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Beginnings - Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. (2018).Retrieved from https://www.sosj.org.au/our-foundress-mary-mackill op/marys-story/mary-story-beginnings/?loadref=249& id=736.

Levite Definition and Meaning - Bible Dictionary. (2018).Retrieved from https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/levite/.

MacRaild, S. (2011). Catholic Social Teaching Series - Rerum Novarum - Australian Catholic Social Justice Council.Retrieved from http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/social-te aching/10-social-teaching/524-catholic-social-teac hing-rerum-novarum.

MacKillop Family Services | Foster Care & Family Services in Australia. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mackillop.org.au/.

Mary Mackillop Foundation. (2018). About Us. Retrieved from https://www.mackillopfoundation.org.au/about/.

The Definition of Samaritan. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/samaritan.

What We Are Doing - Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.sosj.org.au/about-the-sisters/about-us /what-we-are-doing/.

Wiliam., & Australia, S. (n.d.). History of racist attitudes and fear, White Australia: Immigration Restriction Act 1901, Australia to 1914, SOSE: History Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia. Retrieved from http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-127_t-350_c-1213/ history-of-racist-attitudes-and-fear/nsw/history-o f-racist-attitudes-and-fear/australia-to-1914/whit e-australia-immigration-restriction-act-1901

Wiliam., & Australia, S. (n.d.). Life and working conditions , Life in Australia at the turn of the century, Australia to 1914, SOSE: History Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia. Retrieved from http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-127_t-348_c-1203/ life-and-working-conditions-/nsw/life-and-working- conditions-/australia-to-1914/life-in-australia-at -the-turn-of-the-century

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The 21st century groups inspired by Mary Mackillop that continue the wonderful, kingly, prophetic and priestly roles of Jesus include: The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Mary Mackillop Foundation and Mackillop Family Services. All through of these groups care for the children of Australia through either providing education opportunities or through finding safe homes for them. To elaborate, the Josephites began some of the first Catholic schools within Australia and most importantly, were founded by Mary Mackillop and Father Wood during the 19th century, the Mary Mackillop foundation strives to raise money for children and to help them find schools that will benefit them and lastly, Mackillop Family Services excels in finding safe and secure homes for children who either do not have family, or who were born into an abusive one. To conclude, all of these groups aspire to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, just as Mary Mackillop had during her time, and so far, all of the groups are succeeding in their mission.

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Mary Mackillop is an upstanding example of someone who demonstrates participation in the priestly, prophetic and kingly traits, just like the man who gave her the footsteps to follow in, Jesus. Mary constantly demonstrated priestly actions by preaching the word of God to the children she taught, by praying and participating in Catholic/Christian works and most simply, by being kind and demonstrating the traits that God had bestowed within his children. The prophetic actions Mary took can be seen within her writings and through her constant helping of those in need, as actions speaks louder than words. Finally, Mary Mackillop showed the trait of being kingly through building schools to educate children, specifically those who suffer from poverty, she also showed this trait through becoming part of the Order of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Overall, Mary Mackillop showed the traits of Jesus through simply following in his footsteps and helping all, no matter who or where they came from.

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The Condition of Labor (Rerum Novarum), Pope Leo XIII 1891.

From analysing the encyclical written by Pope Leo in 1891, I have come to the belief that the encyclical is a reflection on the changes occurring and the need for the church to step in and speak of the rules that must occur for the change to be fair and just. For example, the text asks of workers and employers to follow certain duties in order for them to be following the Catholic Church’s beliefs and rules. As Evidence:

[The Church’s] desire is that the poor, for example, should rise above poverty and wretchedness, and better their condition in life; and for this she makes a strong endeavour. (# 28) (Excerpt from the Encyclical)

(Pope Leo XIII, 1891)

Workers’ duties include the following (# 20):

·       to perform conscientiously the work they have freely agreed to do

·       not to damage the employer’s property or resort to violence

·       not to have anything to do ‘with men of evil principles, who work upon the people with artful promises of great results … which usually end in useless regrets and grievous loss’.

Employers’ duties (# 20) include:

·       respecting the dignity of their workers, not treating them as indentured labour or simply a factor of production, but remembering that working for a living is an honourable thing

·       not to overtax their workers by giving them work that is beyond their capacity

·       ‘to give everyone what is just’, and not to reduce wages by fraud or undue pressure. ‘To defraud any one of wages that are his due is a great crime which cries to the avenging anger

·       of Heaven.’

The most important excerpt from the encyclical although for Mary Mackillop, is the following one;

[The Church’s] desire is that the poor, for example, should rise above poverty and wretchedness, and better their condition in life; and for this she makes a strong endeavour. (# 28) (Excerpt from the Encyclical)

This particular passage from the encyclical is important in Mary’s case as it goes on about the poor, and how they should rise above poverty and live within a better condition. This connects to her, and could have spoken to her, as a way to tell her that she must do something to help the poor rise, such as building schools and educating the young.

In conclusion, the encyclical that was released by the church was important in influencing Mary Mackillop’s actions, and was important to show that the church too, could grow and update its beliefs as the world develops.

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My Lord,

Will you kindly permit me to write a few thoughts which it troubles me to keep from you, and yet which I can hardly express when talking to you.

I would speak them, my Lord, and I am sure you would wish me to be unreserved with you, but I seem to lose courage; in trying to be unreserved I would displease my Bishop.

It is in a most docile and humble spirit, my Lord, that I can venture to say what are and have been for many years the thoughts of my heart. I longed for a Religious life, one in which I could serve God and His poor neglected little ones, in poverty and disregard of the world and its fleeting opinions.

