The Bishop of Ebbsfleet's Chrism Mass Homily - AD2007 |
TRADITIONALLY THE CHRISM MASS sermon has been my annual 'State of the Union' speech, preceded by a theological reflection. Not being over-keen on tradition for tradition's sake, I want this year to change the pattern and break the mould. For once I shall say briefly where we are in the great scheme of things and then preach the sermon.
I am very concerned to have a simple, uncomplicated message at this difficult time when the Church of England is again contemplating a serious departure from, and this time a fatal breach with, Catholic faith and order. The message is: say your prayers and keep the faith. Act as though all will be well. The Bishop of Manchester is hard at work and, in my view, he and his group will be offering us something which is not fully adequate to our needs but which will allow many of us - but maybe not all of us - to remain within the Church of England. This has been the pattern over women priests and I think it will be repeated, somehow, I know not how.
There is nothing more to be said at this point so ... keep going!
As for the sermon, I have always been mindful that this is primarily a celebration for clergy - the only one of the year, apart from ordinations, which has this focus - and I have never seen this occasion as one for which a brief and simple ex tempore homily will do. 'The more the pity' I can hear some of you saying ... .
******
Receive the oblation of the holy people to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord's Cross.[1]
For this, my seventh Chrism Mass sermon, I want to look at the Holy Eucharist. A good deal of what I have to say is inspired by the recent document Sacramentum Caritatis,
published by Pope Benedict following the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. A 'Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation' is what the document is called and clearly in its sights - and therefore in my sights in this homily - is the parish priest as he seeks to order the eucharistic life of the People of God in a particular part of Birmingham or Cornwall or Derby or wherever. Since the Eucharist is at the heart of all our lives, I hope that what I have to say will resonate with everyone present at this mass. I would urge you all to read the document for yourselves: it is readily available both as a booklet and on the internet.
To some considerable extent the Holy Eucharist was the theme also of the Ebbsfleet Clergy Retreat at Glastonbury, where I myself this year gave the retreat addresses. It seems to me to be absolutely fundamental to our priesthood both that we order and celebrate the liturgy as befits its dignity and wonder and that we centre our lives on the eucharistic mystery, by seeking to engage ever more deeply with that mystery. You may have read that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham has remarked on the link between vocations to the priesthood and the practice of eucharistic adoration. We are not thick enough on the ground in any one parish to take on 'round-the-clock' eucharistic adoration but we do sometimes talk as if a key catholic privilege is the 'reserved sacrament', (rather as hotels boast of their en suite bathrooms). The key catholic privilege is not reservation itself but the opportunity reservation provides for the faithful to adore the Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament.
As the Pope says in Sacramentum Caritatis, commending such devotions as the Forty Hours and the Corpus Christi Procession,[2] 'It is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist'.[3]
Talking of social mission, Fr McNamara, professor of liturgy, recently wrote:
The primary beauty in liturgy is that of a community united heart and soul in prayerful celebration of Christ's sacrifice.[4]
He continues:
Being drawn into Christ leads us to recognize him in others, especially in the hungry, thirsty, naked, ignorant, sick and imprisoned. Being drawn into Christ, means being drawn into his supreme act of self-offering on Calvary, a self-offering that culminate his teaching of the beatitudes. In this way there can be no genuine Eucharistic piety that does not bear fruit in concern for justice and charity.
These words, of course, are very similar to the famous words of Bishop Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar:
Your Lord is one and the same ... with Jesus in his blessed Sacrament ... . Now go out into the highways and hedges and look for Jesus in the ragged and naked, in the oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope, and in those who are struggling to make good. Look for Jesus in them; and when you find him, gird yourselves with his towel of fellowship, and wash his feet in the person of his brethren.[5]
The Pope likens the 'substantial conversion of bread and wine' in the Eucharist to 'a sort of "nuclear fission"' ... a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all'.[6]
So, if the Eucharist, authentically celebrated and experienced, produces charity and justice, indeed transfigures the entire world, how do we priests - and the celebrations we plan and preside over - fit the bill? The Pope reminds us that the same phrase - Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ - is used to describe 'Christ's body born of the Virgin Mary, his eucharistic body and his ecclesial body'.[7] As we seek to renew our ordination promises, we do well to look have in mind how we hold together these different notions of the body in the way we live our lives, in our preaching and proclamation, in our spirituality and in our teaching.
