HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B – St. Mary’s Basilica, Sydney

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
St. Mary’s Basilica, Sydney

The recent sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for a record $A591M drew renewed attention to all Leonardo’s works. One is the famous fresco of The Last Supper in the refectory of the Dominican Priory in Milan. It’s a miracle it has survived, given its deterioration over the years, the use of that Refectory as stables for Napoleon’s horses, the allied bombardment of the city in World War II and, worst of all, its being in the keeping of neglectful Dominicans: it was they who blithely cut a door through the bottom of the fresco!

According to legend, when da Vinci was preparing to paint his masterpiece, he searched high and low for a model for Christ innocent and compassionate in features. He spotted a youthful chorister in Milan cathedral, Pietro Bandinelli, and had him sit for him. Some years later, the fresco still incomplete, Leonardo conducted another search, this time for a model for Judas. People suggested the most villainous guy in town, a man of cold, hardened, saturnine appearance. When Leonardo asked him his name he replied, “Pietro Bandinelli – I sat for you a few years back.”

In Advent the Church makes quite fuss of another young man: John the Baptist. His was a life of preparation for Christ’s Advent, the climax of centuries of waiting for the Messiah. “A voice that cries in the wilderness”, John’s was the last voice of long muted prophecy, calling as of old for repentance but with a new urgency, for salvation was at hand. John bound so that Jesus might loose (Jn 1:6-8, 19-28). John consigned all to sin, that Jesus might save from sin. John, who was “not the light”, shone the light of Christ into the murky recesses of men’s hearts, so that all might be cleansed.

That is why John baptized, though he was no Christ. His baptism recalled the Exodus, when all Israel passed through water from death to life, captivity to liberty, sin to salvation. As he readily told his interrogators, he could save no one. His preaching and baptism only highlighted the need and hope for One who might fulfil those hopes and needs.

This is the paradox of salvation: not even God-made-man can save people who don’t want to be saved, don’t think they need to be. Try dragging someone out of the surf who you think is drowning but who regards themselves as perfectly fine and see what reaction you get! Repentance requires recognizing fault and fessing up. Absolution cannot be forced any more than love.

John binds. His ministry highlights the need to beat our breasts and declare in all honesty “through my fault”. Without such binding there can be no loosing, no aqueous solution to dissolve away dirt, no ab-solution in which to solve the sin. Only those who know need, feel trapped, are sick of body or soul greet as good news the Prophet’s promise of hope for the poor, liberty for captives, healing for the broken-hearted (Isa 61:1-11). Only wretches like Pietro Bandinelli, who recognize they should be so much more than Judas models, dream of the image of God being restored in them. As the Church’s nose is again rubbed in the sins of some of its clergy, religious and lay workers, the failures of some of its leaders to respond, and the terrible hurt that was thus done to victims, we recognize that new life only comes after death, blossoming after pruning, humility after humiliation.

In Sydney this week past we had a glimpse of that possibility on the faces of the 19,000 young people who took part in the Australian Catholic Youth Festival. Like Bandinelli each might yet go in either of two directions. But for now they stood up for faith and ideals and said loud and clear: whatever the past failures, we can have hope for ourselves and our families, our Church and world. Those young people were not naïve about the shames in our past or the trials in our future. But they want to be part of the answer to both. And they are generously responding the call to be the priests and prophets, servant-leaders and saints, the spiritual heroes we need for our times. Like the Christmas Babe promised on Gaudete Sunday, like the Saviour of the World pointed out by John the Baptist, they give us hope for the future. And they do so because they know, love and serve that Babe, that Saviour, whose Last Supper Leonardo so famously depicted.

On the second night of the festival the young people gathered for a concert, for song and dance, fun and fellowship. They explored their faith and hopes in several ways. And then they took part in Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament of that Last Supper, of that World Saviour. 15,000 or so of them, many of whom had never experienced Adoration before, knelt in perfect silence, in beautiful reverence, moved and moving. One of the securitymen – I don’t know his religion, if any, but he was no churchgoer – had tears running down his cheeks as he witnessed the beauty of Christ the Saviour looking out at him in the Eucharist and the response of our young people. That is Advent!

