“He gazes on each one of us tonight – he looks deeply into our eyes and searches our hearts – and with love and hope he says to each of us, ‘Come, follow me, walk in my footsteps, do not be afraid, for I have called you by your name – you are mine.’”
With these words, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB encapsulated the heart of his message to the people of the Archdiocese of Perth across the first major liturgies of Holy Week 2025.
Preaching at both the Palm Sunday Mass on 13 April and the Chrism Mass on 15 April at St Mary’s Cathedral, Archbishop Costelloe invited the faithful into deep reflection on discipleship, human weakness, and the ever-present hope offered through the gaze of Christ.
Palm Sunday: recognising the tensions within
At the Palm Sunday liturgy, Archbishop Costelloe began by naming the stark contrast between the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the impending reality of His suffering and death.
“But for those who know how the story unfolds – for us, therefore – it is a story full of menace,” Archbishop Costelloe said, “for we know that those who welcomed Jesus with such enthusiasm today will either have joined the crowd baying for His blood in just a few days’ time or will have been drowned out by the angry violence of those who were determined to destroy Him”
This tension, he said, shines a light on the dualities within the human heart. Referencing St Paul’s letter to the Romans, Archbishop Costelloe echoed the Apostle’s inner turmoil: the struggle to do what is right while often failing to live up to one’s ideals.
“Why do I keep doing things that I know are not worthy of me?” he asked, giving voice to what he described as a question many of us may ask ourselves. But rather than lead to despair, he said, this honest reckoning with our shortcomings must ultimately point us to the boundless mercy of God.
“Our faith assures us that there is no need to despair – that there is always reason to hope,” he affirmed, reminding the congregation that even when we fail the Lord, He never fails us.
Chrism Mass: to fix our eyes on Jesus
Two days later at the Chrism Mass – a liturgy marked by the blessing of holy oils and the renewal of priestly promises – Archbishop Costelloe returned to the theme of the gaze of Christ.
Drawing on the Gospel passage where Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue, he invited the community to be like those whose “eyes were fixed on Him.”
“To keep our eyes fixed on Christ: this was the invitation of Pope Saint John Paul II… and it remained the call of Pope Francis, whose leadership guided the Church’s renewal through the Synod on Synodality,” he said.
Through powerful biblical imagery – from Peter’s bitter weeping after denying Christ, to the rich young man who turned away in sorrow – the Archbishop highlighted the transformative, though at times challenging, nature of encountering Jesus’ gaze.
“Conversion. Renewal. A new beginning,” he said. “This is always the promise we read in the eyes of Jesus as He gazes upon us and as we gaze upon Him”
The homily also took on a pastoral tone directed at clergy, as priests and deacons recommitted themselves publicly to their vocation.
“It is a challenging thing to gaze upon the face of the Lord and know that He, in His turn, gazes on us… His gaze is always one of love, but sometimes that love is expressed through sadness and disappointment… At other times this gaze of love expresses hope and anticipation”
Hope for the journey
Concluding both homilies, Archbishop Costelloe’s central message was one of courageous hope – a hope rooted not in human strength, but in the steadfast love of God.
As Holy Week continued, the Archbishop’s words remained a guiding invitation: to look upon the face of Christ, to acknowledge our weaknesses, and to trust in the enduring call to follow Him.
