Mary MacKillop  - An Inspiration for Today

Next Tuesday, 8th August, is the feast day of Australia’s only canonised saint. This poignant poem speaks about Mary and her vision.

Poem for Miss Mary MacKillop, of Fitzroy. By Brian Doyle

Today’s startling news: Australia’s only recognised Catholic saint, So far, was born on Brunswick Street, in Fitzroy!

Now, you might wonder why this is an astonishing bit of ironic and amazing news, If you have never been to Fitzroy, a rough neighbourhood in the tall old seething roaring city of Melbourne – but I have been there and I can tell you that Fitzroy always was and will be a wry wilderness;

Every colour and ethnicity and language you can imagine lives there. I am not kidding. The commission flats, the dogleg brooding alleys, The trams – I walked there for weeks and saw every kind of sad and cruel and lost and tough and gentle and graceful and awful and holy. There is, seems to me – I saw a lot of Australia in twenty city blocks.

And now I see wee quiet shy Mary MacKillop there, minding a shop. She is fourteen. Her people are Scottish. She will be legendary, later, For her ferocious dedication to helping the poor – you cannot ignore them, 

She will say one million times to power and money and pomp. You cannot pretend you do not see them. You cannot say that we are a great and lucky country when so many innocents are starving. 

You can lie to yourself and in public but I will not lie also. 

Look at all the huddled souls, abused and beaten and hungry and cold. They are all us. Yes, they are. This has nothing to do with religion and class. 

They are all us. If there is a great Australia it will be the one that rises to house and feed and protect those who have nothing. I saw them when I was a child on Brunswick Street and now I can’t not see them. 

Thousands of them in every city, town and state. They’re all us. The whole country is on Brunswick Street. Come with me to pick one up.

Invitation to prayer

God of the Prophets,

you gifted Mary MacKillop with vision and courage.

In her, we see one who was not afraid to speak fearlessly, Your gospel of love.

We pray for the sensitivity and imagination to read the signs of our times,

and to articulate new possibilities for our own day.

Like Mary, may we learn to confront all that is oppressive and unjust,

and empower others towards true freedom and integrity.

Spirit of Wisdom, be with us as we face new horizons.                                                       

Amen  Trustees of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

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