Despite intermittent rain throughout the morning and threatening skies in the afternoon, hundreds of pilgrims from across the diocese gathered together for the annual pilgrimage to The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Hednesford on Sunday July 6.

Large numbers of pilgrims came to the sacrament of reconciliation and prayed the rosary, led by local school children, before the celebration of mass with the sacrament of the sick.

Mass was celebrated by Bishop Timothy Menezes, who gave the homily (full text below)

Fr Jeremy Howard said: "It was a great pleasure to welcome Bishop Timothy Menezes, an old friend of the shrine, as our chief celebrant and preacher as he made his first visit to the pilgrimage as our Area Bishop. The pilgrimage was well supported by clergy from the local area and further afield as well as the deacons who assisted during the Mass.

"Bishop Timothy spoke in his homily of our role as pilgrims of hope in the Jubilee Year and, following recent events in parliament, of our respect for life. We celebrated the diversity of our archdiocese, as members of the Polish community prayed part of the rosary in Polish and members of the Congolese and Zimbabwean communities joined the pilgrimage choir in singing during the Mass.

"I retire as Parish Priest and Shrine Rector in August, leaving the Parish and Shrine in the capable hands of Fr Peter Weatherby. I will continue to be involved as the Director of the Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage. Lastly, despite the threatening skies during the afternoon, the rain held off!"

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Bishop Timothy's Homily

Hail, Virgin Mary, Hope of God’s people.

Lourdes, in the south of France, is a place for pilgrims of hope.
This Jubilee Year invites us to invest in the virtue of hope.
Our sick pilgrims in Lourdes and here at Hednesford are pilgrims of hope.

I would like to take this opportunity to speak to the young people from our Catholic Schools and Parishes who come as pilgrims of hope today.
In particular, to the young pilgrims who worked in the service of our sick pilgrims in Lourdes this year, and here today.
Thank you for the tenderness and compassion that you show. It is every bit as important as your academic learning at school and is a true sign of hope in the world.

In the Magnificat which we have heard and sung today, we honour the first disciple of her Son who praises God for the radical way in which he overturns the established order and raises the lowly.

When Pope Saint John Paul II visited Lourdes in August 2004, as a sick pilgrim himself, he reflected on Mary’s song of praise:

In his homily at the grotto of Massabielle, he said:

"My soul magnifies the Lord...". 
Her words convey the hope-filled expectation of the "poor of the Lord" and at the same time an awareness that God has fulfilled his promises, for he "has remembered his mercy".
This same awareness is the source of that joy of the Virgin Mary which pervades the whole canticle: 
joy in knowing that she has been "looked upon" by God, despite her own "lowliness"; joy in the "service" she is able to offer because of the "great things" to which the Almighty has called her; 
joy in her foretaste of the blessedness promised to "those of low degree" and "the hungry".

He goes on to say, at the shrine of Lourdes:
The Magnificat is followed by silence: nothing is said to us about the three months that Mary stayed with her kinswoman Elizabeth. Yet perhaps we are told the most important thing: that goodness works quietly, the power of love is expressed in the unassuming quietness of daily service.

As we come to this annual  Hednesford pilgrimage, and during this year of Jubilee, accompanying those who live with sickness of mind or body, we unite ourselves with those sentiments of St John Paul II, when we consider the goodness and love of medical staff, of carers in all healthcare settings, and of the ‘quietness of daily service’ by families in the home and, among them, some incredible young carers.

In the light of recent events in Parliament in our country we affirm, in the strongest terms, the sanctity of human life at its fragile beginning and end.
Many 
We recognise the dignity of every child of God, and particularly those born with any disability, and we urge those with power to make our laws, never to see those whose lives are deemed “less than perfect” as any less worthy than the imperfection that characterises every one of us, every human being.

And we affirm the priceless project of hospice care which is proven over many decades,  to honour the lives of those who suffer, and their families, and prepares people for their final journey to the Father’s House.

With the backdrop of the Assisted Suicide bill, we can say with confidence - and from personal experience - from our own loved ones, that: 
Not every death is a tragedy 
and not every death is painful. 

As we honour the maternal care of Mary, Health of the Sick, we also invoke the intercession of St Joseph her Spouse, Patron of that traditional Catholic desire for a Happy Death after a fulfilled life.

The lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph all manifested challenge, grief and pain in living out God’s will. All of them demonstrated an active and powerful acceptance and embrace of God’s plan.

In a few minutes’ time, we shall witness the healing power of God in our midst as we celebrate the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, a Sacrament - as all of the Sacraments, of strength for the living. 

As in Lourdes itself, so here today, we have the privilege of witnessing in a very public way what is often, in the circumstances of sickness at home or in hospital, a more private Sacrament.

We thank those who are sick and who will be anointed at this Mass, for allowing us to pray with and for them as they receive this Sacrament.

And many more of us also receive two more Sacraments of healing on this Jubilee Pilgrimage Day: Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

The sick pilgrims will be anointed with the holy oil of the sick, on the forehead, with the words:
Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grave of the Holy Spirit.
And the person responds: Amen.

And as they are anointed on the palms of the hands, the priest says: 
May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you and raise you up.
And the person responds: Amen.

Dear fellow pilgrims of hope, we come together to give thanks for the blessing of good health, and to pray for our brothers and sisters who live with sickness.

We come as pilgrims of hope, on a journey of peace, to God’s Kingdom of Joy.
May this be truly, for all of us, a year of the Lord’s Favour!