Gallery links and Homily
Homily on the occasion of ASJM 50th Anniversary
“The love of God has been poured out into our hearts”, “Rejoice with me” – the joy of finding and being found. Here in the gospel is love that goes out to seek the sinner even before he or she repents. Such a love searches until the lost one is found. Note that all this takes place in the wilderness, a place of danger and threat. And the one who finds joyfully puts the lost sheep on his shoulders. Note the personal engagement of the shepherd, who carries the burden of the lost sheep and brings it home, calling his friends to celebrate. There is an invitation here to rejoice with the one who finds and to share in his joyous feast. It carries with it with an underlying question, “Can you join me in my rejoicing?”
We have a great deal to rejoice in tonight. Just over fifty years ago, on 25th February, 1957, the first band of five sisters came to the other side of the world, to an unknown vast continent, Australia, “questo paese di missione.” At the heart of the invitation they came through a friend of Sr Blandina’s father. Arriving by plane, which was such a long journey, they came at their own cost, not as immigrants. Only a few weeks later, on 12th March 1957 they began the school; their willingness to start is striking. Struggling with the English language, the sisters stayed with the Josephite Sisters for six months until they were able to move to their own convent. Each day after classes had ended they would then clean the school to be ready for the next. The sisters at headquarters in Malta thought that Australia was “too hard” and that they should come back, but Sr Evodia’s reply was “no”, and so they stayed because their mission was here. Sr Renata came in the second group to arrive.
In all some thirty sisters have served in Australia over these fifty years, evidence of a real commitment. So tonight we especially welcome Sr Atanasia, the Mother General, and Sr Miriam, the provincial. (I note that Sr Atanasia went from being superior in Australia for eighteen months to being mother general of the order. Obviously Australia is a good preparation ground for being a mother general. Should we now be saying to Sr Lorraine, “Watch out!!”?)
The sisters came for migrants from Italy and Malta, but they went where they were called – to Broken Hill from 1964 to 1969, Frankston from 1972 to 1980; North Sunshine and Avondale Heights. For the order this was a first move to the missions, followed later by others, to the Philippines, England, Africa, United States, India and Brazil. The sisters came as Augustinian Servants of Jesus and Mary. Their founder, the Servant of God, M. Teresa Spinelli, understood that education was her vocation.
She was convinced of the Augustinian principle that we love to the extent that we know, and we know to the extent that we love. And so she set up a first public school for girls in Frosinone, with an education that was to be for the whole person, spiritual, intellectual, moral and social. For her, God was everything, who dwells in us in love and comes to possess us in our nothingness and education was the surest means to enable a person to reach their Creator more fully.
This was her vision then and it is still that of her sisters today. What really counts is to know oneself surrounded by the love of God and to be convinced that Christ is alive and able to give life. With that in our hearts we move forward to grasp the whole of life, confident that we will not be mistaken. This was the spirit of those who came fifty years ago, and of those who have followed them.
At heart are the vows which the sisters will shortly renew in our midst. These vows were taken in the context of a rule of life. The value of such a rule is not in the words but in its ability to bring us to reality, the reality of things, of human beings and actions and especially the reality of God, Christ and the Church. Obedience combats our pride and spirit of independence. Poverty helps by attacking our tendency to self-inflation through possession and covetousness. Chastity purifies our affections bringing us to a love that is a gift of oneself to others and to God. And they’re all bound together by perseverance.
When you live this kind of life you have to return to its source a thousand times over, to follow with eyes directed towards the realities of faith rather than towards things more immediately accessible. This is an expectant gaze, but one free from pre-conceptions. This is a welcoming gaze for what is and always will be beyond, for the mystery within the infinitely near. This is a loving gaze which chooses, which desires to love. There is a purification in all this, a passage, a passover, a journey to the One who calls us to follow. It summons from us trust in his love, and the desire to return that love. It entails an exchange of friendship. Here our choice is called to respond to his, person to person, heart to heart.
Such a life calls for patience and perseverance in the situation in which God has placed us. It accepts what exists and is real, what is willed by God and included within the design of his providence. This includes the persons God puts at our side, the place, time, health and sickness, the play of events, all that moulds and forms us, oppresses us or lifts us up, makes us rebellious or sanctifies us. The essential thing is to recognise the will of God there, not shutting ourselves up within the frail confines of our own wisdom, but letting ourselves be moulded. This is easy to say, but hard to live. Patience and perseverance are the fruit of great force and great faith. It’s not resignation, but the deliberate embracing of a dearly loved will. To live this life is an act of love all the purer because it only has one thing to say, like Mary, “fiat”, “thy will be done.” It calls us to see this same love, this same will, in all the circumstances, pleasant or unpleasant, that surround our life.
To come back to tonight’s gospel. If you look closely, the joy of the one who finds the lost sheep is not just in the party at the end, nor even in the finding, though these are moments of true joy. It’s also in taking up the sheep and carrying it home, burden and all. As the gospel says, “Would he not joyfully take it up on his shoulders?” This is the challenge and question put to us tonight as we give thanks for fifty years of faithful service in our midst. Can we each also take up our lives in love and service, and do it joyfully as they, the Augustinian Sisters, have done?
