I Have Called You by Your Name

I have called you by your name I have called you by your name A Spiritual Handbook for Pilgrims “I have called you by your name” Mission Theme and Meditations A Spiritual Handbook for Pilgrims I have called you by your name Bishop Jacques Perrier 5 A holy name Bishop John Rawsthorne 6 In preparing for the 150th Anniversary of the Apparitions in 2008, One body in Christ Perry Gildea CM 7 Jacques Perrier, Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, identified twelve She looked at me as one person apostolic themes or missions that he considered relevant to Lourdes. speaking to another Martine Guénard 9 He asked the Barcelona Hospitalité and HCPT (The Pilgrimage Trust) to develop one of those themes, the Church’s mission in regard to We are all called Dr Michael McGloin 11 disabled people. Do not be afraid Bro. Michael Strode OCSO 14 In Lourdes HCPT is an umbrella name for the whole HCPT family, Building community Rev. Richard Scriven 16 including its Irish counterpart IHCPT, the American ASCPG and others. What’s in a name? Richard King 18 They specialise in taking young people and adults with disabilities to You are very special anon. per Steven McDonald 19 Lourdes in small ‘family’ groups. We were honoured to accept that mission as a contribution to the life of the Sanctuaries at Lourdes. Valuing difference Nicholas King SJ 20 The mission is entitled “The Church in Mission alongside People with Disabilities”, under the patronage of Saint Bernadette who herself experienced severe disability. Recognising that each of us is To Celebrate and Sing unique and created in the image of God, we and Barcelona have Note on liturgies 23 taken as our theme “I have called you by your name.” Mass for the ‘Called by Name’ theme 24 This booklet was conceived as part of our response to the mission Eucharistic Prayer for various needs and occasions 27 entrusted to us. Its authors are participating in a major international Blessing of Pilgrims 31 conference on disability, planned with the Sanctuaries under the title Liturgy of names 32 ‘Valuing Difference: Disability in the Mission of the Church’, in Lourdes from 14-16 November 2008 with key speakers including Jean Vanier Water Liturgy 35 and Fr Timothy Radcliffe. Service of light 42 Service of reconciliation 45 The following articles and readings based on the theme are primarily intended for adults. But much can easily be adapted and there is a Anointing of sick people 52 section at the back to use for children and young people. We hope Hymns for the Mission theme 58 that the booklet will be helpful to pilgrims and pilgrimages in preparing their own response to the themes put before us all in preparing to celebrate the Lourdes Jubilee Year. Other Ideas/Information The Jubilee Way 65 Richard King A thematic programme for a week in Lourdes 66 Ideas for exploring the theme with young people 68 Work and Mission of the HCPT family 73 Acknowledgements 78 2 3 I have called you by your name Mission Theme and Meditations Mission Theme I have called you by your name In the Annunciation scene the Virgin has two names. Her parents and Meditations had named her “Mary”. It was such a common name at the time that writers seeking to romance the scriptures delight in not distinguishing clearly between the various Marys mentioned there. I have called you by your name But when the angel addresses the Virgin he doesn’t call her Mary. For him, she is the one who is “full of grace”, and the translation A holy name of that phrase, whether it be in French or in English, is very weak One body in Christ compared to the Greek original. She is the only one to be full of grace in this manner, since she is the Immaculate Conception. But She looked at me as one person speaking to another who is to know this, apart from God and his messenger, the angel? We are all called In the same way, each one of us has a name which, for the present, is hidden in God, and which we shall only fully discover at the end Do not be afraid of our lives and of time. “To those who prove victorious I will give a white stone – a stone with a new name written on it, known only Building community to the man who receives it” (Revelation 2,17). In the same vein, the first Letter of John states: ”What we are to be in the future has not What’s in a name? yet been revealed” (1 John 3,2). You are very special Because our true name is given to us by God, people cannot steal it from us. In the concentration camps prisoners had their names Valuing difference taken away from them, and were known instead by a number. But tyrants are powerless against the name God gives us. “Each one of us is far superior to our common humanity”, says Pascal. God doesn’t judge on appearances. He looks into our hearts, and in the heart of each one of us he sees an image, albeit very deformed, of his Son. This image, even though we may seek to destroy it, remains etched on our inner being. Even if the world should despise us, even though we may despise ourselves, God cannot despise us: he sees in each one of us a distant reflection of the face of Jesus. To live as a Christian is to strive to be worthy of that inaccessible name which God keeps to himself – and of that image which is a reflection of his Son, the Beloved. How, then, could he not love us? + Jacques Perrier Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes (trans. Carol Chapman) 5 I have called you by your name Mission Theme and Meditations A holy name One body in Christ I remember once somebody talking about words being ‘thick’ or Providentially one of the founding insights of HCPT was that young ‘thin’. What he meant was that for each of us some words carry a people with disabilities should stay with their helpers in hotels. This lot of association and touch all sorts of nerves, while other words was a distinctive and formative statement. As HCPT grew, this are relatively neutral. One immediately obvious example would be sharing element of the pilgrimage was protected by setting up small the difference between house and home. ‘family’ units of about twenty with the necessary balance between carers and young people. These little units quickly form into close- If that is true of nouns in general, it is especially true of names. A lot knit communities, which share food, prayer, liturgy and fun together. depends on whom you know with that particular name and what The young people instinctively feel they belong and are valued, as sort of associations that person has for you. So I suspect that for do the carers. The same applies to larger adult groups. the vast majority of Catholics the name Bernadette is a very ‘thick’ word indeed. It carries a multitude of associations and touches all It is in these family groups that the profound theology of the Body of sorts of nerves. Whichever particular Bernadettes we know, in the Christ is realised. Each member knows that they belong, that they background of them all is the Bernadette of Lourdes. And our own are valued, and they are encouraged to make their contribution to Bernadettes all carry the association with her as well as who each the life of the group. In their ordinary lives people with disabilities one of them is in their relationship with us. are often forced to seek equality of treatment. Lourdes is a place where equality is natural. One of the significant observations St If that is true for us with our limited sensitivity to other people, it Bernadette made about her Lady was that she “looked at me as a is just unimaginable what each name of each individual person person.” Outside her immediate family circle this seemed to have means to God. Every iota of our being is held and loved by God. been a new and profound experience for the little girl. God does not need to associate any one of us with anybody else, because each one of us is of such value to God. No one of us is In Lourdes, in the presence of a person with disabilities, we are simply a ‘person’ to God; each one of us is this particular, special, invited to see the individual rather than focus on the disability named person. When I was young, we used to bow our head at the or illness. It is the person who is important, and all are equally holy name of Jesus. While the name of Jesus is almost unique, it important. A special charism of Lourdes is that it celebrates the is still true that every name attached to any person becomes holy, unique value and dignity of every person, whatever their condition. because it is the name of that person. We are all equally of the Body of Christ and each of us has a role to play. In saying this I am conscious of the way in which we relate to our brothers and sisters with disabilities. Because of the opportunities “For by the grace given to me I bid every one of you not to think that Lourdes gives us and because of the sensitivity it lends us of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think through our close living with each other during our stay in Lourdes, with sober judgement each according to the measure of faith we come to know and reverence each other, but especially our which God has assigned.

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