The devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary that is most widely followed in Australia is surely Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It has spread across the earth for over a hundred years, promoted largely by the Redemptorist Fathers. Today many, perhaps most, Australian churches enshrine a representation of this holy icon. This was the image of Mary and her Son chosen by the seminarians of Victoria and Tasmania for the magnificent new chapel in their relocated Melbourne seminary, Corpus Christi College, Carlton. But what is its origin?
The original icon was painted in Crete in the fifteenth century. It was lost for centuries then rediscovered and restored. Now we find it enshrined in the Redemptorists' church of Sant'Alfonso, near Saint Mary Major's basilica in Rome. Thousands of pilgrims climb the steps leading to that church to pray before the original icon and to purchase small holy cards, santini, which have touched the welcoming image of Our Lady bearing in her arms the little King who is Lord of Lords, Jesus the Word Incarnate.
Because it is a Byzantine icon, this noble image a link between the two "lungs" of the Catholic Church, as Pope John Paul II described them, the East and the West, in this instance, the Greek and the Roman traditions of Catholic Christianity. Catholics are pleased when they find this image in Orthodox churches or when they come across Russian icons that belong to the same family of style and content as this representation of the "compassionate Virgin" from Crete. Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help thus has an ecumenical dimension, in itself becoming a prayer for unity, prayer guided by Mary, Mother of Unity, Our Lady of the Cenacle, the Upper Room of the Eucharist.
Let us look at this sacred image. Let it speak to us, as it were, unfolding again the mysteries of our salvation. Here we see Mary as the Mother of mercy and tender compassion. "With those eyes so sadly sweet", Mary looks directly at us. In silence she seems to speak to us, at once the Queen of Heaven and the gentle Mother of Sorrows, telling us of the saving work of her Son, our Redeemer and hers. She consents fully to his saving work, cooperating as co-redemptrix, first among millions of co-redeemers, the active members of Christ's Church.
The little Child she holds is startled, so it would seem, by the sight of the angels bearing the prophetic signs of his impending Passion and Death; his shoe falls from his foot, as often happens with little ones. Yet he is protected in his mother's arms. Here he is safe, cradled and enthroned in her strong arms. So the sorrowful Mother assures us that, no matter what lies ahead, we are safe in her arms, because we are there with Jesus. As members of his living working Body, the Church, we are always in her motherly embrace, close to her immaculate heart, at the heart of the Church.
Therefore it is not surprising that the devotees of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour come from all areas of society and all nations. The Catholic people of a Sri Lankan background in particular have faithfully honoured, promoted and revived devotion to the Mother of Perpetual Help in Melbourne. But many priests, laypeople, religious, young and old, all have been drawn into the circle of Mary's devotees. My own conversion to the Catholic Church was influenced by attendance at the Friday novena of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Saint Francis church Lonsdale Street back in the early Nineteen Sixties. Here I discovered the warmth of Catholicism. Later, thanks to generous donors, I was able to have this same sacred image set up in two of the parish churches where I served as an assistant priest (Springvale and Lilydale), and in both communities it remains a symbolic focus for warm marian devotion.
But we should pay tribute to one who did more than any of us to promote this devotion, a great Melbourne priest, Fr. Bernard Murphy. He was parish priest of Sunshine for 32 years. He was in his 87th year when he went home to God. Fr. Murphy always had a great devotion to Our Lady under her title of Perpetual Help. He established the novena devotions in Sunshine and he set up a beautiful chapel as her shrine on the right side of the parish church he built, a fine building that is well worth a prayerful visit. His childlike trust in Mary, reflected the trust of the Holy Child Jesus, secure in her arms. He knew that she can refuse nothing her children ask of her. God wants us to be confident in prayer, with all the boldness of children, asking for what we need, unafraid to reach out in love to one who loves and cherishes us.
