Given at the Mass celebrating the 10th annivesary of Our Lady and St Vincent Parish, Potters Bar, on the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 3 July 2016
At the end of the gospel that we have just heard, the 72 disciples return to Jesus at the end of their day’s work rejoicing about their success and all that they have done in his name. He reminds them of his power to enable good to triumph over evil but more importantly he speaks of his Father’s love for them in these encouraging words: ‘Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.’
These words give us reassurance and confidence in the promise of God and the gift of his mercy and that not only their names, but also our names, are written in heaven. Our names are also written in heaven. Whenever we gather in the Church we remember that our names are written in heaven. They are written there when we are baptised and so we bless ourselves with holy water and remind ourselves of the God who loves us, saves us, and walk with us, ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. When we are baptised and God the Father hopes the day will come when we will take our place with him. The baptismal font reminds us of the beginnings of our adventure in faith and the many adults, children and babies who have begun their pilgrimage of faith in the Church over the last ten years.
The celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Church of Our Lady and St Vincent reminds us that the building points to us and speaks to us that we are God’s holy people who gather to pray and worship, to be nourished by the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Christ and then sent out to proclaim the hope that is in our hearts. This morning we celebrate the anniversary of the church and the work that led to its building but also the faith of those families who have gone before us and who built the parishes and laid the foundations for the faith which we now celebrate. We are God’s holy people.
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah writes of the hope of the people of Israel who long to return to Jerusalem after the exile. Jerusalem is likened to a mother who nourishes her infants at her breasts; it is an image of fertility, the feeding of new life, the richness of milk, innocence and purity. Like infants at the breast, who are suckled and filled from the mother’s consoling breasts, people will return to Jerusalem to find security, warmth and food. God will comfort his people like a mother nurses her child. This powerful image is tender, intimate and loving. God desires that we come to him to be nourished in this way. The Church is a Mother who welcomes home, is merciful and forgiving and nourishes her children. This building is a symbol of the home to which we are called.
Our Lady, Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as one of the patrons of the parish is also our Mother, a mother to whom we can turn in time of need and ask her prayers. She is a Mother of Mercy who helps her children home to the Father’s love. We must never underestimate the power of her prayers.
We gather in the church to pray and worship, whether in the private moments of a visit or on Sunday when we come to celebrate Mass together. In those quiet moments we present our joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, and, whether aloud, in silence, or by lighting a candle, we ask the help of Jesus and the saints. Over ten years many prayers have ascended to the Father with the help of Jesus, his Mother and the saints.
We come to be fed by God’s word, his Gift of Holy Communion, and to build up the community, the Body of Christ, so that we are strengthened, encouraged and loved in our relationships with one another. In the second reading, St Paul tells us that we are to become ‘altogether a new creation’; a person whose life is modelled on the love of Jesus who gives himself for others in service and pours out his love on the cross so that we might have life. St Paul boasts of being close to the cross of Christ. Every time we come to the church, we are invited to pray for those who carry the cross of suffering and martyrdom. We unite with them in our own sufferings and offer them to the Father. The poverty of the cross gives way to the glory of the resurrection.
At the end of Mass, the deacon sends us out to continue to be the Body of Christ in the world using various dismissals which include, ‘Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord’, or ‘Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life’. We continue Christ’s mission, being sent, that St Luke describes in the gospel today: ‘The Kingdom of God is very near to you.’ Our task is to find new ways to proclaim this hope to people by our love and care for others as well as by our words.
St Vincent de Paul as patron of the parish reminds us of the care of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable to which he devoted so much of his life. His life inspired Blessed Frederic Ozanam to found the St Vincent de Paul Society which is so often a vital part of parish life. In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, he inspires us to leave the church and seek out the poor, the vulnerable, the weak and the needy. Let us renew our prayer and efforts to be the Body of the Christ in the world as we serve others in love, care and mercy. Today let us go out rejoicing, knowing that our names are written in heaven.