Cardinal George Pell's Sermons on Our Lady Help of Christians

Welcome to St. Mary’s, the first Catholic Church in Australia and therefore the mother church of the entire continent.Governor Macquarie, not a Catholic but an enlightened man who transformed the colony of New South Wales, laid the foundation stone in 1821.

It is good that senior students from all our Catholic secondary schools come together today for Mass as we pray for the protection of Mary Help of Christians.It reminds us that we belong to a larger community than our school or parish and in fact there are more than 1,000,000 Catholics in greater Sydney.

A couple of days ago, some of your younger brothers or sisters would have been among the 5,000 youngsters confirmed at the SuperDome in Homebush, a sacrament which was also accompanied by the celebration of Mass. With the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI we were recently made aware through the massive television coverage of the immense number of Catholics throughout the world, in fact about one billion one hundred million. You and I belong to that immense family.

We belong to one another in the Catholic Church. Christ is our head and St. Paul spoke of us belonging to the Body of Christ. We speak of Mary as our Mother, because we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, with God as our father.

Mary, Help of Christians

St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

By + Cardinal George Pell

Archbishop of Sydney

24 May 2005

Some statues and photographs of Mary portray her as a very beautiful woman, a very fortunate woman or a very lucky woman. The statue of Our Lady Help of Christians here in the Cathedral was carved by one of the early Benedictine monks here at the Cathedral. It is a work of faith.

Such images can hide the realities.Mary was aged about 15, when she was engaged to Joseph perhaps even less following the local custom.There were no adolescents in those days, no secondary schools.Everyone went suddenly from childhood to adult life.

Mary fell pregnant in a mysterious way and she had only a limited understanding of God’s great plan. All is very clear to us now, in hindsight but Mary only came to understand gradually as her life unfolded and she prayed regularly. We are unsure whether she could read and write, and she lived in a male dominated culture where she could have been divorced easily. Life was hard for women and children - and for the men. She was a woman of faith and prayer who accepted the invitation to be the Mother of the Messiah, but she did not have an easy life because of this.

The birth of Jesus in the stable, the obvious poverty and the flight into Egypt were difficult, and sometimes dangerous because of Herod.

On returning to Nazareth, Mary was the wife of a craftsman and her son lived with them until he began his public life.

And Mary was at the foot of the Cross when Jesus died. It would be hard to imagine a more difficult situation for a mother.

But, more happily she was present with the Apostles when Jesus appeared after the Resurrection. Therefore Mary was both an ordinary and extraordinary woman. An ordinary girl living in 1st century Palestine in the town of Nazareth, not rich, not well educated, probably not among the poorest of the poor.But blessed by being born into a deeply religious family. In today’s Gospel she describes herself as ‘God’s lowly handmaid’. We can all identify with the simplicity and ordinariness of her life situation. We are all ordinary people, conscious of our failings and weakness, of humiliations as well as our strengths and successes.

Yet Mary is also extraordinary, chosen to be Mother of the Saviour, Mother of God. Her cousin Elizabeth cries out: ‘Of all women you are the most blessed’. We hear Mary herself say ‘. . . from this day forward all generations will call me blessed’.

Sometimes too we hear Mary honored with the beautiful title ‘Seat of Wisdom’. So I want to say a few words about wisdom, starting with our first reading from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiaticus.

All education should be about the getting of wisdom and we Christians have a different concept of wisdom from pagans, from people who do not believe in God. We are told that God loves those who love wisdom, which is not the same as being clever. In fact many people far from the top of their class at school do become wise. Wisdom has a lot to do with common sense, but wisdom is not always common and is superior, higher and better than common sense, which usually shares the weakness of popular opinion. Wise people learn from their mistakes, while the truly foolish never learn. A wise person sees most of the picture, is able to put both success and failure into perspective, knows the relative importance of things e.g. that money is never the most important fact in a person’s life. In fact money often brings trouble.

A wise person has faith in God, understands the language of the cross, prays regularly, knows the difference between right and wrong and believes that God can and does forgive those who ask for forgiveness. Such a person acknowledges Christ’s power and wisdom. Today’s reading tells us that becoming wise is not always easy.

Everyone is plagued by wisdom’s discipline, tested by problems, but lovers of wisdom find the narrow straight road which leads to personal peace and purpose in this life and happiness in heaven in the next. Mary never sinned but she meets all the other criteria. She had more than her share of problems and is a model of wisdom for us. She rejoiced in God and proclaimed God’s goodness. She acknowledged that future generations, like ours, would call her blessed. And why do all generations call her blessed? Because ‘the Almighty has done great things for me’. Mary knew that true greatness lies in allowing God to work through her, and so too our aim must be to do God’s will, to acknowledge how God has gifted us and worked through us, no matter how ordinary or unworthy we may feel sometimes. God loves us in our imperfections, just as he wants us to strive for goodness, indeed perfection.

