Archbishop Edward Gilbert called on Catholics to stand up against the secularisation around them and to be determined about understanding their faith, as he delivered the homily during Mass, at the Cathedral, in celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8.

The Archbishop told the congregation to honour Mary on the cathedral's patronal feast: “Our faith makes us different. We have to be very, very firm on a commitment to understanding our faith so we don't become vulnerable.”

He said many “secularised people” would say the virginity of Mary and the miraculous birth of Jesus was all myth and impossible. But “there is nothing impossible to God,” he said, reminding those assembled of the words of the gospel for the feast.

“The miracles that come from faith, said the Archbishop, “cannot be explained by science. That's why they are miracles. That is why they are called miracles.”

The Archbishop said “in a world that is hostile to spirituality and is hostile, certainly, to the Mother of God” we have to live so as to be “ready to make informed decisions about the one life we have to live.”

Archbishop Gilbert offers the sign of peace at the Dec 8 Mass at the Cathedral. Photo: Fr Vincent Pazhukkakulam O Carm

He said the ability to live any of the four options we have as Christians—the single life, married life, religious life or the priesthood—depends on living the Christian life. “We have to live the Christian life to even hear the call.”

Archbishop Gilbert said Mary “had a unified relationship with God and because of that she was able to be free from sin,” and because of that she was worthy to be the mother of Jesus. “There are marvellous women in the history of the Church,” he said, but “Mary stands above them all.”

Mary was not only prepared by God, said the Archbishop, “she prepared herself.” Although God prepared Mary by preserving her from original sin, and facilitated in her a relationship with him before he asked her to be the mother of Jesus, “she had lived 16 years before the angel met her and asked the question,” he noted.

Archbishop Gilbert said to the congregation, “you can't hear God's call unless you live the life, unless you have a reasonable level of prayer and spirituality in your life. Mary did that; that's why she was able to say ‘yes'.”

He said, “because of what Jesus did for us, what belonged to Mary by privilege can belong to us by grace.” The Archbishop said that living the Christian life was key to answering the call to holiness, which sounds impossible to so many people “walking along the promenade.”

The Archbishop added: “If we live our status as God's adopted children, if we reflect on the fact that God has something for everyone to do, if you would only listen to the call, you can never say ‘I'm too old, too sick, too unprofessional, too uneducated.' God can use your life through grace to touch the lives of other people and to build the Church.”

The Archbishop asked each person to reflect on this question: “Are you living the Christian life to a reasonable degree so you can hear the call of God; so you can be enabled by grace to respond to the call—whenever it comes? If you live the Christian life,” he added, “and surrender to the Lord in the Spirit, it is very difficult to say ‘no'.”