Feast of St Norbert

Homily

Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth

Friday 6 June, 2025
St Norbert's College, Queens Park

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As many of you know, your college began its official existence sixty years ago with a solemn blessing and opening on 7 February 1965. Sixty years is a long time, and many things have changed since your school first opened.

In 1965 there were no computers, no mobile phones, no social media, and, at least in Catholic education, very few if any co-educational secondary schools. Many of the teachers were priests or religious sisters or religious brothers. Catholics were just getting used to having the Mass celebrated in English rather than in Latin and also getting used to the fact that the priest celebrated the Mass facing the people rather than with his back to the people. And, of course, there was no AFL and certainly no West Coast Eagles or Fremantle Dockers.

While many things have changed, there are also many things which have stayed the same, not because people were frightened to change but because some things are so important and so precious that we want to hang onto them. One of those important things is our Christian faith, the way it is lived within our Catholic tradition and for you here at Saint Norbert’s College the way in which the life of Saint Norbert and the long tradition of the Norbertines continues to guide so much of what happens in this school.

When something lasts for sixty years, or for 900 years as the Norbertines have, or for over two thousand years as the Catholic Church has, we can be sure that we are dealing with something very special. Because the College is still alive and vibrant, because the Norbertines are also still vibrant, and because the Catholic Church continues to be strong, we can be sure that there is something of great value in all this which we would be foolish to cast aside.

Today’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of your school, therefore, is an invitation to every single one of us to just ask ourselves about what that something special in the Catholic faith and in the Norbert tradition might be.

This morning, I want to suggest just three things which might help us answer that question.

The first thing comes from the first reading in today’s Mass. It is the idea that the first followers of Jesus understood themselves to be not isolated individuals who should only think of themselves, but rather people who belonged together, who could rely on each other, and who understood that they were responsible for each other and had a responsibility to care for each other. This is a simple idea, of course, but it is very characteristic of people who look to Jesus Christ as a guide for their lives. You could sum up his life by saying that he saw his life as a gift to be given away to everybody else. And Saint Norbert, who as a faithful follower of Jesus was, as your school motto reminds us, ready for every kind of good work, was always looking for ways in which he could be of service to others.

The second idea comes from the second reading in today’s Mass. In this reading Saint Paul is offering lots of good advice to those to whom he is writing. Among the many things he says is this: love each other as much as brothers and sisters should, and have a profound respect for each other. These words are very important, especially the advice that we should all have a profound respect for each other. Any community, including Saint Norbert’s College, will be a happy and peaceful place if people respect each other. Here in Australia, we live in a very multicultural society, and I am sure that Saint Norbert’s College is a reflection of this reality. We have people from every part of the world: different cultures, languages, religions, and traditions.

We hope to be a tolerant society which recognises and accepts these differences. But our Catholic tradition asks us for something more:  we don’t want to just acknowledge differences; we want to be deeply respectful of differences. The reason, of course, is that beyond all the differences there is something which is common to us all: we are all children of God, called into existence by God, deeply loved by God, and all destined to be with God forever. If God loves us in our difference, then we should do our very best to love each other in our difference and not reject, criticise or persecute others because they are different. This is basic to our Christian and Catholic faith and also basic to the long tradition of the Norbertines who, although they come from every part of the world, live together in communities where everyone is different but always accepted and respected. Certainly, in your school which is based on the Catholic and Norbertine tradition, this should be very typical of your own school experience day by day.

The last thought comes from this morning’s gospel in which Jesus, through the telling of a story, reminds us that each one of us has been given special gifts which God wants us to use in a productive way. In a Catholic school like Saint Norbert’s, one of the main responsibilities of the school is to help each student to recognise, develop, and give thanks to God for the particular gifts and talents that you have received. It is here, I think, that your school motto to which I have already referred can help us. Like Saint Norbert, and like his followers across the centuries, you too are being called to be ready for every good work. But, of course, not everyone can do everything. The good work that you are called to do will become clear as you learn to recognise what your particular skills and talents are. And here, of course, we have to be realistic. It’s no good wanting to be a contender for the Brownlow Medal if you don’t have the skills to be a top AFL footballer. It’s no good wanting to be a landscape gardener if you just can’t grasp the difference between a plant and a poisonous weed!

Today’s celebration challenges all of us is to work out how we can hold these three things together in our lives: to learn to put other people and their needs before our own; to develop that respect for others which allows us not just to tolerate differences, but to celebrate them; and to recognise our own particular skills, talents and gifts and develop them in ways that can enrich the lives of others. This is not an easy challenge, but God does not give us challenges without giving us what we need to rise to them. On Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when God sent the Holy Spirit to the first Christian community to give it the grace and strength it would need to be all that God wanted it to be. God continues to give the gift of His Holy Spirit to us to help us be all that God wants us to be: all we have to do is say yes to the gift which God is giving us.