The Pope has this to say:
The priest is above all a servant of others, and he must continually work at being a sign pointing to Christ ... . This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart, and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality.[8]
Our use of the body in the way we live our lives is summed up by the Pope: 'while respecting the different practice and traditions of the Eastern Churches, there is a need to reaffirm the profound meaning of priestly celibacy'.[9] He relates celibacy to the life of Christ: 'Celibacy is really a special way of conforming oneself to Christ's own way of life' and says that 'priestly celibacy lived with maturity, joy and dedication is an immense blessing for the Church and for society itself'. In our debased culture we have got hopelessly muddled between chastity and celibacy. Chastity is a duty for us all: being married 'hallows and directs aright' our affections, (to adapt the happy wording of the Introduction to the 1928 Prayer Book Marriage Service) but being married does not protect us from the hard work of consecrating our lives - allowing our lives to be 'hallowed and directed aright' by God.
We married priests claim the privilege of the Eastern Churches and you have no need for me to tell you of the example of Christian family life that the Vicarage can often be. Nor do you need me to tell you that this is by no means always the case and that there are distinct pressures on married clergy. I have a particular concern too for single priests: all of us need a proper context of families and friendships to flourish and, in my view, despondency and isolation can be bigger challenges than inappropriate behaviour - even if it is inappropriate behaviour which always makes the headlines.
All of us - married, single, celibate - are called, in our bodies, to aspire to the imitation of Christ. And I am increasingly of the view that priests - and therefore Christian people in general - are called to a balanced and modest life-style, with proper nutrition, rest and exercise, and a proper relationship with such scourges of our society as alcohol, medication and tobacco. The body, after all, is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
If all that was rather searching, it affects us all, and, I hope, encourages us all in this holy season to seek after holiness, the holiness of the body - our bodies - and thereby and thereafter the holiness of the Body of Christ.
The Pope quotes St Augustine of Hippo:
"If you have received [the sacrament] properly, you yourselves are what you have received". Consequently, "not only have we become Christians, we have become Christ himself".[10]
We meet together not long after the tragic murder of Fr Paul Bennett, a Welsh priest, on his own doorstep. Here is a timely reminder of the costliness of priesthood: happily priests in these islands are seldom called literally to sacrifice their lives, completing in their own bodies, as St Paul would say, the suffering and death of Christ but here, in Fr Bennett, was Christ himself in his Passion.
Fittingly we are reminded by the Pope to be grateful
for all those priests who have suffered even to the sacrifice of their lives in order to serve Christ. The eloquence of their example shows what it means to be a priest to the end.[11]
I want now to move to from the personal life and spirituality of the priest to our job as priests in proclaiming and presiding. Here we are into a number of practical suggestions. The Pope has three particularly helpful suggestions to make about the Liturgy of the Word. One is that, before the readings, 'a few brief words of introduction could be offered in order to focus the attention of the faithful'. This is something I very much wish I had done as a parish priest. Not only should the faithful have the text of the readings in front of them so that what is being said is processed more deeply - as any teacher will tell you - but they should benefit from titles to the readings and sometimes introductions too.
