Abbot John Pereira and his companions, on arriving at the church on January 9, made their way to the chapel in which the famous statue of La Divina Pastora stands, no doubt to offer up silent prayers among the flickering candles placed there by so many pilgrims.

After the rosary, led by the young people of the Confirmation Class, (who also were the choir, and did the Readings at Mass) and the Novena prayers, Fr Stephen announced that "Doodzin" had died.

She was an old lady who sold the Catholic News and other religious articles at one of the side doors of the church, and was a regular member of the congregation for these devotions. May she rest in peace.

In his homily, Abbot Pereira preached on Our Lady, Queen of Venezuela, in the context of the Gospel for that Sunday, feast of the Baptism of the Lord. He explained that, for the Jews, the waters and the wilderness represented evil.

They believed that monsters dwelt in the waters, and that evil lived in the wilderness. Jesus immersed Himself in the waters of the Jordan to show that He is more powerful than the devil; then He went straight into the wilderness to defeat Satan.

He reminded us that in Genesis the Spirit hovered over the waters, and there was order; but when sin entered the world, confusion entered as well. So that Jesus' statement by going into the waters of Baptism was that He was bringing back God's order.

Then he told us the story of Our Lady of Coromoto, Queen of Venezuela. In the 16th century, the Coromoto tribe settled near a river deep in the jungle, to escape the terror of the Spaniards. Our Lady came to them, entering the water of the river, to conquer the separation and division of the two peoples.

The Chief of the Coromoto, and his wife, saw the vision of a beautiful lady carrying a small child. She asked them to leave the jungle and be washed in the water. They did as she asked, but eventually returned to their old way of isolation. The lady returned to them, this time in their hut.

The Chief became angry, and tried to grab her, but she disappeared, leaving a small card bearing a picture of herself and the Child in the Chief's hand. They then undertook to live as she asked, and experienced true peace, the peace of Jesus Christ.

We are invited to experience that peace also. The message of Jesus at His Baptism, is the message of Our Lady of Coromoto, of Our Lady, La Divina Pastora. It is the pax of St Benedict. Abbot Pereira ended with a stirring call to young men to experience that peace in the priesthood and religious life.

Thank you, Abbot John, for giving us a new vision of the Baptism of Jesus, and of Our Lady's call to true peace. Thank you to the confirmation class as well.

We echo the Abbot's call to you to come experience that peace. We have not had the church really packed for the season as yet. Why not organise a pilgrimage to come to the next devotions on February 13, the First Sunday of Lent ?

The celebrant and homilist will be Fr Peter de la Bastide whose theme will be, Our Lady, Queen of Brazil .