18th Week in Ordinary Time (Year A)
St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth
Friday 7 August 2026
Last Friday I went to Fiona Stanley Hospital and spent some time with a man who has been here in Perth for quite a number of years, but before that in other parts of Australia, who brought his family to Australia to be a mission family, and they’ve been working in that mission in Baldivis. His name is Pino.
And as we were talking, he was telling me that he was fully aware that he would die very shortly, he was fully aware that what was happening within his body would ultimately mean that he would pass, he would cross that threshold that we all will pass over into the new life of heaven.
He said the previous evening that he became quite scared, and I said to him, “Well, that’s quite normal, something that you would expect to feel at times when you’re going through this experience of dying.”
And then he said something quite beautiful. He said, “I trust in God. I know that Jesus will not disappoint (using a phrase that Pope Francis used quite often). I know that I have been given many promises by the Lord, and I know that they will be fulfilled. Why I know is because, in my life, I can see where Jesus has acted very, very strongly for me, and has provided for me.”
He said as a young man, he had become a little lukewarm in his faith, and somehow the Lord was able to bring him a renewal of that faith. Then after that, He gave him the gift of a beautiful wife, and then the gift of a family. And he said there were many, many other things that he remembered that the Lord had been faithful to him.
The gospel that we’ve just heard from Matthew, that centres around this this little phrase: “Do not worry about your life” I think, in a way, was something that Pino had lived, because in order to be a mission family, you must, in a sense, give up many things, and then put your trust in that promise that the Lord has given, that you’ll be blessed in many ways, in many important ways in your life, if you are prepared to go about the business of building up the kingdom.
As I said at the beginning of the Mass, Mary MacKillop is also a very powerful witness and an encouragement to us as we come here today to celebrate and to give thanks for what each and every one of those workers in the archdiocese and those volunteers in the archdiocese provide us; to give thanks for their generous offering of themselves in so many different ways.
All of you, in one way or another, are touching the suffering of others, the needs of others. You encounter these needs, which seem at times to be quite overwhelming. You encounter poverty in people’s lives, loneliness, you work with people who are going through family breakdowns, or who are facing the challenges of mental health issues. You work with those who need our protection through safeguarding. You work with limited resources, and you work within a community of faith that is increasingly putting expectations on all of us. So, we can be burdened by this work that we’re called to do, this work we do, though, with Christ.
Mary herself, Mary MacKillop, was a woman who showed the deep trust that she had in Jesus.
If we look over her life, and I think this is a very good thing for us in Australia that we go back to that story of Mary MacKillop, we can see that trust was not just an idea or an aspiration. Trust was something that she was able to draw upon and use and was a way of life for her.
As we know in her story, she faced very much the same sorts of issues that we do today. She faced enormous uncertainty. She had to face up to the limited financial resources at hand. She had to confront the opposition and the misunderstanding that was often raised against her.
It’s interesting to know that she never spoke uncharitably about those who opposed her, and she would encourage her sisters to pray for those who opposed her.
And then there was that great challenge of providing education and care across this great country of ours and mostly focusing on those who were living in remote areas. Then, of course, there was the personal suffering that she experienced, and many setbacks.
All of this would have really tried her trusting in the Lord’s promise, and yet she remained convinced that God’s providence would guide this work.
We all remember that famous saying of hers, “Never see a need without doing something about it.” And in keeping with the spirit of the gospel that we’ve heard today, she never said, “See a need and worry about it”, or “Never see a need and wait for somebody else to answer that need.” She believed, and we see in her story, that she rose to the occasion. She saw the need, and she responded. She responded with trust, and she responded with courage, and with practical action.
As a consequence of all that faith and all that trust, she was successful in founding so many schools around Australia. She formed so many communities. She accompanied families, and she advocated for those on the margins, and she trusted in whatever she was able to do on her part that it was enough for God to act.
The staff and the volunteers that are here today are those that we really want to acknowledge, and we will later on at morning tea; we’ll honour one of our workers and one of our volunteers in a very special way.
But we, in this way, are recognising the enormous amount of work that is done generously by all of you.
You may belong to an agency that serves the vulnerable, who are facing eviction, the homeless, or the lonely. You may come from an agency that serves the youth, serves parishes, formators, and educators; those who are serving migrants and refugees; those who are involved in the administration of the archdiocese; those who are healthcare professionals, aged care workers, parish support, and board or Committee members. But of course, there are so many others who assist those who are employed, and they are the volunteers who we rely so heavily upon.
We must always remember that we are participating in the church’s mission. The way in which we generously serve is often unseen, perhaps at times not even recognised. But when you are before someone with some great challenge in their life, it’s your patient listening that is required. It’s your sitting with someone as they grieve. It’s your welcoming of the newcomer. The completing of an administrative task that allows ministry to flourish. It’s your giving of your time, which may not be recognised. In these ways, you are being a sign of God’s care for His people.
Of course, we carry our worries, and there are pressures in staffing, the growing demands that we have to answer, the future of our ministries, the needs of those we serve, the concerns about funding. But Jesus doesn’t dismiss these concerns. Instead, he asks us, “Do you believe that God already is at work in the midst of them?
Today, then, we call on the Lord to strengthen that spirit, that generous spirit that motivates us, that calls us to act in a certain way, in a way quite different to what might be exercised in other organisations, because of our faith in Christ, our faith in that communion that we have with Christ.
We’ve heard a lot in recent years about synodality. Pope Francis called the Church to be a synodal church, a church that walks together, a church that listens together, and discerns together. Mary MacKillop herself was one who never worked alone. She collaborated with others. She built communities, and she trusted that God speaks through the people of God.
My hope and my dream is that, as we continue working, that we’ll work together. We’ll listen deeply to one another. We’ll respect the dignity of every person, and we’ll seek solutions together. We’ll place mission before individual interests.
As Jesus said, do not be consumed by worry. Trust God’s providence. See the need before you. Respond generously. And the first thing you seek is the kingdom of God.
So, let’s pray today. Let us pray to Saint Mary MacKillop for all the work of the staff and our volunteers in our Catholic ministries, that they may continue to be signs of hope, compassion, and of God’s loving presence in the world.