The second suggestion from the Pope, echoing the Synod of Bishops, is that
given the importance of the word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved. The homily is "part of the liturgical action" and is meant to foster a deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear fruit in the lives of the faithful.[12]
Thirdly, Pope and Synod propose offering 'thematic' homilies, from time to time, anchored in the three-year lectionary but covering the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer, the four pillars of the Catholic Catechism.[14] Meanwhile, 'The best catechesis on the Eucharist is the Eucharist itself, celebrated well'.[15]
The Pope makes a number of suggestions for improving the celebration of the Eucharist - a more orderly and restrained sharing of the Peace (including the interesting suggestion that the Peace should be relocated),[15] 'kneeling during the central moments of the Eucharistic Prayer',[16] a proper period of silence after Communion,[17] and new texts for the blessing to make the connection clearer between the Mass and mission.[18] He is very critical of Church music - 'the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided' - and refers to the two-thousand-year treasury of Church music, saying 'this heritage must not be lost'.[19] Indeed he calls for renewed use of Gregorian chant[20] and liturgical Latin.[21]
There is much else that could be said here - and which is said in Sacramentum Caritatis - about the Sunday obligation[22] and how the Sabbath rest on Sunday relativises work,[23] about eucharistic spirituality embracing the whole of life,[24] about the daily celebration of Mass,[25] about the Eucharist as mission[26] and how the Eucharist gives impetus to peace and justice.[27] There is much discussion of how the Eucharist relates to the sacraments of initiation,[28] reconciliation,[29] anointing,[30] orders[31] and marriage.[32]
'Priestly spirituality is intrinsically eucharistic,' says the Pope.[33] May God bless you all, throughout the Triduum Sanctum and throughout the coming year. I think it is this reminder from the Catholic ordination liturgy, spoken by the Bishop to the newly-ordained priest, that I began with and which I shall leave you with as you prepare - as we prepare - for the renewal of ordination promises:
Receive the oblation of the holy people to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord's Cross.
Notes:
1 Sacramentum Caritatis para. 80
2 ibid. 68
3 ibid. 66
4 On 19th March 2007. Fr McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, writes the weekly liturgy column for ZENIT.
5 at the Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923
6 ibid. 11 c.f. 1 Cor. 15:28
7 ibid. 15
8 ibid. 23
9 ibid. 24
10 ibid. 36
11 ibid. 26
12 ibid. 46
13 ibid. 46
14 ibid. 64
15 ibid. 49. The footnote (150) in the Pope's text reads: 'Taking into account ancient and venerable customs and the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have asked the competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the sign of peace to another place, such as before the presentation of the gifts at the altar. To do so would also serve as a significant reminder of the Lord's insistence that we be reconciled with others before offering our gifts to God (c.f. Mt 5:23ff); c.f. Propositio 23'.
16 ibid. 65
17 ibid. 50
18 ibid. 51
19 ibid. 42
20 ibid. 42
21 ibid. 62
22 ibid. 73
23 ibid. 74
24 ibid. 77
25 ibid. 80
26 ibid. 84
27 ibid. 89
28 ibid. 17-19
29 ibid. 20-21
30 ibid. 22
31 ibid. 23
32 ibid. 28-29
33 ibid. 80
There is nothing more to be said at this point so ... keep going!
As for the sermon, I have always been mindful that this is primarily a celebration for clergy - the only one of the year, apart from ordinations, which has this focus - and I have never seen this occasion as one for which a brief and simple ex tempore homily will do. 'The more the pity' I can hear some of you saying ... .
******
Receive the oblation of the holy people to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord's Cross.[1]
For this, my seventh Chrism Mass sermon, I want to look at the Holy Eucharist. A good deal of what I have to say is inspired by the recent document Sacramentum Caritatis, published by Pope Benedict following the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. A 'Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation' is what the document is called and clearly in its sights - and therefore in my sights in this homily - is the parish priest as he seeks to order the eucharistic life of the People of God in a particular part of Birmingham or Cornwall or Derby or wherever. Since the Eucharist is at the heart of all our lives, I hope that what I have to say will resonate with everyone present at this mass. I would urge you all to read the document for yourselves: it is readily available both as a booklet and on the internet.
