Dear Donal,
I went to Knock yesterday. I wasn’t at all clued in to what was going to happen there. Your mother mentioned a few months ago that there’d be Mass for your Fifth Anniversary and that if I was free, I’d be welcome to join in. I planned on keeping the day free and am so glad I did.
I arrived in Knock about an hour before the time I thought Mass was taking place. Happily I was very early as the Mass was set for an hour and half later than I had been told by your mother!! (Wonder was she always good at times????) I met Fr Richard Gibbons as I walked towards the Basilica and he told me the Mass was at 1.30. I had a cup of coffee with him and went over a while later. As I walked into the Basilica I met hundreds of students walking out. They looked so happy and sounded so cheerful. I had no idea where they were going but heard mention of “workshops” so figured they were going to hear and share a bit more somewhere or other. When I got inside there were still hundreds, if not thousands, of school-goers there – from all over the country. School crests and uniforms identifying the broad canvas of this gathering. It looked so impressive.
I saw the bishop of your diocese there and nodded to him. I took a seat and listened to a recently ordained priest speak of you. He, like me, had never met you but was clearly impressed by your story. He shared his – a soccer player who thought he had his dreams fulfilled only to realise he is still living his dream and has more road to travel or, as you might say, “hills” to climb. I realised later that others had spoken before him – spoken words of encouragement that you’d have been proud of.
I met your father and mother and, for the first time, your sister. We didn’t have much chance to talk but their pride in you was palpable. I’m sure they remembered that night you spoke to us through a camera lens and asked us to value life and how, in particular, you called on your own peers to treasure and cherish the gift that is theirs in the opportunity for life and love, faith and adventure.
The Mass was, as it should be, amazing and inviting. The priests in the entrance procession were accompanied by young people carrying colourful flags. I asked the girl beside me her name and where she was from. “Tralee”, she said. We smiled and I knew she was proud to be from your town. A large number of priests concelebrated, as did your bishop and the Papal Nuncio presided. Your name sounded strange from his lips but it was clear he knew about whom he spoke and in whose memory we had gathered. Your reach has been far Donal, and it continues.
I thought again of Fr Walsh’s words to you – when you asked what Heaven would be like. He said it would be a better place with you in it. He was right. I often think of Knock as a place where “Heaven met earth” in the quiet presence of Our Lady as she offered reassurance to our people on that August evening in in 1879. I equally had a sense of the two meeting yesterday and you were deeply embedded in that quiet presence.
They walked last night Donal, from darkness to light – in towns and villages all over Ireland and beyond, begging for deliverance from the scourge of death by suicide. Alas, I didn’t walk this year, but it’s a message we need to proclaim and your voice is found in every word of that message as is the determination of your family to deliver that message in your name. Some of your Tralee friends sang for us yesterday and surely their powerful voices and music and willingness to be there to share their talents, offer a mighty message of hope. If only people can take a few more steps to get over the hill and see more clearly the goodness that’s to be seen and the help that’s available.
I’ve been in Knock many times through the years Donal but there was something very special about yesterday. A wonderful gathering took place in your name and though I’m much older than the ones gathered in their thousands, I was glad to be there.
Keep up the good work. Heaven and earth are better places because of it.
Vincent