Archbishop of Sydney

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 realised.

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.