To some considerable extent the Holy Eucharist was the theme also of the Ebbsfleet Clergy Retreat at Glastonbury, where I myself this year gave the retreat addresses. It seems to me to be absolutely fundamental to our priesthood both that we order and celebrate the liturgy as befits its dignity and wonder and that we centre our lives on the eucharistic mystery, by seeking to engage ever more deeply with that mystery. You may have read that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham has remarked on the link between vocations to the priesthood and the practice of eucharistic adoration. We are not thick enough on the ground in any one parish to take on 'round-the-clock' eucharistic adoration but we do sometimes talk as if a key catholic privilege is the 'reserved sacrament', (rather as hotels boast of their en suite bathrooms). The key catholic privilege is not reservation itself but the opportunity reservation provides for the faithful to adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
As the Pope says in Sacramentum Caritatis, commending such devotions as the Forty Hours and the Corpus Christi Procession,[2] 'It is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist'.[3]
Talking of social mission, Fr McNamara, professor of liturgy, recently wrote:
The primary beauty in liturgy is that of a community united heart and soul in prayerful celebration of Christ's sacrifice.[4]
He continues:
Being drawn into Christ leads us to recognize him in others, especially in the hungry, thirsty, naked, ignorant, sick and imprisoned. Being drawn into Christ, means being drawn into his supreme act of self-offering on Calvary, a self-offering that culminate his teaching of the beatitudes. In this way there can be no genuine Eucharistic piety that does not bear fruit in concern for justice and charity.
These words, of course, are very similar to the famous words of Bishop Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar:
Your Lord is one and the same ... with Jesus in his blessed Sacrament ... . Now go out into the highways and hedges and look for Jesus in the ragged and naked, in the oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope, and in those who are struggling to make good. Look for Jesus in them; and when you find him, gird yourselves with his towel of fellowship, and wash his feet in the person of his brethren.[5]
The Pope likens the 'substantial conversion of bread and wine' in the Eucharist to 'a sort of "nuclear fission"' ... a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all'.[6]
So, if the Eucharist, authentically celebrated and experienced, produces charity and justice, indeed transfigures the entire world, how do we priests - and the celebrations we plan and preside over - fit the bill? The Pope reminds us that the same phrase - Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ - is used to describe 'Christ's body born of the Virgin Mary, his eucharistic body and his ecclesial body'.[7] As we seek to renew our ordination promises, we do well to look have in mind how we hold together these different notions of the body in the way we live our lives, in our preaching and proclamation, in our spirituality and in our teaching.
The Pope has this to say:
The priest is above all a servant of others, and he must continually work at being a sign pointing to Christ ... . This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart, and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality.[8]
Our use of the body in the way we live our lives is summed up by the Pope: 'while respecting the different practice and traditions of the Eastern Churches, there is a need to reaffirm the profound meaning of priestly celibacy'.[9] He relates celibacy to the life of Christ: 'Celibacy is really a special way of conforming oneself to Christ's own way of life' and says that 'priestly celibacy lived with maturity, joy and dedication is an immense blessing for the Church and for society itself'. In our debased culture we have got hopelessly muddled between chastity and celibacy. Chastity is a duty for us all: being married 'hallows and directs aright' our affections, (to adapt the happy wording of the Introduction to the 1928 Prayer Book Marriage Service) but being married does not protect us from the hard work of consecrating our lives - allowing our lives to be 'hallowed and directed aright' by God.
We married priests claim the privilege of the Eastern Churches and you have no need for me to tell you of the example of Christian family life that the Vicarage can often be. Nor do you need me to tell you that this is by no means always the case and that there are distinct pressures on married clergy. I have a particular concern too for single priests: all of us need a proper context of families and friendships to flourish and, in my view, despondency and isolation can be bigger challenges than inappropriate behaviour - even if it is inappropriate behaviour which always makes the headlines.
All of us - married, single, celibate - are called, in our bodies, to aspire to the imitation of Christ. And I am increasingly of the view that priests - and therefore Christian people in general - are called to a balanced and modest life-style, with proper nutrition, rest and exercise, and a proper relationship with such scourges of our society as alcohol, medication and tobacco. The body, after all, is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
If all that was rather searching, it affects us all, and, I hope, encourages us all in this holy season to seek after holiness, the holiness of the body - our bodies - and thereby and thereafter the holiness of the Body of Christ.
The Pope quotes St Augustine of Hippo:
"If you have received [the sacrament] properly, you yourselves are what you have received". Consequently, "not only have we become Christians, we have become Christ himself".[10]
We meet together not long after the tragic murder of Fr Paul Bennett, a Welsh priest, on his own doorstep. Here is a timely reminder of the costliness of priesthood: happily priests in these islands are seldom called literally to sacrifice their lives, completing in their own bodies, as St Paul would say, the suffering and death of Christ but here, in Fr Bennett, was Christ himself in his Passion.
