One
of the young men who studied with me in the seminary was a man
by the name of Jarlath Trench. His grandmother was one of the
witnesses who had been in Knock, Ireland and had seen the apparition in 1879.
It makes it seem very recent with that connection.
On
Thursday 21st Aug, 1879, at about 8.00pm an apparition
was seen at one end of the Church. What the people saw (about 15 people) was an altar
in the centre, with a lamb on it and angels floating around it in the
background. To the left of the altar was Our Lady accompanied by St. Joseph on one side and St. John the Apostle on the other side.
Apparently the light from the Lamb was far brighter than that of Our
Lady and the two others. It lasted for about two hours in all and the people stood there in the pouring rain praying.
We usually think of this apparition as one of Our Lady, but the truth
is that the apparition was really an apparition of Jesus, appearing
as the Lamb of God on the altar and it was accompanied by Our Lady,
St. Joseph and St. John. This might seem trivial, but it is
important because what it is telling us is that Jesus, the Lamb of
God is at the centre, and especially for us Catholics it speaks
powerfully with the vision of the Lamb on the altar: that is, Jesus
coming to us in the mass. As you know, during the mass the priest holds up the
Sacred Host at Communion and says ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of the world, blessed are those who are called to the
supper of the Lamb.’ The reason the priest does this is just to show us Jesus present in the Eucharist. The priest does the same thing at the consecration so that the people can see the host which is no longer bread but the Body of Christ.
The
apparition in Knock happened back at a time when the people were desperately
poor and just recovering from the great potato famine (1845-52) which reduced
the population from by about 25%. The vision was a
beautiful message of hope from heaven, both to let the people know
that God was aware of their suffering and also to remind them of the
treasure that they had in their midst. They had almost
nothing materially, but God was with them and they had Jesus the Lamb
of God coming on the altar in each mass, just as we still have
today. Jesus was at the centre and the strongest light was
coming from him, as you would expect it to be. And where Jesus
is, Our Lady and the angels and saints are too.
In
the Gospel today John the Baptist, who was sent to get the people
ready for the coming of the Son of God, says: ‘There
is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.’
Then the disciples start following Jesus, which is exactly what was
meant to happen. John knew he had been sent to prepare the people for the coming of the Christ, but he didn't know who that was until he saw the Spirit come down on Jesus.
These various accounts are there for us not
just for curiosity sake, but they are telling us something now as
well. God is still saying to us through the Scriptures, ‘Jesus
is the One to follow.’ He is the only One of importance.
Jesus is the Lamb of God who is given to us in each mass. When
we have him we have everything, because He is what makes sense of our
life and why we are here.
Finally,
when the priest says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world, blessed are those who are called to the supper of
the Lamb,’ we all say, ‘Lord I am not worthy that you should
enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be
healed.’ That short prayer says so much. So often when
we become aware of our unworthiness we can be tempted to think,
‘Maybe I should not receive Holy Communion because I am a sinner,’
and people sometimes say this to me. But this prayer says it
all. Yes we are sinners, and yes we certainly are not worthy to
receive the eternal God into our own bodies, but it is God himself
who makes this possible. ‘Lord I am not worthy [to receive
you] that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and
my soul shall be healed.’ If God is prepared to come to us,
we should not be afraid to receive God in Holy Communion.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world.
Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my
roof,
but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
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