Homily given by Bishop Anthony Randazzo
Bishop of Broken Bay
Mass for Expectant Mothers
Our Lady of Dolours Church, Chatswood
Monday 12 December 2022
To conceive a child and bring it to birth is one of the great miracles of life. It is one of those amazing moments, worth pondering, that a woman and a man have been given the gift to co-create with God.
To conceive a child is to have been given the splendid ability of creating an eternal life out of nothing. Human beings are the only creatures who share in this gift from God. Imagine, the angels of heaven are powerful in wisdom and intelligence, yet they cannot create life. God is Love, and Love in its purest form is always self-giving and life-giving.
It takes a man and a woman to conceive a child. They give themselves so completely that from their love new life begins. Of course, the couple know that it is not just the two of them that produce this unique human being. The woman and man give the genetic material to form a new child, yet it is God that creates the human soul that joins with the body to exist for eternity.
The gift of new life, seen so clearly in the birth of a small and innocent baby, is a sign that the human family is called to bring to birth the Kingdom of God in our world. The gift of human life is a reminder that we are united to the eternal paradise God has waiting for us. Life begins at the moment of conception. It is the woman who nurtures and supports the child within her own body. She is doubly blessed to co-create and to sustain new life. One only has to listen to mothers to know that this blessing can, at times, also be a burden. And yet, the burden of childbearing must never turn upon the greatest gift, the child, turning it into a competitor, an intruder, or worse still, an inconvenience.
It is appropriate that as we celebrate the great Mother of God, Mary most holy, under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we do so in this church dedicated to the Sorrowful Mother. Mary, the sorrowful Mother, stands alongside the cross. The Cross of Christ is both a burden and the source of all our joy!
There is no mistaking that Jesus’ death on the cross was agonizing. There is no avoiding the pain and humiliation. For someone without faith, it is simply futile and shameful! Yet, we Christians hold the cross in honour. The crucifix has a different message. As Saint Paul insists, for those with faith it is a sign of God’s love – a God who loved the world so much that He sent His only Son so that the world might have life to the full cf. Jn 3:16; 10:10. The cross also conveys Divine power. God raised up Jesus from death and opened for us a way beyond this earthly life to eternal life with God.
By uniting ourselves with the suffering one, our own suffering can be destroyed. By taking up the cross, we follow Christ, who walked in the midst of many difficulties to face the challenge that lay before him. By uniting ourselves to the holy one, our own holiness can be restored! To understand the cross, it is essential that we turn to the Gospels. When Jesus spoke of his suffering, death, and resurrection, the disciples were terrified and they were confused Mk 8, 27-38. They were empty, with a great feeling of nothingness inside of them. They did not understand Jesus’ words about the cross, because they were not capable of understanding or accepting a Messiah who became the servant. Rather, they continued to dream of a glorious Messiah. When Jesus announced his Passion and Death, they discussed who among them would be the greatest. Jesus wants to serve; they only think of commanding! Ambition leads them to promote themselves at the cost of Jesus.
For Jesus, the Cross is no secret nor is it an optional extra. It is essential. While He was with them, the disciples listened to Jesus, but they did not understand what he was saying about the Cross. In fairness to the disciples, such knowledge will always be imperfect this side of the grave. And yet, the search for an ever-deeper understanding of Christ crucified is life’s great adventure (Archbishop Rush, 29 Nov 1991).
It was only after the resurrection, with the appearance of Jesus, that they began to see with some clarity what it was all about. And the knowledge of Jesus was uncontainable! They had to tell others, not because they were ordered to... but because knowing Jesus compels one to share that knowledge with others. It is impossible to keep the Good News of Jesus Christ to ourselves!
If Jesus did not die and truly rise from the dead, our faith would be empty and our hope for eternal life would be in vain! Where there is no expectation of life beyond the grave, then only earthly life has value. And yet, in our time there are antagonists who champion the destruction of human life at its most vulnerable stage, and by this, I mean the unborn life carried in the womb of a mother. Each and every time human life is conceived the child is a reminder of God’s love for His creation and we are reminded of God’s desire for our eternal life. God’s ongoing commitment to His covenant is a reminder of the sacredness of human life from conception until natural death.
My sisters and brothers, Christ crucified is the ultimate sign of God’s love for us and for the world.
The covenant God made with Abraham includes his wife, Sarah; it extends to Isaac and Rebecca; embracing Jacob and Rachel; coming to fulfilment in Joseph and Mary, who brought to birth the new covenant – Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
For the believer, the cross does not end in the darkness of the tomb, but rather, it opens the door to Paradise. To paraphrase Saint Paul, the message of the Cross seems foolish to those who are perishing, but for us, it is the power of God who saves us. And so, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to proclaim by word and deed the fulfilment of the kingdom of God in the world in which we live.
As we pray for expectant mothers today, we also pray for the life of the unborn child. Like the sorrowful Mother standing by the cross, our lives will be transformed into the joy that comes from knowing Christ crucified, and Him alone.