, especially when one comes to meet a priest with the weight of sin. The sanctuary is a privileged place to experience mercy that knows no boundaries. This is one of the reasons that led to designate the “Door of Mercy” (main entrance) even in the shrines during the extraordinary jubilee year of Mercy. In fact, mercy, when it is lived, becomes a form of real evangelization, because it transforms those who receive mercy into witnesses of mercy. First, the sacrament of reconciliation, which is so often celebrated in shrines, needs well-formed priests, holy, merciful and capable of making true encounter with the Lord who forgives.
Also read: Shrines: Place of Prayer, Mercy and Hospitality
Finally, the works of mercy are to be lived in a particular way in shrines, because in them generosity and charity are carried out in a natural and spontaneous way as acts of obedience and love to the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary. This is a great pastoral responsibility that has been entrusted to the priests – the ‘care-takers’ of the Shrines. According to Pope Francis, the shrine is a place of the pilgrim’s encounter not only with God, but also of the encounter of pastors with their people. The Lord goes to the shrine to meet his people which is so essential, to go out to meet his people, to understand the people of God, without prejudice (cf. Liturgy of 2nd February); the people endowed with that ‘sense’ of faith (sensus fidei, LG 12). This meeting is essential.
Popular Piety and Rituals
Here we touch on an aspect of evangelization that cannot leave us insensitive. We want to talk about that reality which is often referred to today as ‘popular religiosity’. Both in the regions where the Church has been implanted for centuries and where it is in the way of being implanted, there are special expressions of the search for God and faith among the people. For a long time this was considered less pure, sometimes despised. Today, these same expressions form everywhere the object of a rediscovery. The bishops had deepened its significance during the synod (1974), with the theme: “Evangelization in the modern world”, with remarkable pastoral realism and zeal. Popular religiosity, certainly has its limits.
Every religion has its own rituals that serve us in many ways e.g. grace before meals, various prayers said at different times of the day, etc. They add meaning and joy to our routine activities. Pilgrimage to the shrine as an expression of popular piety with certain rituals boost the participants’ spirit. For example, rituals that students (getting our parents’ blessing before exams), sportsmen (while entering the field) resort to, give us strength when they face situations that are beyond their control. It improves their confidence and focus.
A community pilgrimage to the Shrines gives a sense of belonging and solidarity. The various rituals performed at the shrine hold person strong, keep steady, and help praying regularly even when not felt like praying. Many socio-religious rituals hold people in love, affection, graciousness, civility, and good manners. They too sustain love, marriage, family, friendship, neighbourliness and our relationships beyond feelings. Therefore, we need to understand the power of popular piety, pilgrimages and meaningful rituals.
On a cautious note, popular religiosity with various ritualistic expressions often leads to many deformations of religion, many superstitions. It often remains at the level of cult manifestations, without committing a genuine adherence to faith. It can also lead to the formation of sects, and endanger the true Church community. The apostolic exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi, issued by Pope Paul VI states:
“But if it is well oriented, above all by a pedagogy of evangelization, it is rich in values. It manifests a thirst for God which only the simple and poor can know. It makes people capable of generosity and sacrifice even to the point of heroism, when it is a question of manifesting belief. It involves an acute awareness of profound attributes of God: fatherhood, providence, loving and constant presence. It engenders interior attitudes rarely observed to the same degree elsewhere: patience, the sense of the cross in daily life, detachment, openness to others, devotion. By reason of these aspects, we readily call it “popular piety,” that is, religion of the people, rather than religiosity. Pastoral charity must dictate to all those whom the Lord has placed as leaders of the ecclesial communities the proper attitude in regard to this reality, which is at the same time so rich and so vulnerable. Above all one must be sensitive to it, know how to perceive its interior dimensions and undeniable values, be ready to help it to overcome its risks of deviation. When it is well oriented, this popular religiosity call be more and more for multitudes of our people a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ” (EN 48).
Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB is a Salesian priest from the Kolkata Province. He has a Licentiate in Catechetics and a Doctorate (Christian Education) from UPS, Italy. He has number of years of teaching experience in college and in the formation of future priests. Besides, he has written number of research papers and articles, and has 25 years of Ministry in India and abroad as Educator, Formator, Retreat Preacher, Editor and engaged in School, Parish Catechetical & Youth Ministry. He is now an assistant priest in Bandel Basilica, rendering pastoral and catechetical ministry to the parishioners and to the pilgrims. He can be contacted at [email protected].