9 31, May, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au The Virgin in Prayer by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, one of the many ‘originals’ painted by the enterprising artist. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, PUBLIC DOMAIN Like those early Catholics, we knowwe need God’s help. And it can’t hurt to have God’s Mum in our corner! So today we pray together for Mary’s guidance and protection in difficult times.” Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP be restored in Confession, to be made new. You can indeed all be originals – different in temperament and gifts – but beautiful souls, alike in your high ideals, virtuous character and good choices. There can be a whole art gallery of such works, the real St Mary’s College, the com- munion of saints! In this morning’s Gospel Jesus is dying (Jn 19:25-27). Joseph is long dead and there are no other children. So Jesus asks John to take her in. Jonno may only have been 15 or so, so he’d outlive her. More importantly, when the older disciples abandoned Jesus, he stayed. No wonder he was Jesus’ favourite, ‘the disciple He loved’ (Jn 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20). But it’s not just about John. ‘The disciple Jesus loved’ is code for us, too. We are His favourites. We must take Mary to our hearts also. She will be a mother to us, especially in hard times, as our first reading says, “through winding paths, fear and faintness, through times of plague, sore discipline and ordeal”. When Fr John JosephTher- ry arrived in Australia, 200 years ago this month, he peti- tioned for a site for a Catholic chapel. The establishment re- sponded by giving him the garbage dump near the con- vict barracks and the Hyde Park vegetable patch. No-one then imagined what a prime site St Mary’s would turn out to be! WhenTherry was at school Napoleon and his secularist forces invaded Italy, deter- mined to suppress the Cath- olic Church. They took Pope Pius VI prisoner and he died in captivity. The next Pope, Pius VII, was forced to attend Napo- leon’s coronation in 1804, when he famously took the crown from the Pope’s hands and crowned himself and his queen as well. Things only went downhill from that low point. Pius VII was a prisoner for the six years Therry was a seminarian. He called on all the Church to pray the Rosary. Soon after Therry was or- dained, the dictator was de- feated and the Church was free again. Pope Pius VII gave thanks by adding the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians, to the calendar. When Fr Therry arrived in the colony, he dedicated the first Catholic church to her. After all, Catholics had had it hard in Australia: Mass was rarely permitted in the previ- ous 32 years; many were con- victs in chains and hard la- bour, poor or powerless. They needed help. They needed the best of helpers, Mary Help of Christians. With the arrival of Bishop Polding in 1835 this mother church of Australia became its first cathedral. In 1844 at the First Provincial Synod of Bishops, and again in 1885 at the first Plenary Council of Australasia, the nation was dedicated to St Mary, Help of Christians. That was renewed by the Bishops of Australia in 1988, in 2001, and today in this time of pandemic. Like those early Catholics, we know we need God’s help. And it can’t hurt to have God’s Mum in our corner! So today we pray together for Mary’s guidance and protection in difficult times. We pray she’ll make us more like her, beautiful and colourful artworks, worldly and other-worldly, different yet like her in our openness to God, our active service of oth- ers, our pondering of what’s good, our fidelity to the end. Our Lady of Help of Chris- tians, pray for us! This is the edited text of the homily by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP for Mass for the Solemnity of Our Lady, Help of Christians at St Mary’s Cathedral Hall for St Mary’s Cathedral College, Sydney, 25 May 2020 Contact us for more information on how you can watch EWTN EWTN is a non-profit organization supported entirely by donations Email:
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