Fittingly we are reminded by the Pope to be grateful
for all those priests who have suffered even to the sacrifice of their lives in order to serve Christ. The eloquence of their example shows what it means to be a priest to the end.[11]
I want now to move to from the personal life and spirituality of the priest to our job as priests in proclaiming and presiding. Here we are into a number of practical suggestions. The Pope has three particularly helpful suggestions to make about the Liturgy of the Word. One is that, before the readings, 'a few brief words of introduction could be offered in order to focus the attention of the faithful'. This is something I very much wish I had done as a parish priest. Not only should the faithful have the text of the readings in front of them so that what is being said is processed more deeply - as any teacher will tell you - but they should benefit from titles to the readings and sometimes introductions too.
The second suggestion from the Pope, echoing the Synod of Bishops, is that
given the importance of the word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved. The homily is "part of the liturgical action" and is meant to foster a deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear fruit in the lives of the faithful.[12]
Thirdly, Pope and Synod propose offering 'thematic' homilies, from time to time, anchored in the three-year lectionary but covering the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer, the four pillars of the Catholic Catechism.[14] Meanwhile, 'The best catechesis on the Eucharist is the Eucharist itself, celebrated well'.[15]
The Pope makes a number of suggestions for improving the celebration of the Eucharist - a more orderly and restrained sharing of the Peace (including the interesting suggestion that the Peace should be relocated),[15] 'kneeling during the central moments of the Eucharistic Prayer',[16] a proper period of silence after Communion,[17] and new texts for the blessing to make the connection clearer between the Mass and mission.[18] He is very critical of Church music - 'the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided' - and refers to the two-thousand-year treasury of Church music, saying 'this heritage must not be lost'.[19] Indeed he calls for renewed use of Gregorian chant[20] and liturgical Latin.[21]
There is much else that could be said here - and which is said in Sacramentum Caritatis - about the Sunday obligation[22] and how the Sabbath rest on Sunday relativises work,[23] about eucharistic spirituality embracing the whole of life,[24] about the daily celebration of Mass,[25] about the Eucharist as mission[26] and how the Eucharist gives impetus to peace and justice.[27] There is much discussion of how the Eucharist relates to the sacraments of initiation,[28] reconciliation,[29] anointing,[30] orders[31] and marriage.[32]
'Priestly spirituality is intrinsically eucharistic,' says the Pope.[33] May God bless you all, throughout the Triduum Sanctum and throughout the coming year. I think it is this reminder from the Catholic ordination liturgy, spoken by the Bishop to the newly-ordained priest, that I began with and which I shall leave you with as you prepare - as we prepare - for the renewal of ordination promises:
Receive the oblation of the holy people to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord's Cross.
Notes:
1 Sacramentum Caritatis para. 80
2 ibid. 68
3 ibid. 66
4 On 19th March 2007. Fr McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, writes the weekly liturgy column for ZENIT.
5 at the Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923
6 ibid. 11 c.f. 1 Cor. 15:28
7 ibid. 15
8 ibid. 23
9 ibid. 24
10 ibid. 36
11 ibid. 26
12 ibid. 46
13 ibid. 46
14 ibid. 64
15 ibid. 49. The footnote (150) in the Pope's text reads: 'Taking into account ancient and venerable customs and the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have asked the competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the sign of peace to another place, such as before the presentation of the gifts at the altar. To do so would also serve as a significant reminder of the Lord's insistence that we be reconciled with others before offering our gifts to God (c.f. Mt 5:23ff); c.f. Propositio 23'.
16 ibid. 65
17 ibid. 50
18 ibid. 51
19 ibid. 42
20 ibid. 42
21 ibid. 62
22 ibid. 73
23 ibid. 74
24 ibid. 77
25 ibid. 80
26 ibid. 84
27 ibid. 89
28 ibid. 17-19
29 ibid. 20-21
30 ibid. 22
31 ibid. 23
32 ibid. 28-29
33 ibid. 80
