One of the prominent features in the pictures we see of Blessed Mary MacKillop is her clothing and in particular the nun’s headdress round her face – her clothing seems to highlight her attractive face and in particular her powerful eyes which seem to radiate something good and appealing – a little boy with whose family Mary stayed during a visit to New Zealand remembered her as “the lovely lady with the wonderful eyes.”

 St Paul spoke about the clothing which he sees as important – the love that radiates from within, which shows itself in heartfelt compassion, generosity, humility, gentleness and patience. Reading the details of Mary MacKillop’s life we find many of these beautiful qualities in abundance and for that reason we honour her as Blessed and hope that she may soon be canonised as a saint of the Church.

Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel encourage us not to be too concerned about clothing, nor about food, drink, even about life itself  - we are not to worry about material things, which we are very much inclined to do, because God will provide what is necessary.

Mary had a great sense of this providence of God in her life – she lived by it and trusted it completely. She could go places (all round Australia, New Zealand, to Europe, to Rome to see the Pope and then to Scotland), do things (found schools, debate with and confront authorities, lead her sisters), trusting completely  that God would provide even if it appeared hopeless or very unlikely in human terms.

Along with this trust in God’s providence there was within her soul a constant desire to do God’s will, and her prayer was that she would fulfil his will and discover and eliminate in her own life any way of thinking  that seemed to oppose this will. In this regard there was a calm, an inner peace, perhaps reflected also in her eyes, that in striving to do God’s will even if things were difficult or turned out wrong in human terms she was on the right path and following the way the Lord set before her. Here are some of her own words:

“Thus I feel a joy when things go well, for I see his will in this, and an equal joy when they seem to go wrong or against our natural desire, for there again I see His will, and am satisfied that He has accepted my prayers and those of many more for some other object at the time nearer to His adorable will.”

Along with this trust in God’s will and his providence there was also a burning desire within her to do all she could, with the talents and energy God had given her, to spread the Good News of the Kingdom, and to teach the faith she had inherited and been brought up in as best she and her companions could to the young of Australia as it grew and developed in the late 19th century. The words of the Gospel – “Set your hearts on his Kingdom first and in God’s saving justice” – were very much her own, as she gave her life to bringing the message of Jesus alive for the children she taught and applying the Lord’s teachings to both the spiritual and material needs of the people and communities in whose life she shared.

It was her desire especially that the schools she and her sisters founded would be open to all, especially to the poorest and most neglected, and that through her schools the families of the poor would be able also to better themselves. Her enthusiasm and dedication to this task was shared by many young women of her time and since, who joined her order and gave their lives completely to the Lord in education and caring for the poor.

It was pioneering work among the peoples who had settled in Australia, and also where possible for the native Australians – it is a huge country and as people spread out and towns and cities grew the need for more and more schools grew and much of Mary’s life, while she was still fit, was spent going round, by land and sea, the different colonies, finding companions, seeking support from the local communities, and establishing school and houses for the poor or abandoned.

She met many difficulties, sometimes from within the Church, but she persevered with her vision and her vocation, believing that she should never see a need without doing something about, and believing strongly that it was her and her sisters' task to seek first the poorest and most neglected parts of God’s vineyard.

 In many other places also the times in which Mary lived were of expansion and growth of the Church especially in the lands to which European emigrants had gone  – many similar religious orders were founded across the world and many women gave their lives to Christ as religious, teaching and caring for the poor and the sick. We owe a great deal of gratitude to the sisters of all religious congregations for their commitment to serving Christ and the Church and for their example in witnessing to their faith in many difficult and challenging places.

It is good for us to have with us today members of Blessed Mary’s own congregation, both Audrey and Therese who are with us now in Caol and their sisters in the Congregation of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart who have travelled to this anniversary Mass.

It is also good for us to welcome the other religious sisters who work in our Diocese and to recognise the work of their congregations and to thank them also for the generosity of their service and the quality of their witness to the Lord Jesus. Mary MacKillop said, and many others have spoken in similar ways, that we must teach more by example than by word, and we thank God for the religious women who continue to give their lives in this spirit and offer the witness of lives consecrated entirely to God and in the service of Christ’s Body, the Church.

As Mary experienced on a number of occasions, serving the Church as religious is not always easy, and sometimes conflict can arise as the vision and drive of someone like Mary clash with the established way of doing and ordering things – her experience, her deep sense of searching for God’s will and accepting the cross as a real part of her own spiritual  growth, helped her survive even the most trying moments, for a time even the penalty of excommunication from the Church and the apparent rejection of all that she was trying to do.

Sometimes it is difficult for those with outstanding gifts and strong personalities to be gladly accepted because we can be suspicious of their motives and what they are trying to achieve, and it means that they do suffer times of trial and misunderstanding in which their faith and willingness to accept the cross are strongly tested. It is something which can be seen in many of the lives of those the Church publicly proclaims as saints – that they have had difficult moments in which they have been rejected in some ways but they have persevered in faith and in humility, and then providentially their vision and work for Christ have then been recognised and supported, often at the highest level as was the case with Blessed Mary when Pope Pius IX approved the constitutions of her congregation. Her own comment is very apt in this regard – “All will be right with time and a little patience”.

What does this holy lady, whom we are so proud to claim as our own, say to us today as Catholics here in Lochaber and the Highlands of Scotland? By living our faith well and by allowing the Word, the presence, the goodness of Christ in all its richness to find a home in us, we can proclaim the values of the Gospel by the example of our lives and by doing all that we can to bring his love and goodness to other people in our own situation, following our vocation, using the talents and opportunities God gives us each day to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus.

Mary MacKillop said the following: “let us thank God we are as we are”; “if we have love in our hearts, we shall have God with us”; “have courage no matter what the crosses are”; “find happiness in making others happy” and “never see a need without doing something about it.” She certainly will not excuse us if we do nothing, so let us ask that she will teach us and pray for us that we may serve the Lord well and faithfully with our whole lives.