As I was leaving Knock earlier today someone asked me “Did you get to shake the Pope’s hand?”  “No,” I replied, “but I don’t think he’ll notice that until later!”

It was a great occasion, the Pope’s visit to Knock and I was glad to be there.  I was there in 1979 too but don’t remember much about it, other than being a long long way away in the crowd, glad to be there, but not taking too much in.

In the lead-up to the Papal Visit, I was asked to help in a very small way (in the greater scale of things) with putting some information together that media might use.  It turned out to be an interesting project.  I was given some guidelines and headings, a proposed timetable of events etc and was to flesh them out.  Hopefully that happened.

One of the elements of the visit that caught my imagination was the Pope’s time for quiet prayer in the Apparition Chapel.  There he was to receive a lighted taper from two small children and light a candle placed in front of the Apparition Statues.  It was to be a quiet time, introduced by the sounding of a bell.  I liked the idea but liked, in particular, the story behind the stand in which the candle was placed.

Designed by Anne Lavin (with whom I worked in Knock many years ago and who has been a good friend through the years), the wood used was from a tree that fell in the grounds of Knock Shrine.  Though it could have been discarded or re-cycled in a less creative way, someone saw its potential.  A local man and his son, Tom and Tomás Cunnane worked on the piece and created this wonderful holder – more than a holder, a launching pad for hope.  The outside of the tree is polished and bright whilst the inside is chiseled and marked, representing the inner hurts we experience, feel and carry.  Through these are shrubs, many of them wild shrubs that grow where they will but add colour to life and remind us that growth is possible.  Embedded in, and rising from all of this is the candle, the sign of hope and light where there may well be despair and darkness.  So so much going on.  I loved it!

I was thinking about it last night and thought it’s a wonderful and challenging image for our church at this time.  Like the tree, in the grounds of Knock Shrine, what was once perceived as tall and strong – a source of shade and shelter – has fallen and is damaged.  We are at a crossroads, a moment of decision making.  How best can we salvage what is and always will be precious to many?  It seems to me the answer lies in recognising what weakened the tree, hollowing it, working on it, re-shaping it without air-brushing the hurts that have undoubtedly taken place.

There’s something Soul nourishing about the carpenter and his son working on this piece of timber in Knock Parish.  I like to think of them working, side by side, in the shed beside the house.  Can’t help but think of another shed in Nazareth and a carpenter there with a little child, working on and shaping wood.  I’ve no doubt the carpenter Joseph, part of the Knock Apparition story, took his turn at working on the fallen tree, alongside Tom and Tomás, so that a new story could be told and something precious saved.

So, though I didn’t shake Pope Francis’ hand, these days have touched my Soul and I’m glad to have been there – been part of it.

God bless the work.

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Vincent

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