Come Lord Jesus, Come Saviour of the Church and the world. Save our world from its pride. Save our Church from her sins.

INTRODUCTION TO MASS FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
St. Mary’s Basilica, Sydney

Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral on this ‘Gaudete’ or Rejoicing Sunday. The day takes its name from the first word of our Introit. Like the umpteen parties around our city anticipating Christmas, so the Church today cannot contain its excitement at the prospect of the Feast ahead and so already dons the rose hues of rejoicing.

In that spirit the Friends of St Mary’s have arranged an early Christmas present for our cathedral. When it was raised to the dignity of a “Minor Basilica” by Pope Pius XI in 1930, in recognition of its pre-eminence in history and beauty among the churches of Sydney and Australia, St Mary’s was granted the privileges of keeping the ‘Umbraculum’ (or ceremonial umbrella) that shelters the Pope and the ‘Tintinnabulum’ (or pole bell) that alerts people to his coming and using these in its most solemn liturgical processions. It’s taken only 87 years for St Mary’s to acquire them, and we thank the donors.

Today we will also bless the new choir hassocks or kneeling cushions designed by our assistant sacristan, Ben Pollock, and made by Christine McCarthy and her team of child and adult tapestry weavers. They draw upon images of musical angels from the cathedral windows, and some are dedicated to deceased loved ones. Each cushion required 100+ hours of work, but all were completed in time to mark the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Cathedral choir in 1818. So, to St Mary’s Basilica and all who sail in her: a very rejoice-ful Gaudete Sunday!
We rejoice at Christ’s imminent coming, all too aware of the storm clouds around our Church and other institutions following the final report of the Royal Commission. I will make a statement about those matters after Communion. But for now we light our Advent candle in repentance and hope.

STATEMENT AFTER HOLY COMMUNION

These are excerpts from my statement published throughout the Archdiocese today, following the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.

First and foremost, I want to express my respect for the survivors of child sexual abuse by Church personnel, who have lived with the consequences of abuse for a lifetime and will continue to do so. Many told their stories to the Royal Commission with great courage, even at great personal cost, revisiting traumatic experiences. I say again how sorry I am that they were hurt in this way by people they should have been able to trust…

I also thank the Commissioners and staff for their dedication to listening to the survivors patiently and compassionately, analysing the causes of this terrible scourge, and proposing ways of preventing any recurrence.

The final report comprises 17 volumes, covering nearly five years of hearings. It will take time to digest but it will not sit on any shelf. I will study the findings and recommendations carefully, and then provide a detailed response as we discern, with the rest of the community, the best way forward… But I understand how this has damaged the credibility of the Church in the broader community, and shocked many of our own faithful. If we are to be worthy of people’s trust we must demonstrate going forward that the rights of children to be safe, heard and responded to appropriately are always respected.

The final report of the Royal Commission has much to say to us and we will have much to learn. But I want to assure you we have begun the work. For at least the past two decades, the Church in Australia has been trying to respond to these concerns. We’ve come a long way from where we were when most of these terrible crimes occurred in the 1960s, 70s and 80s… Today we are far more focused on the selection, preparation and professional development of Church personnel; on boundaries, warning signs, appropriate interventions and complaint handling. Laypeople, especially women, are now involved on many levels in shaping and running these activities.

Nationally, the Church has established Catholic Professional Standards Ltd with the expertise and independence to develop credible new standards in safeguarding children and vulnerable people, and to audit compliance.

Locally, I’ve established an Office for Safeguarding and Ministerial Integrity to focus on preventative strategies and Sydney Catholic Schools have been similarly proactive. We also now have parish safeguarding officers and other initiatives. But I can assure you I will not rest there and I commit myself and the Catholic Church in Sydney to do our best for survivors of abuse to ensure this terrible chapter is never repeated.

We will, I pray, be a humbler, purer, more compassionate Church as a result of the Commission’s work and the scrutiny we have received. I continue to pray for justice and healing of survivors; for wisdom and compassion for leaders and carers; for repentance by perpetrators; for grace for those tempted to lose faith or hope; for safety for all young people; and for consolation for all affected. I ask you all to join me in that prayer.