Carmelites, Lay Carmelites, parishioners, students, parents, and staff from Whitefriars College, and those for whom Titus Brandsma holds a special place in their lives, gathered at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park (VIC), on July 31 for a Thanksgiving Mass celebrating his canonization.

Students from Brandsma House at Whitefriars College joined the Entrance Procession carrying the relic of Titus Brandsma, the Brandsma House banner and a typewriter and camera. One of the students welcomed the assembly and gave a personal reflection on Titus Brandsma at the beginning of Mass. Students, staff and parishioners shared the readings and Prayers of the Faithful. Fr Paul Cahill, the prior provincial presided.

In his homily, Fr Paul called Titus Brandsma, “a gift to the world, the Church and the Carmelite Order.” He added, “Throughout his life, whilst exercising and sharing his intellectual gifts through his studies and his teaching, preaching and writing, he was also down to earth, connected with people in their everyday struggles, and keen to assist them in whatever practical ways that he could.”

Stressing the relevance of Titus for us today, Fr. Paul quoted the words of Pope Francis during his homily at the Mass of canonization when the pope observed that we have “turned holiness into an unattainable goal. We have separated it from everyday life, instead of looking for it and embracing it in our daily routines, in the dust of the streets, in the trials of real life and, in the words of (another great Carmelite Saint) Teresa of Avila to her Sisters, “among the pots and pans.”

He also quoted the Cardinal Archbishop of Utrecht in Titus’ native Netherlands, during his homily in the first Mass of Thanksgiving, celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica the day after the canonization. “Titus didn’t become a saint because he was a martyr, but he became a martyr because he was already a saint”.