Mass for the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Saturday, 22nd October, 2005, at 9.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, according to Church tradition, we celebrate the Mass of Our Lady.

She, who bore the Lord in her womb with love beyond all telling, is the example of all mothers and the special intercessor of those who are in pregnancy.

Let us ask Mary, our Mother, to guide us to a true understanding of the precious value of life, to treat it with respect, as we call to mind our sins and seek to live totally in accordance with God’s will.

Homily

My dear Friends,

Today we invoke the special patronage of Mary, Mother of the Church, upon all called to motherhood, especially those with a difficult or unexpected pregnancy.  God’s gift of life is always a blessing because it shows his constant providence for us in our moments of need.

From the moment of conception the life of every human being is to be respected in an absolute way, because man is the only creature on earth that God has wished for himself and the spiritual soul of each person is immediately created by God – his whole being bears the image of the Creator.  Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator who is its sole end.  God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end:  no one can, in any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.

We know that human procreation requires on the part of the spouses responsible collaboration with the fruitful love of God; the gift of human life must be made actual in marriage through the specific acts of husband and wife in accordance with the laws inscribed in their persons and in their union.

Your role as helpers of God’s precious infants is above all one of intercession.  Your prayers are such as to entrust to the will and purposes of God all the unborn children who are sick and all who have been given a special share in the passion of Christ.

Ours is a positive witness to the value of life, to its entrustment by God to human parents and to the indication it gives of God’s unending care.  In modern society it is often said that the Catholic Church alone witnesses unceasingly to the value of life from birth until natural death.

In the important work that you do your work must always be spiritual.  With God as your witness and the value of life as your watchword, your prayer and example must always be undertaken with compassion and charity, bearing the light of Christ to a world in which darkness can never overpower it. 

May your prayer and witness, like the pondering of Mary while she was carrying Jesus, be with love beyond all telling and ever focused on God’s love and his will for your own life and those for whom you intercede by powerful prayer.

Only then when your heart and mine are one with Christ will our prayer be the most powerful and effective it ever can be and therefore our witness to life will be in accordance with his will.

May Mary, who carried Jesus for nine months, intercede for all who are carrying unborn infants, who are united with our prayer that the Lord may sustain mothers in their time of pregnancy, nurture and guide them as they care for young children and help them never to lose the hope that he alone can give.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.