Nevertheless, God knows that we pray as adults, so often caught in the sufferings, stress and confusion of daily life. The needs we bring to God through Mary's intercession are adult needs. Therefore our requests are often tied up with deep personal distress: family tragedies and conflicts, the drifting away from faith of young people, the serious illness of some aged person, the search for employment, the hope that God will find a Catholic marriage partner - how tangible are the requests that constantly come to God through his Mother's intercession. They are prayers of life, prayers grounded in human experience, down-to-earth prayers to the God who entered our lives and took our flesh in this world.
In this regard, so many favours, so many actual graces and temporal favours, have been granted through the holy intercession of the Mother of Perpetual Help as mediatrix of graces. People know this from their own experience.
We always pray in faith, hope and love when we gather for prayer: faith in God the Son and the Mother he gave us on Calvary; hope in his providential care through her; love that reaches out to Jesus and Mary, love flowing from our hearts to those for whom we pray. Prayer for other (intercessory prayer) is a way of loving others. The image of the Madonna of Perpetual Help thus shows both a realistic approach to what happens in daily life, the Cross, and yet it blazes with the hope of the Lord's Resurrection. Let us never imagine that this sacred image is a gloomy or dismal symbol. In fact it is a great proclamation of Christian hope and the key to this is in the golden background of the holy icon. Why is that so? Is this not merely artistic decoration?
In Byzantine tradition the golden background of an icon represents heaven, eternity, eternal life, the glorious light of the Lamb of God who shines for ever in the heavenly Jerusalem, where we will have no need of the sun. Therefore, while the image shows Mary as sorrowful, enfolding her startled Son as he behold the instruments of his Passion and Cross, it points to heaven, to resurrection glory at the same time. It tells us that what happens in this life, the sufferings and pains, are joined to the Cross and lead to Resurrection. These sufferings, moreover, are nothing compared to what is to come, the promise of eternal bliss in heaven to those who are faithful to Jesus.
Mary always leads to Jesus. She is inseparable from him. This is evident, indeed obvious, in the design of the sacred image of Perpetual Help. Let us therefore approach the Lord and his Mother with all the confidence of children and all the realism of adults, never forgetting what the angel of the Annunciation proclaimed to Mary and to us, "For with God nothing shall be impossible".
The original icon was painted in Crete in the fifteenth century. It was lost for centuries then rediscovered and restored. Now we find it enshrined in the Redemptorists' church of Sant'Alfonso, near Saint Mary Major's basilica in Rome. Thousands of pilgrims climb the steps leading to that church to pray before the original icon and to purchase small holy cards, santini, which have touched the welcoming image of Our Lady bearing in her arms the little King who is Lord of Lords, Jesus the Word Incarnate.
Because it is a Byzantine icon, this noble image a link between the two "lungs" of the Catholic Church, as Pope John Paul II described them, the East and the West, in this instance, the Greek and the Roman traditions of Catholic Christianity. Catholics are pleased when they find this image in Orthodox churches or when they come across Russian icons that belong to the same family of style and content as this representation of the "compassionate Virgin" from Crete. Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help thus has an ecumenical dimension, in itself becoming a prayer for unity, prayer guided by Mary, Mother of Unity, Our Lady of the Cenacle, the Upper Room of the Eucharist.
Let us look at this sacred image. Let it speak to us, as it were, unfolding again the mysteries of our salvation. Here we see Mary as the Mother of mercy and tender compassion. "With those eyes so sadly sweet", Mary looks directly at us. In silence she seems to speak to us, at once the Queen of Heaven and the gentle Mother of Sorrows, telling us of the saving work of her Son, our Redeemer and hers. She consents fully to his saving work, cooperating as co-redemptrix, first among millions of co-redeemers, the active members of Christ's Church.
The little Child she holds is startled, so it would seem, by the sight of the angels bearing the prophetic signs of his impending Passion and Death; his shoe falls from his foot, as often happens with little ones. Yet he is protected in his mother's arms. Here he is safe, cradled and enthroned in her strong arms. So the sorrowful Mother assures us that, no matter what lies ahead, we are safe in her arms, because we are there with Jesus. As members of his living working Body, the Church, we are always in her motherly embrace, close to her immaculate heart, at the heart of the Church.
