Mary is a model disciple of hope for us

Jul 06, 2018

By Bernard Anthony
The nine nights of preaching for the annual feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help culminated on June 23. Some 3,000 faithful from far and near converged for the outdoor Mass held in the grounds of the Church.

The evening Mass was presided over by Fr Eugene Fernandez CSsR with Fr Paul Kee CSsR preaching on the theme, Mary: A Model Disciple Of Hope.

In his homily, Fr Kee asked these questions: “How do we recognise hope? How do we know hope is present? What is hope?” The Redemptorist priest said hope is a feeling of an expectation for a particular thing to take place. He gave a recent example where the leaders of the USA and North Korea met in Singapore and shook hands. This gave us a hope that a nuclear war can be averted.

Fr Kee also touched on the recent GE14 that gave Malaysians hope of a brighter future.

He then asked, “What about hope in the field of religion?”

“Sometime back, Pope Francis called Mary the Mother of hope. Like Mary, who stood at the foot of the cross of Jesus, she will be there, too, for us. Where there is respect and giving and sharing, there is hope.

“Conducting Novenas to Our Mother of Perpetual Help in this parish, we have heard your experiences in your encounter with Mary. There are hundreds or perhaps thousands of people who have been touched by the intercessions,” said Fr Kee. “Mary is not only a model of hope and mother of hope, but Mary is our hope too,” he added.

Pope Francis recently visited a parish, where a young boy, Emanuele, went to the microphone to ask a question. Suddenly, he started crying. His parish priest went to comfort him and brought him to the Pope. Emanuele cried on the Pope’s shoulder and the Pope comforted him.

With Emanuele’s permission, the Pope informed the crowd that the boy’s father, had recently passed away. Although he was a non-believer, he had had his four children baptised as Catholics. Emanuele asked the Pope if his papa was in heaven? He said that even though this boy’s father was not a believer, he had all his children baptised and had a good heart. He was a good man. “Who goes to heaven or not, it is God who determines. What do you think?” The Pope questioned the crowd, “Does God abandon His children?” “No,” the crowd answered. Pope Francis turned to Emanuele and said, “Of course your papa is in heaven. And God is proud of your papa because it is easier for a believer to baptise his children, than for a non believer who does. Talk to your papa, pray for your papa.”

Fr Kee added that this is what hope looks like. When love and care are shown, hope is present.

After the Mass, the Crowning of the Icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help was held.

The candlelight procession was cancelled due to rain. Instead, parish priest Fr Joseph Stephen CSsR invited all to proceed into the Church and the Community Hall for Benediction. The Icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help was taken in a brief procession into the Church before the Benediction was held.

Fr Joseph thanked everyone, including the preachers and invited all for dinner fellowship.