Our Lady, Help of Christians
This Saturday, 24th May, is the feast day of Our Lady Help of Christians.
This feast day has particular meaning here in New Zealand as the country was dedicated to Our Lady at the very beginning of the practice of the Catholic faith in our country. During the first Mass celebrated on New Zealand soil in 1838, New Zealand was offered by Bishop Pompallier in honour of Mary, Mother of God. Six years later in 1844, he declared Mary, Help of Christians, the principal patron of New Zealand. This historic connection to Our Lady continues through our Cathedral with it’s dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and his Mother Mary at it’s opening in 1901.
What does this mean to us today, 180 years after that dedication. Mary is still a treasured advocate and example to each one of us, a real presence in our lives. Through the Gospel we have the story of her experiences, the hardships, sorrows and joys. She becomes real to us through her very human worldly experiences; just like any mother watching her son grow and take his place in the world. All can identify with the worry and anguish she must have felt throughout Jesus’s life from the moment she was called to be the Mother of God’s Son till she stood at the foot of the Cross.
Her greatest gift to us is the example of trust in God shown through her acceptance of the invitation to be the Mother of Jesus and the faith that guided her life from that moment on.
May each of us look to the example set by Mary, to treasure “all these things” in our hearts and trust that the power of Jesus will transform our lives, even when we do not understand.
God Bless, Jane Kelly
