Homilies and Addresses 2007
Mass for Religious

Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart
at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
on Sunday, 2nd February, 2007 at 7.30am

Introduction

(As in the Roman Missal)

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

“My eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared
for all the nations to see.” (Luke 2:30-31)

With Simeon’s words and the praise of Anna ringing in our ears we see Jesus, who provides for our personal life and through our devoted holiness brings us to eternal life.

The link between the candle-light giving of itself, which we carried in the procession before Mass, and the giving of our own personal life shows: - just as Christ gave himself to save the world and be its light, so, we as followers of Christ, witness to him in the life of the Church and seek to acquire a deep personal holiness.  “It will be Christ shining on others through me”, as Cardinal Newman reflected.

The texts of tonight’s Mass make this abundantly clear.  The Lord has promised Jesus as his messenger:  “Who is the king of glory?  The Lord.”  We are set free by the action of Christ, our compassionate High Priest, and by conforming ourselves to him daily, having seen the salvation, going on our mission in peace.

In the fifth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews we see this brought out even more clearly.  “During his life on earth Jesus offered up prayer and entreaty aloud and in silent tears to the one who had power to save him out of death and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard … he learned to obey through suffering … and being made perfect he became, for all who obey him, the source of eternal salvation.”  (Hebrews 5:7-9)

Christ calls us to a way of obedience, as Mary did.  She followed Jesus through his suffering, allowing her heart to be pierced by sorrow, seeing her Son go to the cross. 

The mystery of religious life is expressed very clearly in imitating Mary’s suffering and daily self-giving.  On this day last year Pope Benedict said:  “Bringing her Son to Jerusalem, the Virgin Mother offered him to God as a true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.  She held him out to Simeon and Anna as the proclamation of redemption; she presented him to all as a light for a safe journey on the path of truth and love.”

The witness of consecrated religious, like that of Simeon, is very significant.  Simeon was the bearer of an ancient hope and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to his heart.  He recognised Christ as the Saviour, but he saw that the destinies of humanity would be played out around Jesus and that he would have to suffer deeply from those who rejected him.  Similarly, Anna’s suffering and penance shows the yearning for redemption, which is a common part of our heritage.

As religious, priests and bishop, we are united to live as Jesus did knowing God with us.  The presence of religious and our activity and witness shows in a forgetful world that God’s kingdom is present and active.  Perhaps a great challenge for us is always to be seen clearly as religious, to speak with warmth and confidence of the things of God, to pray with people, to draw them to him in personal holiness.

As Pope Benedict said:  “Your way of living and working can vividly express full belonging to the one Lord; placing yourselves without reserve in the hands of Christ and of the Church is a strong and clear proclamation of God’s presence in a language understandable to our contemporaries.  This is the first service that the consecrated life offers to the Church and to the world.  Consecrated persons are like watchmen among the people of God who perceive and proclaim the new life already present in our history.” 

More so than ever this year, when recently the young Liberals put as part of their idea that God would be absent from the school curriculum, our people need the witness of the Church, the convincing, loving prayer and witness of religious, your faithfulness to the Church Universal and what she asks, rather than the living of individual whims.  If we speak only of secular things to our lay friends then they are missing out and so are we, because we are not being the great instruments of grace God has called us to be.

May God renew in you all this day the joyful commitment that you made at your profession and may your presence in the world encourage our people to realise the jewel in the Church’s life that is shown by your religious life.

May Mary, the most holy woman on earth, help you to live your special vocation to the full.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.