Given at the ordination of Joseph Rodrigues Cong Orat, at the London Oratory on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Friday 8th December 2023
We celebrate this ordination of Br Joseph on a day rich in resonance for our faith. This Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary proclaims, without any ambiguity, the presence and saving action of God in our history. Here, the one who is to be the Mother in flesh of the Eternal Word is preserved from all stain of human sin from her very first moments. As the Angel proclaimed: ‘Nothing is impossible to God’.
How much our world needs this intervention. One glance at a newspaper or news bulletin highlights not just our daily waywardness but also the depth of depravity, anger, and revenge to which we can give way. There can be no true act of worship that fails to raise heartfelt prayer for peace in our world, for an end to the cycles of violence that have long characterised regions of our world and now break out into lethal and devastating destruction. Above all, as we await the coming celebrations of the birth of Christ, we pray for the land he made his own and for an end to that violence and for the seemingly impossible task of all taking up again the ways of peace and coexistence.
‘But nothing is impossible to God.’
The Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady was a first step on the immediate path of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God. That also required her full consent. ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word’.
This same intention today resonates in the heart of Br Joseph. Shortly he will present himself to the Lord in an act of abandonment, a prostration before the altar, while we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to raise him up as a priest. Mary’s consent was needed before the Child, who was eternal, could come to us in the flesh. So too, Br Joseph’s consent is needed before his hands, his words, can be taken up by the Lord and used to bring to us the fullness of his grace, in the celebration of the Eucharist and of forgiveness in the confessional.
This season of Advent lays before us the triple pattern of this coming of the Lord. As St Bernard explains: ‘The first coming (of the Christ) was in flesh and weakness, the middle coming is in spirit and power, and the final coming will be in glory and majesty. This middle coming is like a road that leads from the first coming to the last. At the first, Christ was our redemption; at the last, he will become manifest as our life; but in this middle way he is our rest and our consolation.’
And it is in the service of this ‘middle coming’ that a priest gives his life. Through every aspect of his ministry, whether preaching or teaching, whether governing and seeking order in life - not so much a good order, as a holy order - or whether by his celebration of the sacraments, the priest is called to assist those in his care into this meeting with Christ, this coming in ‘spirit and power’ which is our ‘rest and consolation’.
Here we may recall for a moment the famous account of the last day of the life of St Philip. He began that day by hearing confessions, giving spiritual consolation to the penitents, and then he recited the Office before celebrating the Mass of the day, the Feast of Corpus Christi. At the Gloria, it is said that, unusually for him, he burst into song! He then continued the prayers and actions of the Mass with extraordinary devotion. A priest for our inspiration indeed!
Of course, this ministry is impossible to fulfil unless every priest, and bishop and Cardinal too for that matter, is fully engaged with the work of his own salvation. The grace of ordination does not exclude us from the reality of sin and the need to attend to our own journey of grace. So our prayer this evening, for Br Joseph, is that in his life of administering the saving grace of Christ, he will not ignore his own need for that same Saviour. Rather, in the company of his brethren in this community, he will constantly seek the Lord who comes not only to use him as his instrument but also to bring him to the fulfilment of his eternal vocation.
As St Bernard also explained: ‘Just as the old Adam was poured into the whole man and took possession of him, so in turn will our whole humanity be taken over by Christ, who created all things, has redeemed all things, and will glorify all things.’
An Advent ordination, then, and one on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is rather special. So as our celebration continues let us take part in it with hearts full of gratitude and praise. We thank God for the great gift of a new priest. We pray that the dedication and generosity which fills his heart today will never fade or waver but rather be renewed each day. We thank God for the promises on which we ponder with anticipation and joy. Indeed, the coming of our God must now be our hearts' employ. And we thank and praise God for this great Feast Day, for the dedication of this Church to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for the Oratorian community. We pray that just as the statue of our Blessed Lady stands proudly above this great church, so too may she reign in the hearts of all who live here, all who enter here and, by God’s grace, come also to the thousands who pass by each day, that they too may come to the Lord and receive his rest and consolation.
For nothing is impossible to God!
Amen.
✠ Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
Photo: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk