This homily was given by Bishop John Sherrington at a Mass for seminarians to receive the ministry of lector and admission to candidacy, celebrated at Allen Hall on 29th May 2021.
Today we keep the memory of St Paul VI. In his homily at the Mass of canonisation, Pope Francis reminded us of words that St Paul VI wrote, ‘It is indeed in the midst of their distress that our fellow men need to know joy, to hear its song’ (Gaudete in Domino, 1). This need is more acute today than in 1975 because many people’s lives are more deeply fragmented and competing narratives of how happiness is to be found clash with one another. Jesus invites us to return to the source and well-spring of our joy, which is the encounter with him, the courageous choice to risk everything to follow him, and the satisfaction of leaving something behind in order to embrace his way.
Mark, Francis and Mark, as you are called to be candidates for your dioceses take these words into your hearts. John, Moses, Marco, Domagoj and Juan, as you are instituted into the Ministry of Reader allow this song to echo in your hearts. You will have a responsibility to communicate this joy to others, whether as readers proclaiming the Word or candidates telling others of the choice you are making for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Evangelisation is the communication of this joy so that it resounds in the hearts of men and women. The fullness of joy is to be found in following Christ and shaping one’s life in conformity with his. The song of joy communicates the truth of the gospel when it is lived with fidelity and integrity.
To communicate joy, there must be deep joy in each of our own lives, a conviction that goes deep into the core of our being which can sustain you in good times and in bad times. The first reading speaks richly of the pursuit of wisdom which is found in Christ our Teacher, who instructs us in the path of true joy. St John the Baptist says, ‘this joy of mine is now complete’ (John 3:29) because he has seen Christ the bridegroom. Jesus tells his apostles at the end of his teaching that he is the vine, ‘these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete’ (John 15:11). Even when they suffer, ‘nobody will be able to take their joy from them’ (John 16:22). My brothers, remain faithful in seeking Christ, ‘Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full’ (John 16:24). This is the prayer of the one who directs his soul towards heaven and in purity finds Christ.
Pope Francis calls St Paul VI the helmsman of the Council whose gifts enabled him to steer the Church through choppy waters to the completion of the event and the documents which we treasure today. After almost sixty years, we are still finding the true meaning of these complex texts. Bishop Christopher Butler, later Auxiliary in Westminster, who attended the Council as the Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation and who contributed pre-eminently to the debates in fluent Latin as a scripture scholar, recognised Dei Verbum as the foundation that underpins all the other teaching. Promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 18th November 1965, we understand more fully the mystery of God’s revelation and that Christ our Teacher reveals God’s Word through both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. It is so critical that you hold both together in the right way, that you preach and teach. As we read:
'Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known.' (DV, 9)
The familiar words of St Jerome remind us, ‘For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’. Dei Verbum instructs the clergy to deepen their love and knowledge of the scriptures, ‘through diligent sacred reading and careful study’ (DV, 25) so that we may walk together with Christ, speak to him and listen to him as the Lord spoke ‘mouth to mouth’ with Moses (Numbers 12:6-8). This is the treasure that you will share with others so that they may be full of joy.
Following the Council, after many contentious debates, St Paul VI confirmed the gift of priestly celibacy in the Latin Rite. His encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus was promulgated on June 24th 1967. Particularly, I offer this to those of you who are accepted today as candidates for your dioceses and those preparing for ordination to the diaconate very soon. He wrote movingly of our vocation and our response to the divine calling.
The response to the divine call is an answer of love to the love which Christ has shown us so sublimely. This response is included in the mystery of that special love for souls who have accepted His most urgent appeals. With a divine force, grace increases the longings of love. And love, when it is genuine, is all-embracing, stable and lasting, an irresistible spur to all forms of heroism. And so the free choice of sacred celibacy has always been considered by the Church "as a symbol of, and stimulus to, charity": it signifies a love without reservations; it stimulates to a charity which is open to all. In a life so completely dedicated and motivated, who can see the sign of spiritual narrowness or self-seeking, and not see rather that celibacy is and ought to be a rare and very meaningful example of a life motivated by love, by which man expresses his own unique greatness? Who can doubt the moral and spiritual richness of such a life, consecrated not to any human ideal, no matter how noble, but to Christ and to His work to bring about a new form of humanity in all places and for all generations? (SC, 24).
This is the invitation for which you are preparing.
Today we commit to Christ’s gospel as St Paul VI was committed as the servant of the servants of God. His teachings on the Church and her mission (Ecclesiam Suam), evangelisation and mission (Popolorum Progressio), and married love (Humanae Vitae), are foundation stones for the way in which subsequent pontiffs continue and deepen the sacred Tradition and so our ministry.
May St Paul VI intercede for you who commit yourselves today to deepening your joy in the gospel for the good of others.