Therefore it is not surprising that the devotees of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour come from all areas of society and all nations. The Catholic people of a Sri Lankan background in particular have faithfully honoured, promoted and revived devotion to the Mother of Perpetual Help in Melbourne. But many priests, laypeople, religious, young and old, all have been drawn into the circle of Mary's devotees. My own conversion to the Catholic Church was influenced by attendance at the Friday novena of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Saint Francis church Lonsdale Street back in the early Nineteen Sixties. Here I discovered the warmth of Catholicism. Later, thanks to generous donors, I was able to have this same sacred image set up in two of the parish churches where I served as an assistant priest (Springvale and Lilydale), and in both communities it remains a symbolic focus for warm marian devotion.
But we should pay tribute to one who did more than any of us to promote this devotion, a great Melbourne priest, Fr. Bernard Murphy. He was parish priest of Sunshine for 32 years. He was in his 87th year when he went home to God. Fr. Murphy always had a great devotion to Our Lady under her title of Perpetual Help. He established the novena devotions in Sunshine and he set up a beautiful chapel as her shrine on the right side of the parish church he built, a fine building that is well worth a prayerful visit. His childlike trust in Mary, reflected the trust of the Holy Child Jesus, secure in her arms. He knew that she can refuse nothing her children ask of her. God wants us to be confident in prayer, with all the boldness of children, asking for what we need, unafraid to reach out in love to one who loves and cherishes us.
Nevertheless, God knows that we pray as adults, so often caught in the sufferings, stress and confusion of daily life. The needs we bring to God through Mary's intercession are adult needs. Therefore our requests are often tied up with deep personal distress: family tragedies and conflicts, the drifting away from faith of young people, the serious illness of some aged person, the search for employment, the hope that God will find a Catholic marriage partner - how tangible are the requests that constantly come to God through his Mother's intercession. They are prayers of life, prayers grounded in human experience, down-to-earth prayers to the God who entered our lives and took our flesh in this world.
In this regard, so many favours, so many actual graces and temporal favours, have been granted through the holy intercession of the Mother of Perpetual Help as mediatrix of graces. People know this from their own experience.
We always pray in faith, hope and love when we gather for prayer: faith in God the Son and the Mother he gave us on Calvary; hope in his providential care through her; love that reaches out to Jesus and Mary, love flowing from our hearts to those for whom we pray. Prayer for other (intercessory prayer) is a way of loving others. The image of the Madonna of Perpetual Help thus shows both a realistic approach to what happens in daily life, the Cross, and yet it blazes with the hope of the Lord's Resurrection. Let us never imagine that this sacred image is a gloomy or dismal symbol. In fact it is a great proclamation of Christian hope and the key to this is in the golden background of the holy icon. Why is that so? Is this not merely artistic decoration?
In Byzantine tradition the golden background of an icon represents heaven, eternity, eternal life, the glorious light of the Lamb of God who shines for ever in the heavenly Jerusalem, where we will have no need of the sun. Therefore, while the image shows Mary as sorrowful, enfolding her startled Son as he behold the instruments of his Passion and Cross, it points to heaven, to resurrection glory at the same time. It tells us that what happens in this life, the sufferings and pains, are joined to the Cross and lead to Resurrection. These sufferings, moreover, are nothing compared to what is to come, the promise of eternal bliss in heaven to those who are faithful to Jesus.
Mary always leads to Jesus. She is inseparable from him. This is evident, indeed obvious, in the design of the sacred image of Perpetual Help. Let us therefore approach the Lord and his Mother with all the confidence of children and all the realism of adults, never forgetting what the angel of the Annunciation proclaimed to Mary and to us, "For with God nothing shall be impossible".
© Published by permission of Msgr. Peter Elliott 2001