Mass for the Knights of Malta and for the Sick

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Saturday, 3rd December, 2005, at 10.30am

Introduction

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

Since the twelfth century in Europe and since 1974 in Australia the Order of Malta has addressed the needs of the sick, the poor, the education of refugees and assistance to refugee families with assistance to the poor and palliative care.

Today in this Mass for the Sick we honour those whom the Lord has chosen through sickness to share in the Passion of Christ and we pray for them, strength and comfort.

Let us call to mind our sins.


Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In recognition of the powerful comfort granted by Our Lady to the sick at Lourdes, we celebrate this Mass mindful that Mary our Mother at Lourdes and elsewhere has always been the help of the sick.  United with the pilgrims to Lourdes we see that the Mass, the most powerful act of worship of God in union with Christ to the Father, is equally effective for healing and comfort.  We ask Mary, the help of the sick, to be with us. 

In the words of Pope John Paul uttered at Lourdes on 14th August 2004, “I am here with you, dear brothers and sisters, as a pilgrim to Our Lady.  I make my own your prayers and your hopes.  With you I share a time of life marked by physical suffering if not for that reason any less fruitful in God’s wondrous plan.  With you I pray for those who trust in your prayers.”
         
“I have always trusted greatly in the offerings, prayers and sacrifices of the suffering.  During this pilgrimage I ask you to join me in offering to God through the intercession of the Virgin Mary for the prayer of the Church and the world.”
         
Pope John Paul’s visit to Lourdes was a reminder to us of the strength Mary gives to all of us.  A few simple things we might remember, offered to us by the Mother of God, as we will be blessed with Lourdes water at the end of Mass are these:

1. Mary went to her cousin Elizabeth freely giving of her own self.  She shows loving concern for her relative in a practical love that is not limited to words of understanding, but is deeply personal.  Mary understood that the gift she received from God is more than a privilege.  It is a duty, which obliges her to serve others with the selflessness proper to love.  What a wonderful inspiration for those who serve the sick.
2. Secondly, when Mary met Elizabeth her words, “My soul magnifies the Lord”, convey the hopeful expectations of the poor of the Lord and the awareness that God has fulfilled his promises remembering his mercy.  In Mary God looked on her lowliness and gave her a foretaste of the future.  Notice that the Magnificat is followed by silence and nothing is said about the three months when Mary stayed with her cousin, Elizabeth.  It reminds us as in all things in care of the sick that goodness works quietly and that the power of love is expressed in the unassuming quietness of daily service.
3. Thirdly, Mary witnesses to Christ’s victory.  Evil, death and sickness will not have the last word.  Mary confirms this by her whole life.  She is a living witness of the victory of Christ our Passover.  People who come to the grotto at Lourdes want to hear the motherly counsel of Mary, our Mother.  Mary is totally faithful to God’s will for her.  This is an invitation to us to know God’s plan.  We wish to learn from the lowly handmaid of the Lord an attitude of docility and openness to the word of God and a generous commitment to welcoming Christ’s teaching into our lives. 

For those who are sick; know that the Lord and his Mother understand and bless you.  For those who care for the sick, know that you are being invited to share in the care for those who are entering deeply into the Lord’s passion.  To all of us who pray, as Mary did, let us remember the mercy of God, so that we will be people of freedom and healed by the Lourdes waters we will know that Jesus gives life. 

“Christianity is truly a fountain of life and Mary is the first guardian of this fountain.  She points it out to all people, inviting them to renounce their pride and to learn humility so that they can draw from the mercy of her Son and thus work together for the dawn of the civilisation of love.”  (John Paul II, Lourdes, 15th August 2004.)

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.