Mary MacKillop and the Mercy Spirit
In our tradition, 8 August is the feast day of St Mary of the Cross.
Mary MacKillop once said, ‘Never see a need without doing something about it.’ These simple words carry the weight of a life deeply committed to faith, service, and justice. Mary saw Christ in the poor, the isolated, and the forgotten. She responded with courage, compassion, and fierce determination.
As Mercy people, we are called to that same spirit. Though Mary belonged to a different congregation, her example speaks powerfully to those shaped by the legacy of Catherine McAuley and Mother Ursula Frayne. Mary and Ursula were contemporaries - two bold women religious on opposite sides of the country, both pioneering education and care for those most in need.
Mother Ursula Frayne led the first Sisters of Mercy to Australia, arriving in 1846 with little more than faith and determination. Like Mary, she saw education as a path to dignity, especially for girls and the poor. She built schools, hospitals, and places of refuge - not because it was easy, but because the need was great.
Both women believed that faith without action was incomplete. Both walked alongside the marginalised, even when the cost was great. Their legacies continue in the classrooms we teach in, the communities we serve, and the hearts we form.
Mary’s life encourages us to look again at our own communities - our students, colleagues, families - and ask: What needs am I being called to respond to today?
She reminds us, as Ursula does too, that holiness is not about perfection, but about choosing love in the face of struggle and uncertainty.
Loving God,
On this feast of St Mary of the Cross,
we give thanks for her courage, vision, and unwavering trust in your care.
She saw need and responded, not with comfort or convenience,
but with action rooted in faith.
We remember too, Mother Ursula Frayne,
who brought the Mercy spirit to this land with a heart full of trust
and hands ready to serve.
In the face of hardship, she stayed the course,
building foundations of hope and education that still shape us today.
As people in the Mercy tradition, may we carry the fire they lit:
• eyes open to injustice,
• hearts moved by compassion,
• hands ready to serve.
May we, like Catherine, Ursula, and Mary,
trust in your providence,
respond to your call,
and walk humbly with those on the margins.
Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
Mother Ursula Frayne, guide us.
Catherine McAuley, walk with us.
Amen.