Issuu

25 MAY 2023

www.therecord.com.au

Edition #434

MARY IS THE GREAT SYMBOL OF OUR FAITH, SAYS ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE

Archbishop Costelloe with Acolyte Rudy D’Cunha, Altar Servers Athalie and William Nguyen, Assistant Priest Fr Mark Rucci, Parish Priest Fr John Jegorow and Acolyte Ross Scholz on the occasion of the blessing of the new statue of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Ballajura, Comforter of Migrants, Sunday 21 May. PHOTO: JAMIE O'BRIEN.

By Jamie O'Brien

Every Christian needs to have the words emblazoned on their heart “Do whatever he tells you,” Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has said, in blessing a new statue of the Virgin Mary at St Mary MacKillop Church, Ballajura Parish. The new statue, which was made in Vietnam, is titled Our Lady of Ballajura, Comforter of Migrants and stands on a plinth in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Mary MacKillop Church with the words, “Do Whatever He Tells You”. Joining Archbishop Costelloe for the blessing liturgy, prior to the commencement of the 9am Mass, was Parish Priest Fr John Jegorow and Assistant Fr Mark Rucci. Following the proclamation of the wedding feast in Cana (John 2),

Archbishop Costelloe explained that the quality that shines out most strongly in the Virgin Mary is her faith. “She’s the great symbol of faith,” Archbishop Costellloe explained. “And that's true, not just in St John's Gospel, but in the other gospels as well.” “And we see it in this Gospel, where you've just heard the wine runs out, that the bride and groom are embarrassed, their families are probably embarrassed, Mary's embarrassed for them, and she wants to try and help them, but she can't do anything. “So she goes to her son, because she has faith - that not only can he do something - but he will do something. Mary didn’t get the response at least it looks that way - she

might have expected, continued Archbishop Costelloe, with Jesus responding, ‘Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not yet come.’ (John 2: 4). “If we got that response, we might have walked away and thought, oh well I did my best.” “She knew her son better, she had greater faith in her son,” Archbishop Costelloe reinforced. “So even though she got that response, she immediately went to the steward and says the wonderful words - which I think every Christian really needs to have emblazoned on his or her heart – ‘Do whatever He tells you’. “That's Mary's message to them and of course, it's Mary's message to us. She doesn't want us focusing too much on her. She wants us to allow her to help us to focus on the Lord, and listen to Him and do what He needs.” Parish Priest Fr John Jegorow said many Catholics love statues of the Mother of God and the saints. “Pope Francis has been inviting us to add this title to our prayers,” Fr John explained, referring to Pope Francis’ announcement of June 2020. “Mary is our model follower of Christ, particularly with the popularity of the Rosary,” he said. “There are many titles for the Virgin Mary and so here in the Parish of Ballajura we ask Her to accompany us – a parish that is very much a migrant parish,” Fr John reinforced. Continuing his speech, Archbishop Costelloe said that in blessing the statue, he hopes all those present might follow the beautiful quality of deep faith that Mary has. Full Text available at