Second Thoughts for the Day – 8 August – The Memorial of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (1842-1909)
“In the vastness of the Australian continent, Blessed Mary MacKillop was not daunted by the great desert, the immense expanses of the outback, nor by the spiritual “wilderness” which affected so many of her fellow citizens. Rather, she boldly prepared the way of the Lord, in the most trying situations. With gentleness, courage and compassion, she was a herald of the Good News among the isolated “battlers” and the urban slum-dwellers. Mother Mary of the Cross knew that behind the ignorance, misery and suffering which she encountered there were people, men and women, young and old, yearning for God and his righteousness. She knew, because she was a true child of her time and place: the daughter of immigrants who had to struggle at all times to build a life for themselves in their new surroundings.
Her story reminds us of the need to welcome people, to reach out to the lonely, the bereft, the disadvantaged. To strive for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, means to strive to see Christ in the stranger, to meet Him in them and to help them to meet Him in each one of us!”
– Pope Benedict XVI on the Beatification of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (Thursday 19 January 1005), whose prayers we request!
AnaStpaul 