Given at the annual Mass for deceased clergy at Westminster Cathedral on 15th November 2018
This evening we gather to pray for our deceased brothers in the priesthood and commend them to the mercy of God. We thank God for the many gifts which they brought into the life of the diocese and their ministry to so many men and women. They helped them in both known, and many more unknown and unspoken, ways in their friendship with God. The seeds which they sowed in their ministry of priesthood is known only to God. Long years of dedication and service, prayer, and fidelity to the Mass mark their lives.
In a medieval mystery play, the drama opens in darkness and one hears the deep voice of God chuckling as his hand, illuminated by a spotlight, plays in the dust of the earth and begins his work of creation of man and woman. Adam and Eve appear covered in wet mud on the stage whilst God who laughs heartily rejoices in his creation: ‘then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being’ (Gen 2:7).
God reveals his love by creating and shaping man as the work of his hands. The fashioning and knitting together in the womb, birth, life into childhood and adulthood continues under the hand of the protecting God who leads, cares and holds one fast close to himself and searches the human heart. The human person is infused with the Spirit of God and made for union with God. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts at baptism. The anointing with sacred chrism at ordination conforms priests to Christ the High Priest to serve in persona Christi Capitis (CCC 1548). The power of the Holy Spirit transforms the dust of the earth to share and serve in the ministry of Christ’s priesthood as ‘servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries’ (1 Cor 4: 1). We thank God for the gift of those priests, our friends, for whom we pray this evening. May the mercy of God bring them home to himself in the glory of God. In the final verse of ‘Love Divine all Loves Excelling’, we sing: ‘changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder, love and praise’.
As we pray this evening, we are very aware of the final illnesses and the suffering, the crosses, that our deceased brothers bore with resilience and fortitude. The celebration of this Mass for the deceased clergy makes us aware of the fragility and contingency of life, that is marked so often by vulnerability. The word ‘contingency’ is used by Abbot Erik Varden in the first essay of his new book, The Shattering of Loneliness. He reflects on the words of Ash Wednesday, ‘Remember man that though art dust, and unto dust you will return.’ The scene of everyman’s burial is echoed in these words. The signing with ash not only reminds us of our mortality but also the hope of Easter morning and the breaking of the dawn of resurrection into the tragedy of death.
Living with contingency needs the hope of the promise of the resurrection to carry each one of us through the pilgrimage of life. The promise of the ‘the loving kindness of the heart of our God who visits us like the dawn from on high’ sustains the daily routines of life and the service of others as do the words of Jesus, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies, he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’ (Jn 11: 25)
These troubled times in the life of the Church remind us daily that the treasure given us by God is held in an earthenware vessel (2 Cor 4:7). The fragility of this vessel means that we must be strengthened by prayer and the Mass, supported by friends and priests, and trust in the mercy of God. To live in this way, both demands and cultivates humility: being able to stay close to the ground and recognising that all that we are given is a gift from God. As material things are stripped away in illness and the facing of death, so the grace to accept the gift of life leads to gratitude and generosity. Only God can transform our lives into what he desires us to be. Martha is able to recognise this hope in Jesus as she professes her faith, ‘Yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world.’ (Jn 11:27)
Many people are frightened by contingency, seek fulfilment in idols that do not satisfy and remain longing and yearning for a deeper love in their life. Only Christ can fulfil this desire. The hope of the resurrection is the joy that we share with others.
We pray that those priests for whom we offer this Mass will be freed from their sins, revive the mercy of God and come to their home in heaven. May their witness to Christ’s death and resurrection strengthen our resolve to receive his grace to be faithful to the anointing we have received and with Martha profess, ‘Yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world’ and so receive the gift of peace.