Page 4, 14th January 1983
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ON THE fifteenth of January, in the Cathedral at Liege, the Bishops of Liege and Namur will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first Apparition of Our Lady at Banneux. The village of Banneux is some 10 miles east of Liege and about 20 miles from the German border with Belgium. The shrine is known as Our Lady of the Poor, for her message was primarily to the poor and to the young and to those in distress.
She confided her message to an eleven year old girl who no longer went to Mass, to whom the catechism was a lesser known thing, and whose father had lapsed from the faith. On no less than five occasions Our Lady appeared, the last appearance taking place on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Apparition to St Bernadette at Lourdes.
Little has changed in the village of Banneux since Our Lady of the Poor appeared to eleven year old Mariette Beco at a time when Hitler was coming into power.
Our Lady told Mariette Beco to "Pray a lot". She declared of the spring which the small child dug with her hands at her command, "this spring is reserved for all nations". She said, "I come to relieve suffering," and again, "this spring is reserved for the relief of the sick". On no less than three separate occasions she repeated the request, "Pray a lot". She insisted on the necessity of prayer as a determining role in the history of our salvation. She called herself the "Virgin of the Poor".
Subsequently in 1938 the village was to open its hospitable arms to German Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany.
In the concluding days of World War II the area was the scene of a fierce tank battle with the retreating German forces heading for their frontier. The village was spared the ravages of war, but one elderly lady inhabitant was killed. However, the tank battle was over by 6.30 p.m. and the villagers, concerned, continued their customary evening decades of the Rosary.
Significantly, today, prayers are said at the shrine in at least seven different European languages, in which the voices of German pilgrims can be heard.
As the present pastor of Banneux has pointed out, Our Lady did not come to give us a treatise on Mariology. She came to Banneux to remind us all of her role as Mediatrix.
She did not give us a theological treatise. Her message was sociological, reminding us that faith without works is dead, and that Our Lady leads us to Christ, the Source of all Life, incessantly reminding us of the absolute necessity of prayer, to "Pray a lot".
Banneux today reflects the pastoral care of the sick, and of the young. From May to October each week some 200 sick people are welcomed in the village, attended by 100 helpers and nurses. In a relaxed and prayerful atmosphere they find solace and consolation from the Virgin of the Poor. Young people welcome young people at Banneux and share their faith, their questioning, and their prayer.
The message of Banneux is that Our Lady led the young Mariette to the source of living water, to Christ. There was no reproach or lecture for the child whose profound qualities replied with all the generosity of a child.
Such Marian apparitions are surely one of the most remarkable manifestations of the Charismatic life of the contrmporary Church today. Why such manifestations occur is a profound mystery. They do not give us any new knowledge of Divine things, but, as St Thomas Aquinas said, they occur "In order to direct the acts of men". That is, in order to help us to overcome our difficulties in our spiritual progress under the conditions prevailing in the world today.
Through Our Lady we become more fully involved in the life of the church, in the life of the poor, not only heeding the message to "Pray a lot", but to listen to the Word of God, and to share in his Body.
Lourdes, Fatima, Knock, Aylesford and Walsingham may be more familiar names to us, but Banneux, born of the era of scorn and scepticism concerning the Faith in Western Europe in the nineteen-thirties, has a very special message for us in this Holy Year of 1983.
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