By Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor

For the 87th consecutive year, the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Philadelphia served as a graced place of welcome, warmth and prayer to the thousands of people who journeyed there over the course of nine days, from Nov. 16-24, to participate in the various solemn novena services surrounding the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and the feast day Mass on Nov. 25.

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Click here to read Bishop O'Connell's homily.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., was among the faithful from the Trenton Diocese who crossed the Delaware River to visit the shrine, which is located in the city’s historic Germantown section and was built in 1875 to help spread the devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

Bishop O’Connell was invited to be principal celebrant of the feast day Mass which was held Nov. 25, although the actual feast day was observed Nov. 27. Because Nov. 27 falls on a different day each year, the shrine, in effort to keep consistent, schedules the feast day Mass to be celebrated the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Bishop O’Connell shared that the day also marked a special milestone in his ministry as a Vincentian priest, as it was the 40th anniversary of his arrival to the community as a postulant. The shrine shares the grounds with St. Vincent Seminary, which prepares men for the priesthood in the Vincentian order.

In addition to a significant number of Vincentian priests who concelebrated the Mass, Bishop O’Connell was joined on the altar by Msgr. Thomas J. Mullelly, diocesan vicar for clergy and consecrated life and a Philadelphia native, and Father Jason Parzynski, the Bishop’s episcopal secretary.

Among those seated in the front row were the Daughters of Charity, including Sister Joanne Dress, diocesan executive director of social services.

Bishop O’Connell, in his homily, reflected on the day’s Gospel that told the story about the Wedding Feast at Cana.

Noting how St. John “makes a point of writing the ‘Mother of Jesus was there,’ Bishop O’Connell went on to cite how the Blessed Mother was present for all the pivotal moments in her son’s life – his first public appearance and first miracle, the first moments of his human life in his Conception and Birth and at the final moments of his human life, where she stood underneath the Cross at his Crucifixion on Calvary.

“Before he died, as he glanced down through his tears, she became his enduring gift to St. John and to us all, ‘Behold Your Mother,’ said Bishop O’Connell.  “As his lifeless body was placed in her arms, through her tears, she could whisper: ‘this is my body, this is my blood.’ He was her Eucharist.”

Though not much is known about the life of Jesus from the time he was lost and found in the temple in Jerusalem at age 12 and his appearance at Cana at age 30, there are references in St. Luke’s Gospel that indicate how obedient Jesus was to Mary and Joseph. And, in turn, Mary asked the servants at the wedding feast to be obedient to him, “Do whatever he tells you,” said Bishop O’Connell.

“The one to whom he became obedient continues to say to us, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Bishop O’Connell reflected on the relationship between mother and son as they were both chosen by God the father for a mission to humanity, although with connected, yet different roles. Both were without sin, although living together and subject to sinners. Both shared the same flesh and blood and human nature, although Jesus alone was divine.

As the shrine marked the conclusion of its annual novena, Bishop O’Connell reflected on the miraculous medal and “the miracles that come our way because of that medal – miracles and stories as different as each one of us in the shrine – miracles that all have something in common: they begin with a mother’s heart, with a mother’s love, with a mother’s faith, with a mother who brings us in all our needs known only to us and her, to the heart of her son, to her son, who knows what we need before we even whisper or ask, and who, alone answers our prayers.”

Mass participants were happy to share why they were in attendance at the Mass and their history with the shrine.

“My parents met on the steps of the shrine in the early 40s and my sister came here to pray for me and my two brothers who served in Vietnam. The three of us came home and we were okay,” said Jerry Gallagher, who currently lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa. “Coming here to the shrine is uplifting. It’s like I receive a dose of spiritual counseling. I truly feel the presence of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

Joan Gallagher of Broomall, Pa., was influenced to visit the shrine regularly, said her older sister, who had a great devotion to the Miraculous Medal.

“I come here to pray and my prayers have been answered,” said Gallagher, noting how grateful she was for the recovery of her two granddaughters both of whom had endured serious illnesses.

Michelle Hoffman, a native of St. Louis and is currently a postulant with the Daughters of Charity, reflected on her calling to religious life. What attracted her to the community, she said, was the sisters’ service to the poor, in various ways.

“How can I not be here,” exclaimed an exuberant Sister Joanne.

“Today was a wonderful celebration. I’m always moved by the faith of the people who come here,” she said of the throng who are of different languages and cultures. “We are all prayerfully gathered here around the Blessed Mother in this shrine.”