When an opportunity of entering another religious Community was offered to me, family circumstances, for one reason, prevented my availing myself of it, but there was another reason as well, known only to my Confessor, namely, that in the Order I could not find what my heart craved. I looked for a poverty more like unto that practised in the early Religious Orders of the Church, a poverty which in its practice would make a kind of reparation to God for the little confidence now placed in His Divine Providence by so many of His creatures. Circumstances, as well as choice, having for many years compelled me to live as a teacher, I saw so much of the evils attending a merely secular course of education, that all my desires seemed to centre in a wish to devote myself to poor children and the afflicted poor, in some very poor Order.

My Confessor at one time thought I would have to go to France ere I could meet with what I desired. But after a few years I went to open a school in Penola, under Father Woods, who gradually unfolded to me his idea of endeavouring to do something in the same way for the neglected poor children of South Australia. The way in which he described their wants so completely agreed with all my previous desires, that when he asked me whether (provided he got the Bishop's consent to commence an Institute to meet these wants) I would remain and become one of his first children in the flock, I joyfully consented.

From that time I gave myself completely to the work, which almost every day seemed to confirm as the vocation I had so long sought, and under the direction of my good Confessor I found true peace.

On your Lordship's return from Europe in l868, I was, with another Sister present when in your presence Father Woods went over each chapter and point of our Rule previous to its getting your entire approbation. Upon that occasion, my Lord, you made some remarks about the wording of some of the sentences, to which Father Woods attended, and then in the end you kindly approved of the Rule as it now is.

From that time I looked upon it as sacred, and can you blame me, my Lord, if I do so still? I know that you can withdraw your approbation from it, and if our good God so wills it I am resigned. But, Oh! pardon me, my Lord, if I say that I cannot in conscience see the Rule altered and still remain a Sister. I am your child, my Lord, your humble, helpless child. I want to please you, but above all to please God, and do His holy Will. If then in any way it may please Him that you should alter the Rule then, my Lord, I feel that I must take the alternative that you offered, and leave the Institute, until it may please God to give me in some other place what my soul desires. Though Father Woods was God's instrument in drawing out the Rule, I never regarded the work as a merely human invention. Had I done so, I could not be here.

I grieve to think that as a body we have committed many faults, and often erred in judgment and prudence. I am glad, Oh, so glad! that you, my Lord, are taking the Convent from us. It was much too comfortable for us poor Sisters, and I never was satisfied in it for that reason.

I love and respect our Pastors, but yet I do feel it hard that, as soon as Father Woods is gone, the work for which he had so long and so patiently toiled should be placed in so much danger, and he not here to say one word in its defence? He would not thus act to any of those who are now opposed to him.

These are the thoughts I have which I wish to tell you. I wish to tell them to you, my Bishop and Father, and I implore your pardon, my Lord, if I have presumed too much. To whom can I tell them, if not to you, who besides being my Bishop, I regard as an exalted father who would wish to help even the lowliest of his children.

Humbly craving your Lordship's blessing, I remain,

your obedient child in J.M.J.

Mary of the Cross

This letter written by Mary Mackillop to her ‘Lord’, after deep analyse, I have come to the conclusion that the letter is speaking of her troubles and her adventures with her faith during her life so far. The letter also goes onto to applaud some of the Lord’s decisions. To explain, from analysing the text, it can be perceived that the message is one to the Bishop and is one that is spilling all of Mary’s greatest concerns about her faith, and her care for the children. She specifically goes on about how being just part of the Order was not just what she needed, but to build and care for the children of the community was also something she greatly desired. Therefore I believe that she is trying to communicate her need and desire to help the children that surround her, and is possibly asking for permission from the Bishop.

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Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen

It is believed that Hail Mary was a very important prayer to Mary Mackillop as it spoke of the Mother Mary, an important figure to women, it spoke of the fruit of thy womb and it is important at the hour of death. To elaborate, Mother Mary would have been a great character of inspiration for Mary Mackillop, as not only do they share a common name, but they are both women, and they both are believed to have a deep connection to children. The passage ‘blessed is the fruit of thy womb’, is interpreted to mean that blessed is the child within the womb. To elaborate on this, the prayer seems to be saying that children are blessed and must be forever cherished, which is something that yet again Mary Mackillop aspires to do, cherish children wit knowledge and education. Another key point that leads many to believe that Mary Mackillop used this prayer, is the passage that says ‘pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death’, this particular passage would have been one all mortals would pay attention to, as we all pray for our sins to be forgiven at the hour of our death. Finally, this prayer is one that is highly praised and has been used commonly for a long time, and therefore it is not unthought of that Mary Mackillop would have used this prayer ritualistically.

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Miracle Story
Jesus Calms the Storm
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Matthew 8:23-27 New International Version (NIV)

Parable Story
The Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

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Mary Mackillop is Australia’s first saint; she was born in Melbourne in January 1842 to Alexander Mackillop and Flora, nee Macdonald and spent most of her childhood and early adulthood in Victoria. Mary had a strong love for God and a deep desire to help those in need. Mary Mackillop had 7 siblings, one of which unfortunately died at 6 months, and as Mary was the eldest child, she took much of the responsibility when it came to looking after them at home, she also assumed much of the financial support until the age of 25. As Mary was in a household that was very religious, it is not unthought of that her childhood and parents would have influenced her choice to help the poor, specifically children.  Mary, at a very young age, would have seen the poor and would have noticed the way they were treated unfairly, and therefore, would have grown a want, a need, to help them somehow, and therefore, her childhood would have shaped her future.