The Feast of our Founder Blessed Gerard was celebrated solemnly at the Assumption, Warwick Street. This is also, of course, in this place, the feast of Saint Edward the Confessor, King of England, whose shrine is barely a mile way. At the end of Mass the relic of Blessed Gerard's jawbone was exposed for veneration. This was the first occasion upon which the new Grand Prior presided from the throne. Ad multos annos!
The Mass was preceded by the Grand Priory General Assembly, and followed by a Reception in the Chapter Room.
The sermon was delivered by Monsignor John Armitage, Chaplain of the Grand Priory, who also celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here is his text.
We are faced with the problem of good men and women! Each one of us has in our heart the desire to be a good person, but God does not create us to be be good, but to be like himself, to be like God. St Athanasius stated that “God became Man in order that Man might become god” He creates us in his image, presenting us with every gift we need.
In order for us to be like God, we have to embrace, and use these gifts that we may be shaped into the true likeness of God. The challenge we face is that we do not use the gifts for the purpose they were given, that is for God’s greater glory, but for our own. When our first parents walked with God in paradise, the image and likeness of God was in harmony in their hearts. The moment when they ceased to walk in harmony, they had to hide; the unconditional love offered by their creator was broken, the invitation to walk side by side with God was shattered. The re-union of humanity to God, whose “measure of love is to love without measure”, would be restored only in the person of Jesus Christ who prayed “that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me”. In Jesus Christ we are invited once again to walk with God in unity and peace. Blessed Gerard chose to walk with his Lord, “Cor ad cor loquitor “ heart speaking unto heart.
Who do we walk with as we seek to use the gifts that God has given us? In whose name do we carry out the works of the Order? The answer lies in the first reading “If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed…”
In the face of the disunity of our broken world, the change and decay that is all around us, we must constantly keep our eyes on the one in whose name we serve, for “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” This name is the source and the summit of our unity, and leads us along the path to healing and serving the sick and the broken so that the “people who are walking in darkness will see a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned”
Christ enables us to bring such light, the man of God whose feast we celebrate today, in the midst of the darkness of his age, “lit a candle rather than cursed the darkness”. In his humility he recognised his weakness and placed his trust in God and God alone. His radical service of the sick and the poor was the consequence of a great heart, the root of all true nobility. Trust and greatness of heart enabled Gerard to listen to “what the Spirit was saying to the Church” at a particular moment in history. This manifestation of the Spirit, our charism, inspires us to defend the Body of Christ which is the Church, as we serve the Body of Christ who are Our Lords the sick and those most in need. This charism became a gift for all time, thus we celebrate today for “Charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit …. They benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of all, and to the needs of the world. …They are wonderfully rich graces for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ” Gods glory lights up our world when humble men and women of great and noble hearts are fully alive “with authentic promptings of this same Spirit, that is, in keeping with charity, the true measure of all charisms.”
In keeping with the charity of our charism we must work for unity, for the only way to build fraternity is by accepting each another as brothers and sisters in the Lord, as we seek to be obedient and open to what the Spirit is saying to the Order as this time. We seek to strengthen those things that unite us and in charity and humility seek the wisdom to address the challenges that always arise in the face of the renewal and reform. Without the unity Christ prayed for we walk alone, our service to Our Lords the sick is seriously weakened. We are all different, we see things differently, the Spirit transforms our differences we may become united. E pluribus Unum, out of the many come one! This is the work of the Spirit, and it brings light to humble and noble hearts “So, a prisoners for the Lord, let us seek to live a lives worthy of the calling we have received. Let us be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace..”
Let us pray for all depends on God, and work as if it all depends on us! As we pray together, our respect for one another grows, as does our shared concern for unity. From this will flow true fraternity in our service of the Gospel, meeting needs, challenging injustice, and demonstrating mutual respect with a willingness to listen and to dialogue. Then the witness we give will speak loudly to the society in which we live and will support our shared proclamation of the words of the Lord that when you did this to least of my brothers and sisters you did it to me. “For the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and indeed will do even greater ones than these,…for …whatever you ask in my name I will do”
Blessed Gerard, pray for us.
Saint Edward the Confessor, pray for us.
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