Feast of Our Lady of Good Hope – 7 September 2025
A few years ago, when I went to do some shopping in an industrial park in the Maitland area, as got out of the car, a man shouted from one of the balconies overlooking the car park, “Hey Father, give me a little hope, man!” He was mostly just expressing good humour, and we had a good banter back and forth, but there was a deeper truth in what he said which can resonate with all of us. We need an anchor, a confidence, as we navigate life’s routines and challenges. We need something to look forward to, a purpose for our lives, which gives us meaning and shows us the way.
Today as we celebrate our parish feast, named as we are for Our Lady under the title of Good Hope, we honour her as a mother to us, and as a true beacon of hope. Mary is a mother to all those who are disciples of her son, Jesus, and her love and intercession reach into the lives of particular faith communities such as ours here in Sea Point.
The name of our parish, Our Lady of Good Hope, is rooted in the history of this very place. Back in 1488, a Portuguese explorer named Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa after being caught in a terrible storm. He named it the “Cape of Storms.” But King John II of Portugal, seeing that this dangerous route was now a possibility for a new trade route to the East, renamed it the “Cape of Good Hope.” The new name spoke of promise, of optimism, and of a great future.
Hope is fundamental to us who seek to be followers of Jesus. But the hope we celebrate today is not the easy, secular hope of the world - the hope that things will simply get better, or that our wishes will be granted. The hope we are called to embody is a supernatural gift from God. It is a confident trust in his promises. It is the assurance that God will provide the grace we need to attain eternal life with him. Hope is an anchor for the soul, a shield against despair, and a powerful force that keeps us from giving up. It is not based on our own strength, but on God's unwavering faithfulness. The Catechism puts it simply: hope “keeps us from discouragement” and sustains us on the way.
Mary, Our Lady of Good Hope, is a model of Christian hope for us. Her life, as depicted in the Gospels, demonstrates the theological virtue of hope in action through several key moments:
At the Annunciation, she was asked to believe in a promise that defied all logic. Her simple “yes” was an act of profound hope, a radical trust in God's word. After the Annunciation, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth3 . In her prayer of praise, the Magnificat, she expresses a deep, hope-filled vision of God's saving plan for humanity.
She carried that hope in her heart through the hardships of giving birth in a stable and fleeing as a refugee to Egypt. Her hope was not naive; it endured suffering. And most powerfully, she stood at the foot of the Cross when the disciples fled in despair. Her hope was an anchor in the storm of grief and desolation, a trust that even in what looked like defeat, God’s promise of resurrection would be fulfilled. After Jesus’s Ascension, Mary was with the apostles, waiting and praying in the upper room. Her presence there was a source of strength and hope for the beginnings of the Church. She was the mother of hope for those first Christians, as she continues to be for us today.
This is an expression of hope that we can relate to. It is not a carefree sentiment unconnected with the reality and challenges of our lives. Mary is a model of Christian hope because she has a complete, unwavering trust in God’s promises, even when the circumstances seem impossible. Her life shows that hope is not naive optimism, but a steadfast virtue that can endure profound suffering because it is anchored in the faithfulness of God. She is a pilgrim of hope who, through her “yes” and her perseverance, shows all Christians how to walk toward their final destiny with God.
St Paul expresses gives us the basis for hope in the second reading today from his Letter to the Romans. He says that God turns everything to our good, cooperating with us who love him. God has chosen us and called us. He saves us and will share his glory with us.
This brings us to the words of St Peter in his letter to the early Christians: “Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within you.” As a parish community, we are called to be beacons of hope, not just for ourselves, but for our families and the wider community. As with Mary, our hope is not just a private feeling. Our hope something to be shared and to be lived out. Mary gives us a reason for the hope that is within her. Her life is a silent yet powerful witness.
This year, as we celebrate the Jubilee of Hope, we are called to be “Pilgrims of Hope.” This theme invites us to see our lives as a journey - a pilgrimage toward God. It is a shared journey, and a call to be “bearers of hope,” to be a living sign of God's love for a world that so desperately needs it. We are called to be like the young saints, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, who will be recognised as saints today in a special Mass in Rome in the context of this Jubilee Year.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin in the year 1901. His father was agnostic, and his mother was nominally Catholic. Largely unknown to them Pier Giorgio had a profound spiritual life centred on the Eucharist and Mary, and of service to the poor. He was university student, he was involved in politics, and was a sportsman and a mountain climber. At the time of his death in 1925 he was personally supporting 120 poor families. After he died 4 at the age of 24 from polio, thousands of poor people gathered outside his family home to show their respects, to the dismay and confusion of his parents who were unaware of Pier Giorgio’s love for the poor and his service to them.
Carlo Acutis is our first millennial saint. He was born in 1991 and he loved computer games and the internet. He wore jeans and track shoes, making him so relatable to young people today. Even as a young boy, he was active in parish life, he served as a catechist and inspired several people to convert to Catholicism. Carlo was known for his love of the Eucharist and used the internet to promote devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and love for Mary.
Pier Giorgio and Carlo show us that holiness is not a thing of the past but a living reality. They gave a reason for their hope through their joy, their service to the poor, and their love for the Eucharist. And so, we too, are called to be people of good hope. Hope is a daily practice, not a mood. Hope isn’t optimism on autopilot. Hope needs to be worked at. Our Lady is our greatest model for this kind of hope. Her life is a profound testament to the power of hope.
As we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lady and the Feast of Our Lady of Good Hope, we can ask ourselves: What is the reason for the hope that is within me? How am I living as a pilgrim of hope? How can I, like Mary, give a silent but powerful witness to the world?
May Our Lady of Good Hope intercede for us. May she help us to be a community of true pilgrims, rooted in hope, so that our lives may become a living reason for others to believe in the promises of our loving God.
