Today, as we celebrate the feast of ‘Our Lady help of Christians’, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (19: 25-27) in which Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her at the foot of cross, entrusts her to his care.

Fr Paul uses the words of the Gospel to begin this reflection:

‘This is your mother.’

Under the title of Help of Christians, Mary was chosen as Patroness of Australasia by the First Provincial Synod, convened by the then Archbishop Bede Polding, in Sydney in 1844. The fledgling colonies needed Mary’s help at that time, as the nation still does today. We are helped through Mary’s powerful intercession, and through the example of her life that we find in the Gospels.

On this special day for Australia and for our Church, Fr Paul invites us to pray: Our Lady, Help of Christians…Pray for us!