Mary was called Theotakos or God-bearer – the one who carried God in her body, as we do after receiving Communion. So too we are called to bring God to others, despite the difficulties which surround us. I reminded you in my recent Pentecost letter, there are many pressures on you to give up your faith in God, to live like those with little faith and not much more understanding of morality, of right and wrong. Don’t follow that crowd. Stand on your own two feet. I encourage you to follow Mary’s example and to place your faith and trust in God revealed to us by Jesus Christ, to remain (or return) to being strong and true. It can be done, no matter how many times we fall, especially if we understand the language of the Cross.

Remember the striking words from St. Paul in our second reading today: ‘. . . . God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.’

We saw that on the Cross, we saw that in the life of Mary, not only Jesus’ mother, but his most successful disciple, history’s greatest saint. That is why we honor her as Mary, Help of Christians. May she protect us and our loved ones and pray for us to God as we pray to her.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Mary, Help of Christians

Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

By + Cardinal George Pell Archbishop of Sydney

24 May 2004

Welcome to your Cathedral. This great Church is the mother-church of Sydney, and it is full of history. Some of you will have seen the statue of the fallen soldier, our monument to those who died in war. Some teachers might like to take their class down to the Crypt where the history of the Cathedral is on display. One of the greatest things we have here is the statute of Mary Help of Christians from the old cathedral, our first church, burnt down in 1865. The Cathedral priests were originally English and Benedictines, and one of the monks carved it, making it nearly 200 years old.

It makes sense for us to ask for Our Lady’s protection in a special way because Mary took good care of Jesus, the Son of God, and if she did that she can and will and does take good care of us. We are following along in a scriptural tradition because we are all aware that on the cross when Jesus was dying, he said to John, ‘John, behold your Mother and Mother behold your son’ I think it is an entirely legitimate belief that on that occasion John was representing all of us. In Australia we are under the patronage of Our Lady Help of Christians. It was a decision that was made by the Australian Bishops early on. Probably they remembered more vividly than we do that Our Lady was invoked under that title at the time of Napoleon - a Frenchman, a great soldier, who conquered most of Europe – as our colony of New South Wales was being settled. Napoleon imprisoned Pius VI, who died in captivity, and then also imprisoned Pius VII. Thanks was given to Our Lady Help of Christians, when the Pope was liberated and Napoleon was defeated. We are also aware that Our Lady Help of Christians was invoked when Pope Pius V in the sixteenth century (he was a very austere Dominican, who did a lot for the implementation – finally – of the Council of Trent and the reform of the Church and it needed reforming, much more even perhaps then today) put together a coalition of Christian princes who defeated the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The Turks were aggressive and expansionist, still besieging Vienna about a 100 years later.

It was of enormous significance for the whole of Christian Europe, so that even Elizabeth I, the great protestant Queen of England, who so ruthlessly and effectively persecuted the Catholics, ordered that there be Christian celebrations of thanksgiving after that great victory. And Pius V ordered thanks to be given to Mary, Help of Christians. Another interesting little detail is that when the news of his death arrived at Istanbul, history records that the Turks he defeated danced in the streets.

Our Lady is always ready to help us because she had more than her share of problems. When she was pregnant, Joseph thought of divorcing her because he knew that he was not the father of Jesus. She gave birth in a stable, and not too long afterwards fled into Egypt to escape Herod’s slaughter of the innocents. There was the long journey when the Holy Family returned from exile. Later, Jesus was lost in the Temple – when aged about 7 or 8. Mary also saw all the opposition he provoked in his teaching and finally see him scourged and crucified. Therefore, Mary has special influence with Jesus; she will pray with us and for us so that we may be strengthened in the Spirit. She helps us know more about God’s love and to understand the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love for us. We are Christian’s followers of Christ, chrismed at baptism and confirmation. Jesus is our Lord, our God, our Redeemer, our friend and our brother. We are not like servants, or anonymous workers in a big company. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus, entitled to pray to Mary as our mother.

Mary is the Help of Christians because she is a model for everyday life. Surprisingly, if we made it a habit to try to do one thing every day for someone who is struggling – be it with sickness, loneliness, being teased – our own life becomes easier. For example, young people could start by remembering to say thanks to Mum and Dad for the efforts they make, or helping them the first time you are asked (instead of the 5th time) or better still, helping without being asked. Or taking the time to talk to someone new at school, or someone who does not seem to belong. Good works can take minutes, not hours. A kind word can take a few seconds but be appreciated for a few hours or even days; we should look around and bother to make the effort not be too busy to notice anyone else. Sometimes, we only become comfortable in our own skins, with our own limitations, when we reach out to others and discover, sometimes to our surprise, that we have more to give than we realized.

