Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sunday 8th September 2024
One of the stories associated with the title of ‘Our Lady of Good Hope,’ relates to the city of Dijon in eastern France. In 1513 the city was saved from an attack by Swiss and German forces who greatly outnumbered the army of Dijon. The enemy forces arrived on the 8th of September, the Feast of Our Lady’s Nativity. On Sunday, the 11th of September, villagers organized a procession after Mass. They carried a statue of Mary titled, Our Lady of Good Hope, and prayed to the Mother of God to spare them from the enemy. The following day a treaty was signed, and the conflict ended unexpectedly. Again, during World War II, the Nazis occupied Dijon, and the people prayed, “Our Lady of Good Hope, pray for us.” On the 11th of September the Nazi army unexpectedly left Dijon.
I suspect that the major reason for our parish church being named ‘Our Lady of Good Hope,’ is a connection with the title, ‘The Cape of Good Hope.’ The principle remains, however, that Mary is a mother to all those who are disciples of her son, Jesus, and her love and intercession reach into the lives of particular faith communities such as ours here in Sea Point.
What is Christian community? Is it necessary? Is it willed by God? Can’t we just get on with things on our own? In our westernized culture which prizes individuality so highly, we might easily fall into the trap of thinking that as Christians we can just focus on ourselves and our relationship with God; that we can deal with God individually. Well, while it may be true that each one of us needs to individually respond to God’s invitation to grace, God wants us to be a family, a community. God wants us to be connected to each other, know each other, and pray for each other. God wants to engage with us as a Christian community.
After the Ascension of Jesus there is an image of the Christian community which stands as a beacon and icon for us modern-day disciples in the parish of Our Lady of Good Hope. “The disciples went up into the upper room, with the apostles, and they devoted themselves to prayer, together with Mary the mother of Jesus.” They were in the upper room, the place of the first Mass, as we are in our parish church, the place of our Eucharist. They were with the apostles, as we are in the apostolic tradition, through the laying of hands and faithfulness to the teaching of the apostles. They devoted themselves to prayer, as we are here to offer the most perfect prayer, the Mass. They were gathered around Mary the mother of Jesus, as we are here gathered in the church named for Mary.
Pope Francis’ vision for each parish is that it be “a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary activity.” In the light of this, I have a dream that this parish will be filled with fully engaged people, people who are actively involved, and passionate about their faith and being disciples of Jesus.
I long for all the people of this parish to have a profound, ongoing personal encounter with Jesus Christ! How I wish that we would be evangelised first and foremost, instead of being just ‘sacramentalized,’ as is so common among Catholics. How much more the sacraments would mean and how much more fruitful they would be following a transforming encounter with Jesus Christ!
Pope Francis appeals to all of us to give ourselves to a “renewed personal encounter” with Jesus. He says, “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.” He says, “The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.”
After many years of priesthood, and of trying to live the Christian Faith, I have come to realize that at the heart of priestly commitment is a love- relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the cause for my happiness and joy. Nothing can make it worthwhile or sustainable, except an ongoing, always renewed personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It just wouldn’t make any sense apart from a continual encounter with the Jesus of the Gospels in my everyday life. I believe that this is fundamentally true for all of us in our faith commitment. I love the quote from St Augustine who says that: “to fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek him, the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.” In the person of Jesus Christ, we are able to fall in love with God; to seek him and find him.
Imagine if Sunday Mass could be a focal point, a highlight of the week, the point toward the whole parish is orientated. We can dream of a dynamic liturgy with beautiful music, and a choir singing at every Mass, leading the community in worship. Imagine if the weekday and Sunday Masses were full of people who hunger for the Word of God and the Sacrament, that nourishes us in our discipleship! Imagine if people came to Mass not just to fulfil the Sunday obligation but out of a genuine desire to be with the community and to satiate their longing for God.
Imagine our parish being truly missionary, that is, a parish made up of missionary disciples. Remember that the essential identity of the church, and therefore the identity of the Christian, is that it is missionary. The Great Commission of Jesus is that we must be about making disciples. Disciples make disciples of others. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be engaged in a lifelong process of learning from and about Jesus, the teacher.
When we are evangelised ourselves, when we have an encounter with Jesus Christ, we become disciples. And having become disciples, we necessarily become missionaries ourselves. Missionary disciples in this parish will be going out and actively sharing their faith with the unchurched and the lapsed, starting with their families. The witness of our lives alone is insufficient; we need to speak the Gospel to others so that it can be heard. Remember the beautiful description of evangelization that it is ... “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
Imagine an inviting and welcoming parish, a parish where all the parishioners know their own responsibility to invite and welcome people at Our Lady of Good Hope. Imagine a parish where all the parishioners fulfil their baptismal calling by taking their rightful roles in the running of parish activities; where parishioners don’t come just to receive what they need, but come to give, to serve, to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to them for the benefit of the whole community. Imagine a parish where all the parishioners are actively engaged.
Today as we celebrate the birthday of Our Lady, we remember her role in God’s plan for our salvation. Looking at the birth of Jesus as we read it in the Gospel for today, we see that God uses a simple, young woman of Israel woman named, Mary, as his instrument in the Incarnation. Mary shares our human nature, but she is completely faithful to God. She hears the Word of God and immediately acts on it. In this she is our model and mother. The great English poet, William Wordsworth called her “Our tainted nature's solitary boast”. Today we celebrate the life of Mary by remembering her birthday, and we give thanks to God for giving her to us as a mother.
Following the example of Mary, Our Lady of Good Hope, the one is the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, and asking for her intercession, we gather around her, in a community of prayer, faithful to the apostolic tradition, to celebrate the Eucharist. I invite you all to prayerfully consider your own role in our parish and the using of the gifts that the Lord has given to you for the building up of this parish community named for Our Lady.