The 2025 Marian Lecture opened with a reverent Acknowledgement of Country, paying respect to the Traditional Custodians of the land and their unbroken spiritual stewardship. The gathering, rooted in Marist tradition, affirmed its commitment to reconciliation and solidarity with First Nations peoples. This spiritual beginning was followed by a prayer inspired by Pope Francis' reflections on hope, emphasizing that Christian hope is not wishful thinking but a certainty grounded in God’s fidelity. The Jubilee Year of Hope was invoked as a time for healing, outreach, and joyful witness to the Gospel in daily life.
Stan Grant delivered a deeply moving and poetic address centered on reclaiming the words 'love,' 'freedom,' and 'hope' from their overuse and distortion in contemporary culture. Drawing on personal reflections from a recent stay in Oxfordshire, he spoke of encountering God's mystery in nature, stillness, and ancient sacred spaces. He invoked theologians and poets like C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, and Meister Eckhart to highlight the sacred in the ordinary and the presence of God beyond time. Grant warned against modern 'liquid' identity and rootlessness, urging a return to the transcendent and to a freedom rooted in divine love, not personal desire.
A central theme was the radical yes of Mary, which Grant explored both theologically and personally. He addressed critiques of Mary's agency and the tension between submission and autonomy in religious narratives. Quoting theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar and Johanna Weaver, he presented Mary not as a passive figure but as a woman whose obedience was an act of immense freedom and consent to divine love. Her 'letting be' becomes a model of surrender that brings life, not oppression. Grant warned that modern politics can strip love of its poetic and mysterious depth when reduced to ideology.
The final portion of the lecture was a powerful call to rediscover hope as a divine gift beyond the reach of politics or identity wars. Grant critiqued modernity’s version of freedom as a pursuit of individualism and rights detached from community and the divine. Instead, he invited the audience to see hope as found in kinship, mystery, and small acts of love. The Church, he said, must reclaim its voice not through power but through its mystical authority and witness to Christ. In a time of despair, he urged listeners to live poetically and faithfully, seeing grace in everyday moments, and committing again to love and the mystery of God’s creation.
Instrumental - Letting Go
Journal and reflect on the following
What does it mean to “reclaim the language of love, freedom, and hope” in today’s world?How have these words been distorted, and how can we live them authentically?
Stan Grant speaks of encountering God in silence, nature, and ordinary moments.Where in your life do you experience the mystery and presence of God most deeply?
How does Mary’s “yes” to God challenge or inspire your understanding of obedience and freedom?In what ways can obedience be an act of radical love rather than submission?
Grant contrasts freedom as divine communion with freedom as individual desire.How do you see this tension playing out in your own life or in society today?
“Salvation is social,” Grant says.What small, concrete acts of kinship or reconciliation could you offer in your community to reflect that truth?
He describes our age as one that has lost its sense of wonder and mystery.What practices help you stay connected to wonder, gratitude, and the sacred in daily life?
How can the Church—and each of us—become “pilgrims of hope” in a world fractured by fear, politics, and division?What would it look like to lead with poetic faith rather than ideology?
Discuss
Song - Amazing Grace
Final Prayer
Loving Creator, You are the source of all hope, the voice in our silence, the light in our darkness, and the strength in our journey. We thank You for the ancient wisdom of First Nations peoples and the sacred song of Your Spirit that echoes through all cultures. Teach us to walk gently on this land with respect, to live with hearts open to mystery, and to say “yes” to love like Mary did. May we carry hope like a flame—quiet, enduring, and radiant—sharing it in every act of kindness, every word of truth, and every step we take as pilgrims of Your grace. Amen.