What makes up our life are the materials given to us to create a work of art. A masterpiece is not such because it is made of expensive material, but because of the beauty it expresses. You can sketch beautifully with a piece of charcoal. Sisters, you have followed Christ with what has been given to you, building on what is solid, on Christ, building Christ himself, who is the image of God. All of us here, your family, your Augustinian Order, your loved ones, your past and present students, your fellow parishioners, your companions on the journey and those you serve, honour the grace at work in you and praise God for it on this 50th anniversary celebration. May it be blessed in all fruitfulness and love.
Fr Terry Curtin (Main Celebrant)
We have a great deal to rejoice in tonight. Just over fifty years ago, on 25th February, 1957, the first band of five sisters came to the other side of the world, to an unknown vast continent, Australia, “questo paese di missione.” At the heart of the invitation they came through a friend of Sr Blandina’s father. Arriving by plane, which was such a long journey, they came at their own cost, not as immigrants. Only a few weeks later, on 12th March 1957 they began the school; their willingness to start is striking. Struggling with the English language, the sisters stayed with the Josephite Sisters for six months until they were able to move to their own convent. Each day after classes had ended they would then clean the school to be ready for the next. The sisters at headquarters in Malta thought that Australia was “too hard” and that they should come back, but Sr Evodia’s reply was “no”, and so they stayed because their mission was here. Sr Renata came in the second group to arrive.
In all some thirty sisters have served in Australia over these fifty years, evidence of a real commitment. So tonight we especially welcome Sr Atanasia, the Mother General, and Sr Miriam, the provincial. (I note that Sr Atanasia went from being superior in Australia for eighteen months to being mother general of the order. Obviously Australia is a good preparation ground for being a mother general. Should we now be saying to Sr Lorraine, “Watch out!!”?)
The sisters came for migrants from Italy and Malta, but they went where they were called – to Broken Hill from 1964 to 1969, Frankston from 1972 to 1980; North Sunshine and Avondale Heights. For the order this was a first move to the missions, followed later by others, to the Philippines, England, Africa, United States, India and Brazil. The sisters came as Augustinian Servants of Jesus and Mary. Their founder, the Servant of God, M. Teresa Spinelli, understood that education was her vocation.
She was convinced of the Augustinian principle that we love to the extent that we know, and we know to the extent that we love. And so she set up a first public school for girls in Frosinone, with an education that was to be for the whole person, spiritual, intellectual, moral and social. For her, God was everything, who dwells in us in love and comes to possess us in our nothingness and education was the surest means to enable a person to reach their Creator more fully.
This was her vision then and it is still that of her sisters today. What really counts is to know oneself surrounded by the love of God and to be convinced that Christ is alive and able to give life. With that in our hearts we move forward to grasp the whole of life, confident that we will not be mistaken. This was the spirit of those who came fifty years ago, and of those who have followed them.
At heart are the vows which the sisters will shortly renew in our midst. These vows were taken in the context of a rule of life. The value of such a rule is not in the words but in its ability to bring us to reality, the reality of things, of human beings and actions and especially the reality of God, Christ and the Church. Obedience combats our pride and spirit of independence. Poverty helps by attacking our tendency to self-inflation through possession and covetousness. Chastity purifies our affections bringing us to a love that is a gift of oneself to others and to God. And they’re all bound together by perseverance.
When you live this kind of life you have to return to its source a thousand times over, to follow with eyes directed towards the realities of faith rather than towards things more immediately accessible. This is an expectant gaze, but one free from pre-conceptions. This is a welcoming gaze for what is and always will be beyond, for the mystery within the infinitely near. This is a loving gaze which chooses, which desires to love. There is a purification in all this, a passage, a passover, a journey to the One who calls us to follow. It summons from us trust in his love, and the desire to return that love. It entails an exchange of friendship. Here our choice is called to respond to his, person to person, heart to heart.
Such a life calls for patience and perseverance in the situation in which God has placed us. It accepts what exists and is real, what is willed by God and included within the design of his providence. This includes the persons God puts at our side, the place, time, health and sickness, the play of events, all that moulds and forms us, oppresses us or lifts us up, makes us rebellious or sanctifies us. The essential thing is to recognise the will of God there, not shutting ourselves up within the frail confines of our own wisdom, but letting ourselves be moulded. This is easy to say, but hard to live. Patience and perseverance are the fruit of great force and great faith. It’s not resignation, but the deliberate embracing of a dearly loved will. To live this life is an act of love all the purer because it only has one thing to say, like Mary, “fiat”, “thy will be done.” It calls us to see this same love, this same will, in all the circumstances, pleasant or unpleasant, that surround our life.
To come back to tonight’s gospel. If you look closely, the joy of the one who finds the lost sheep is not just in the party at the end, nor even in the finding, though these are moments of true joy. It’s also in taking up the sheep and carrying it home, burden and all. As the gospel says, “Would he not joyfully take it up on his shoulders?” This is the challenge and question put to us tonight as we give thanks for fifty years of faithful service in our midst. Can we each also take up our lives in love and service, and do it joyfully as they, the Augustinian Sisters, have done?
What makes up our life are the materials given to us to create a work of art. A masterpiece is not such because it is made of expensive material, but because of the beauty it expresses. You can sketch beautifully with a piece of charcoal. Sisters, you have followed Christ with what has been given to you, building on what is solid, on Christ, building Christ himself, who is the image of God. All of us here, your family, your Augustinian Order, your loved ones, your past and present students, your fellow parishioners, your companions on the journey and those you serve, honour the grace at work in you and praise God for it on this 50th anniversary celebration. May it be blessed in all fruitfulness and love.
Fr Terry Curtin (Main Celebrant)