Given at the Mass marking the centenary of Loreto College, St Albans, at Westminster Cathedral on the Feast of the Archangels, 29 September 2022
Today we celebrate this centenary of Loreto College, St Albans. In doing so we rejoice in the great Loreto tradition of education, which is now world-wide and has such a strong vision of personal formation through education.
On your College website, the key characteristics of this vision are made clear. These are drawn directly from the founder, Mary Ward, a woman of such outstanding qualities. These values are freedom, sincerity, truth, joy and justice.
Ponder them for a moment.
Freedom is not just freedom from constraints, not just breaking free from what seem to be shackles. No, it is freedom that enables you to respond generously both to the demands of life and to the hopes and promptings that you sense should shape your life. 'Freedom for', not just ‘freedom from'.
Then sincerity and truth. These are key qualities of heart and mind and action. To speak and act with sincerity and truth helps to build all that is good. To turn to insincerity and lies corrupts all that you might want to achieve.
And then joy and justice. These are the qualities that you bring in actions, into the relationships in your lives, those near, at home, and those more wide-ranging, building up larger communities and society.
Mary Ward embodied these qualities. And what an example she has left for you! A tough and courageous woman, who pursued what she knew to be right. I recall an earlier celebration of her life that was held here in the Cathedral. The image that has stayed in my mind is that of her shoes: rough, tough and very worn out! She walked the roads of Europe, back and forth to Rome, always in the cause of her vocation and of her vision of education!
Today we also have other figures to bring in and to enrich our celebration. Today is the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Let’s take them one by one.
Now I know of the special devotion to you to St Michael and how your College is under his protection. Indeed, you will bring an icon of St Michael in the Offertory procession, and then take it back to go in a special place in your School.
Michael, of course, is the one associated with the protection that God gives. Indeed that is one of the roles of the angels. Remember that each one of us has been given a Guardian Angel, to watch over us and be by our side.
It was explained to me once that one of the tasks of our Guardian Angel is to carry the gift of ourselves, and our prayers, into the presence of God. So imagine, if you can, that when the bread and wine are brought to the altar, in a few moments, representing the effort and joys of our daily lives, coming up the aisle is also a whole host of a thousand angels, your guardian angels, carry up to the altar, and into the presence of God, the gift of your selves, of your heart and of all your efforts. What a sight that would be if we had the eyes to see it!
The name Michael literally means 'one who is like God'. The name Gabriel means 'the strength of God', and Gabriel, we know, is the messenger of God, the one who comes to Mary at the Annunciation. And we too are to be messengers of the Word of God, the word of peace and reconciliation in our world.
Raphael, on the other hand, means 'the healing of God' as Raphael is the one who brought healing to Tobias, and to many others.
The traditions and roles of these Angels goes deep into history. They are part of the religion of Judaism, centuries before Christ. And they are part of the Islamic religion too. They correspond to a deep instinct in all of us, a desire to connect with all that lies beyond our sight, but not beyond our knowing.
So please remember that if someone says to you, 'Be an Angel’, then they may be asking you to pick up the mantle of Michael and help to safeguard a situation, or the mantle of Gabriel and announce some good news by what you do, or the mantle of Raphael to try to help or heal a hurt.
Now, the traditional image of Raphael pictures the Archangel with a great trumpet. It is said that he will sound the last trumpet calling all creatures into the presence and judgement of God.
This is something of the scene presented to us in the first reading, with the 'one of great age' on the throne and the books being opened. Then, in the reading, we heard of 'one like a son of man' coming into his presence and being escorted to the throne and all power being given to him.
This is what lies before us: coming into the presence of God and facing judgement. So can we look forward with hope? What do we see when, in that wonderful phrase, we 'gaze into the visions of the night'?
Let me take you to the figure of St Paul. Remember, he was the great persecutor of the followers of Jesus for he was a very devout and zealous Jew and resented what he saw to be the disruption of Jewish life by this troublesome group. We read that his life changed dramatically one day when, travelling by horse to Damascus, he fell from his horse in a great flash of light.
What may actually have happened that day?
Well, some say this: that as a devout Jew, as he rode along, Paul would have been meditating on the Jewish scriptures, especially on the majesty of God as portrayed in passage we heard. Then, as he came to visualise the entry of 'one like a son of man', he suddenly realised that the face he was seeing was that of Jesus of Nazareth, the very person he was persecuting! At that point everything changed and he too realised the role and mission of Jesus, bringing to fulfilment the promises made to the Jewish people. So he too became a disciple of the Lord. Jesus became not his enemy but his hope.
Something similar happened to Nathaniel, as we heard in the Gospel. He too is summoned to follow Christ and is given this promise: 'You will see the heavens opened, and above the Son of Man, the angels ascending and descending.' This, too became his hope: the vision of who Jesus truly is and the promises he gives.
For us, too, Jesus is our hope. We live through the uncertainties of this present life with the sure and certain hope of the life to come, in the presence of God in all happiness.
We, too, can 'gaze into the visions of the night', but instead of finding terror and chaos, we see 'the heavens laid open'. This is the hope that can fill our hearts with joy! This is the great gift of our faith! So be it! Amen.
✠Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster