By Fr. Greg Walsh CM
Editor’s Note:
The following article is a transcript of the inspiring talk delivered by Fr Greg Walsh CM during the AMM Annual Retreat day held on 12 October 2025 in Marsfield NSW.
I once went on a restful journey with a wonderful friend in a special year. It was a trip to France to do a short course on St. Vincent in Paris and a little pilgrimage to certain Vincentian sites such as his reconstructed family home near Dax. The course and pilgrimage were a welcome, restful time away. My friend was another priest from Madagascar who was doing the same course and pilgrimage. He was a very joyful person. He was simple, happy, fun to be around, with a good sense of humour. A traveling companion who made the journey so much better. It was during a special year in my life when I felt overburdened with the work I was doing. My boss saw I was struggling and invited me to take a break of a few weeks to rest and also learn some new things about St Vincent in the place he came from.
- Journeying – pilgrimage
- With Mary – a unique and wonderful friend
- In the Jubilee Year – a special year in which we can receive new blessings
1. Journeying
Consider life as a journey. Consider the journey of the men and women who walked with Jesus in the Holy Land – the Lord often spent the night in prayer, often went to a place where he could be alone and several times in the gospel called his followers to leave behind the busy-ness of their public lives (they sometimes had no time even to eat) to ‘come away and rest awhile’.
What is ‘today’ for you and where are you, where are we, on our life’s journey this Australian spring time in October 2025?
All of us are experiencing and sharing in different sorts of ‘joys and hopes, griefs and worries’ alongside our brothers and sisters of this time, especially the poor and suffering 1.
Reflection Question for pairs/small group sharing:
*. How am I going now, in October 2025?
2. With Mary
As members of the Church, we know that veneration of Mary and devotion to Mary, is ancient, good and necessary. The Catechism states that ‘the Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship’ 2. It also reminds us of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception that from the moment of her conception, she was preserved from original sin 3.
And we know that St Catherine’s experience of having Mary appear to her in 1830 and of asking her to have the Medal made, was part of the story of how the Immaculate Conception came to be officially pronounced as a Church Doctrine in 18544.
What happens when we pray before the statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal or in front of any statue of Our Lady? In praying to her, we of course do not pray to her as we pray to God, whom we adore and worship.
In fact, we are asking this person who is now Queen of Heaven to pray for us. Is there another saint in Heaven whose prayers are more powerful? No. Is there another saint in Heaven with a bigger heart? No. Is there another saint in Heaven who suffered more? No, because she was at the foot of the Cross and underwent all that Jesus suffered to save the world.
Reflection Question:
*. What happens when I turn to Mary in my prayer?
*. Do I look to her as Mother, Powerful Prayer Person, The Immaculate or with another emphasis?
*. How does it make me feel when I ask her to pray for me?
3. In the Jubilee Year
‘Jubilee’ is the name given to a particular year. The name comes from the instrument used to mark its launch. In this case, the instrument in question is the Jobel, the ram’s horn, used to proclaim the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
This Jewish holiday occurs every year but it takes on special significance when it marks the beginning of a Jubilee year. We can find an early indication of it in the Bible: a Jubilee year was to be marked every 50 years, since this would be an ‘extra’ year, one which would happen every seven weeks of seven years (i.e., every 49 years) (Leviticus 25:8-13). Even though it wasn’t easy to organise, it was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields 5.
In this Jubilee of Hope, Pope Francis realised the world, especially young people, were suffering a crisis of hope: challenges of the environment, wars, disillusionment with political leadership may have caused this. Therefore, we need to walk together stronger in our true Christian Hope, which is our belief that what is promised by Christ will be fulfilled.
Reflection Question:
*. What is one way I could do something more before the Jubilee year is over to participate in this special spiritual opportunity?
References:
- Lumen Gentium, 1964 ↩︎
- Cathechism of the Catholic Church, Devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary, paragraph 971 ↩︎
- Cathechism of the Catholic Church, Immaculate Concepcion, paragraph 493 ↩︎
- Ineffabilis Deus, Dogma of the Immaculate Concepcion, 1854 ↩︎
- Catholic Australia, Jubilee 2025 ↩︎