For some, good works can even mean being a little more understanding at work, returning the loyalty of good staff by encouraging them, when possible, to be flexible in their working arrangements so they don’t miss out on important events in their families lives. Remember Christ’s kindness – to the blind man, to the woman caught in adultery, to the lame and to Lazarus. And remember the enormous hearts of the main characters at the centre of his parables – the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal’s Son loving father. The best news of all is that just as with prayer, the love we give in good deeds is invariably returned to us a hundred fold. But if, at times we cannot see it, this is no reason not to persevere. Even that great Saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, after all had long periods where she felt miserable. Especially when we are young it is the time to start practising with our small difficulties – or at the very big problems that can come to young people – sickness of self, or parents or brother or sister; or death of someone close, or mum and dad splitting up. Pray to Mary at those times because she had her troubles too and she will ask God to give us strength. We can always, of course, turn the suffering that is inevitable in all our lives to some good cause – such as offering it up to God for the benefits of someone in this world or in purgatory.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Our Lady Help of Christians

Patronal Feast Day of the Archdiocese Schools Mass - St Mary's Cathedral

Ecc 4:11-18 1 Cor 1:18-25 Jn 19:25-27 By + George Pell

ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY

24 May 2002

The Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of Sydney is dedicated to God in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate, Help of Christians.

This wonderful Church was built by your ancestors without any government money. They were poor and there were not many of them. It shows what they thought was important, and the strength of their faith.

In the year 1821, the pioneer missionary priest Fr. John Joseph Therry, recently arrived in the Colony of New South Wales, commenced construction of the first Catholic Church to be erected in Australia. The government of the colony granted the land for this building in a spot away from the city and close to the jail, the army barracks and the rubbish tip. This sacred edifice was named in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was known as "St. Mary's Chapel". It was therefore known as the "Mother Church" for all Australia, because it was first.

With the arrival in Sydney, in 1835, of the Most Reverend John Bede Polding OSB, Vicar Apostolic of New Holland and later Archbishop of Sydney, the Catholic Chapel became known as "St. Mary's Cathedral". A Cathedral is where the bishop's teaching chair is placed. "Cathedra" is the Greek word for this chair. Most of your priests were ordained here, and some of you were here for the blessing of the oils for baptism, confirmation and anointing of the sick.

The devotion to the Mother of God of the Catholics of the Australian colonies was reaffirmed by the First Provincial Synod of Sydney in 1844, which elected as Patroness of Australia, the Blessed Virgin Mary under the Title of "Help of Christians". This Act of the Synod was confirmed by the Holy See in 1847.

With the tragic destruction by fire of the first St. Mary's Cathedral on 29th June 1865, Archbishop Polding and the Catholic people of Sydney began the task of raising a new and more noble Cathedral on the site of the old building. William Wardell, the great English Catholic architect was commissioned to build the new Cathedral and his brief was simple: to build "Any style, any plan, anything that is beautiful and grand to the extent of your power". The foundation stone was laid in 1868, and is dedicated under the patronage of the Immaculate Mother of God, Help of Christians.

The Cathedral was opened for worship by Archbishop Roger Bede Vaughan in 1882, while only partly built; the spires were completed in the Jubilee year 2000.

During your years in Catholic schools we want you to learn and understand some important and beautiful truths. Only a few are of first importance.

The most important truth is that God, the invisible Spirit, is love and God loves all his creation, every person, every one of you, me too. However, among the many different races God chose one group in particular to do his work and explain his teaching, the Jews. Jesus was born a Jew and his teachings built on all the good news in the Jewish writings we call the Old Testament. As Catholics we are now part of God's people.

The Old Testament prophecy tells us this, that Yahweh, the Jewish word for the one true God is coming to look after the Jews, and that later other people, like us Aussies, will know God too. The second reading from St Paul tells us we are God's sons and daughters. The first truth is that God loves, us especially when we are in trouble.

The second truth has been mentioned already; that Jesus is Mary's son, but that he had no human father, as He is the only Son of God. He was born in a stable, not a palace, had a hard life with many attacking him and died, crucified on a cross when he was about 33 years old.

He saved us through his death and resurrection so that our sins can be forgiven and so we can go to heaven to be happy forever. This is the second truth. Jesus is God's Son and redeemed us.

The gospel passage shows us that when Jesus was dying he gave his mother Mary to the apostle John, who represents us, as our mother.

I know how you love your own mums. With your father she is the most important person in your young lives. Mary is our heavenly mother. You must learn to pray to her, Our Lady, regularly, each day, even if for some reason you do not always get to Sunday Mass. That is why we have prayers each day at school. But that is not enough. You yourself should always pray a Hail Mary every day, with the Our Father, so that Our Lady will ask God to protect you and your loved ones.

Nearly all children turn to their mother when they are sick, or in trouble, or in need of help or advice. I want you to turn to Our Lady, to pray to her, when you are in trouble.

The stained glass window behind the altar shows Our Lady Help of Christians. Her statue is there. The windows around the Cathedral show the mysteries of the rosary. Get your teachers to explain this to you.

Many centuries ago, Pope Pius V, gave the title Help of Christians to Our Lady after a European fleet in an immense battle defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto in 1571. The Turks were pressing on many points to conquer Europe. Those of you from Malta would have heard of the heroic deeds of the knights and people defending Malta in the siege in 1565.

The Australian bishops chose this title Mary Help of Christians in 1844 at their first official meeting together, because two successive popes, Pius VI Pius VII, had been imprisoned by the French leader Napoleon some 30 or 40 years before, and the Catholic people prayed to Our Lady Help of Christians to protect them.

We too should pray for one another, our country, especially the soldiers who died for us and pray for peace, now and especially during your lifetimes.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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