Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Homily

Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth

Wednesday 16 July, 2025
Carmelite Monastery, Nedlands

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The gospel chosen for today’s Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel invites us to turn our eyes to another mountain, the hill of Calvary, and reflect on the presence of Mary standing on that mountain, that hill, as she watched her son die an agonising death on the Cross.

Many of those who, for one reason or another found themselves on that hill on that terrible afternoon, would have seen nothing but defeat, the destruction of hopes and dreams, and a frightening display of violence and cruelty. But, as Saint Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthians, If the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being lost, to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

We cannot be sure what was going through the mind of Mary as she watched her son die. The gospels do not tell us. We do, however, have some sense of what was going through the mind of Jesus. One of the gospel traditions will tell us that as Jesus was dying He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” It is not hard to imagine that a similar cry was rising up from the heart of Mary - “Why, O Lord, has it come to this? Have you abandoned your Son - and mine?”

Another gospel tradition tells us that as Jesus was dying He prayed, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit”. Perhaps Mary, too, was praying the same prayer, entrusting her son into His Heavenly Father’s care.

This is the strange paradox which the gospel presents to us: that we can feel lost, betrayed and abandoned and at the same time not lose our trust in God and in our belief in God’s love for us. All of us, whether we are lay people, religious or clergy, will often find ourselves in this strange situation. Reflection on the suffering and death of Jesus, which this morning’s gospel invites us into, can be a source of hope that the greatest trials, though they may test us to our limits, do not have to lead us away from God but rather have the power to lead us more fully into the mystery of God and of God’s presence in our lives.

We can be sure that this was true of Mary. From the moment that Mary said “yes” to the angel Gabriel, and accepted God‘s invitation to become the mother of the Messiah, Mary‘s life was marked by great suffering and unwavering faith. We might say that the suffering tested and deepened her faith, and that her faith enabled her to endure the suffering without ever giving in to despair.

Each gospel tells the story of Mary’s faith and of her suffering differently. The gospel of Mark speaks only briefly of Mary while the gospel of Matthew has a little more to say, especially in the retelling of the stories of Jesus’ birth. The gospel of Luke is much more expansive on the role of Mary, revealing in greater detail the inner workings of Mary’s mind and heart as the reality of her “yes” - here I am, the servant of the Lord: let it be done to me according to your word - is lived out in the daily reality of her life.

It is in John’s gospel, however, that the significance of the role of Mary, both in the life of Jesus and also in the life of the Church, is revealed. Mary only appears twice in the gospel; once in the village of Cana where Jesus works his first miracle and then again at the foot of the Cross as he bows his head in death and gives up his spirit.

At Cana it is the unwavering faith of Mary in the word of Jesus which, in spite of the seeming reluctance of Jesus to act, leads to the transformation of the water into wine. “Do whatever he tells you”, says Mary to the stewards. Today, and every day, Mary says the same to us. Do whatever he tells you, say yes to whatever he asks of you, listen carefully and deeply to him and respond with generosity and courage.

The Carmelite sisters whom we have joined for today’s celebration are a powerful symbol in our Archdiocese of the importance of listening to the Lord and of responding in faith. They would be the first to acknowledge, I am sure, that this is as much as struggle for them as it is for the rest of us. God does not call perfect people to the religious life - if He did every convent, monastery and religious house in the world would be empty! But what God does do, as Saint Paul says, is to choose the weak and make them strong in bearing witness to him.

The fidelity, the constancy, and the stability of the sisters is a precious gift of God to them and, through them, to us. This gift reminds us that, in the end, it is only God who can make sense of our lives. This fidelity and constancy of the sisters finds its  model in the faith of Mary at Cana and in the courage and fidelity of Mary as she stands, strong and steadfast, at the foot of the Cross.

Some of the early Fathers of the Church would recognise two Pentecosts in the New Testament tradition. One, of course, is the story of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary and the disciples gathered in prayer after Jesus had ascended to His Father. The other is the scene presented to us in today’s gospel. As Jesus bows his head in death, He breathes forth His Spirit which comes to rest on Mary and the Beloved Disciple who stand at the foot of the Cross as symbols of the Church which is born through the life-giving death of the Lord. The mother of Jesus is the symbol of faith and fidelity and the Beloved Disciple is the symbol of discipleship. Jesus unites them to each other - “Mother, here is your son; Son, here is your mother”. A new family is formed, the family of the Church, born of the Spirit of God - and Mary, within the Church, is the Church’s mother.

For us today, the Mount of Carmel and the hill of Calvary meld together to become the mountain of the Lord, the dwelling place of God, the home of the family of God, the family to which we all belong. As we rejoice with the sisters of their feast day let us recognise that is also our feast day, for we are all brothers and sisters together and Mary is our mother.