19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 – 90th Birthday of Sr Deidre Browne IBVM

St Pius X Church, Taroona

We know why we have come to church: to listen to the Word of God and to celebrate the Eucharist. Today we also have a very good reason for giving thanks. We rejoice with Sr Deidre Browne IBVM as she celebrates her 90th birthday.

Ninety years gives you a fair amount of material for reflection!

And in Sr Deidre’s case, a good deal of that life has been accompanied with music. Indeed, she has given music to the Church. There would be Catholics around Australia who have sung music composed by Sr Deidre without necessarily knowing the religious sister behind the name printed in the hymn book.

Perhaps that gives us a way into the readings today.

A few years ago, there was an article in a newspaper about the various careers of women in the police. One photograph was of an officer dusting a window for fingerprints. You know, the spiritual life is sometimes rather like forensic work. We have to learn to look for the fingerprints of God.

They are not always obvious.

Elijah discovers that today. He stands on the mountain waiting for the Lord. There is a mighty wind, but the Lord is not in the wind. There is an earthquake, but the Lord is not in the earthquake. There is fire, but the Lord is not in the fire.

Then comes what the Jerusalem Bible calls “the sound of a gentle breeze.”

And Elijah knows.

God is here.

A musician understands something about that. Music is not simply about making a great deal of noise. A musician knows the importance of listening. A musician knows that a rest on the page is part of the music. Silence is not the absence of music. Sometimes the silence makes it possible for us to hear what comes next.

The same is true of a life of faith.

When we look back over life, the presence of God is not necessarily discovered only in the great events. His fingerprints are found in people we have loved, in friendships which have endured, in work done, in prayers offered when nobody else knew we were praying.

The fingerprints of God are found in the gifts God has given us and which, in turn, we have given away.

And that is surely something worth celebrating in Sr Deidre’s life today.

The composer receives something which begins in silence and then gives it away. What was heard first within the heart is placed upon the page. Someone else sings it. A congregation takes it up. Prayer is carried by melody. Words of faith find their way into memory because music has placed them there.

And before long the composer no longer owns the song. It belongs to the people who sing it.

There is something profoundly Christian about that.

The gifts of God become most fruitful when we give them away.

The Gospel gives us another image.

Peter sees Jesus coming across the water. With characteristic enthusiasm, Peter gets out of the boat. For a moment everything goes splendidly. Then he feels the chill of the wind. He becomes frightened and begins to sink.

Peter, who had been so brave in front of his companions, suddenly discovers that he is out of his depth.

And then comes one of the simplest prayers in the whole Gospel:

“Lord! Save me!”

At once, Matthew tells us, Jesus puts out his hand and takes hold of him.

As those of us who are older look back over the journey of life. We begin to recognise how often that hand has already held us.

It has held us through the hands of parents and family. Through the hands of teachers and friends. Through the community into which God called us. Through people who encouraged us when we doubted ourselves. Through those who forgave us. Through those who stayed.

And, sometimes, through music.

For sacred music can do something rather wonderful. It can give voice to faith when our own words fail us. A melody learned years ago can suddenly return in a hospital room, at a funeral, in a moment of loneliness, or during Mass. And somehow a few notes can open a door in the heart through which God enters again.

So today, Sr Deidre, this particular congregation at St Pius’ gives thanks for helping us to pray.

We give thanks to the God whose fingerprints have been there through all those years and are to be found on the keyboard of your life and ours too.

Most Rev. Anthony J. Ireland
Archbishop of Hobart
9 August 2026