The Feast of Blessed Gerard this year marks the 30th Anniversary of the reestablishment of the Grand Priory of England in 1993.
The Mass, celebrated in the Church of the Assumption and St Gregory Warwick Street, was presided over by the fourth Grand Prior since the restoration, and 58th since our foundation, Fra' Max Rumney.
Before the Mass the General Assembly of the Grand Priory was held in choir, of which all members of the Order in Britain now form part. The 30th anniversary Medal of Merit was established at the end of the Assembly, and bestowed upon, initially, all current members of the Priory. It will henceforth be awarded annually on the Feast of Blessed Adrian Fortescue, patron of the Priory, to volunteers and benefactors of the Order in Britain whose contribution is noteworthy.
During Holy Mass, Benedict and Hannah Jennings made the Promise of Obedience. Please pray for them.
The celebrant and preacher was our Chaplain, Monsignor John Armitage. We are grateful to him for the text of this sermon.
“Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” (Romans 5:29) When we see the abundance of sin and evil in our world, we have to remind ourselves of this truth of our faith, for it is a truth of faith needed in each generation to guide humanity through the “abundance of sin” found in every age. The sense of powerless that comes in the face of man’s inhumanity to man was described by the Roman historian Livy in 56 bc. “Here are the questions to which I should like every reader to give their close attention: what life and morals were like; what men and what policies, in peace and in war, territory was established and enlarged. Then let him note how, with the gradual relaxation of discipline, morals first subsided, as it were, then sank lower and lower, and finally began the downward plunge which has brought us to our present time, when we can endure neither our vices nor their cure.” amid such turmoil, “The Word became flesh and lived among us”.
As the world today faces the challenges of war and peace our awareness that we can “can endure neither our vices not their cure” is either a recipe for despair, or a public witness, to the truth of our faith that “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.”
The suffering of the people of Ukraine, the Holy Land and the many countries trapped in the grip of violence, injustice and poverty, witness to a seemingly never-ending story of violence and despair. The hymn “Abide with me”, describes the turmoil of “change and decay”, but most importantly gives the remedy! “O thou who changest not, abide with me.” Let us not be disheartened by the challenges that face the world, for the suffering of humanity, unlocks the wellspring of God’s Mercy, “which can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14). So let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, and make justice and peace flourish.”
This mercy is lived out each day as the Church seeks to witness to the teaching of the “Good News” that sets people free and the service of God’s people, especially the poor and the sick.
The talk of the Order’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority last Friday, on the work of the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, expressed in the most powerful way the continuation of a work of the Order inspired by our Catholic faith and the call to serve the sick and poor. The Holy Family Hospital has a direct link to the first hospital in Jerusalem set up by Blessed Gerard and which continues to this day to be open to all, regardless of faith or nationality. In these troubled times may our prayerful support and generosity to our hospital be great, as our brothers and sisters face a turmoil as great as any in the time of Blessed Gerard.
So where is the “abundance of grace” which will overcome the abundance of sin in our time? It is, where it has always been, in the hearts of faithful men and women who recognise that despite the change and decay, God always abides with his people for “The Word became flesh and lived among us”. New life does not come about by a change in structures, but by the renewal of the human heart for “You renew the Church in every age by raising up men and women outstanding in holiness, living witnesses of your unchanging love. They inspire us by their heroic lives and help us by the constant prayers to be the living sign of your saving power.”
Today we also celebrate our fellow countryman, St Edward the Confessor, who lived through the “change and decay” of his times. His simple piety, the unaffected generosity of his nature, enabled him to serve the men and women about him, by easing their burdens, relieving their necessities, and confirming them in their allegiance to the faith. Mgr. Knox reflected that “The Conqueror, who diverted the stream of history, went to his grave disappointed, and lies there a historical memory. The Confessor, whose ambitions could be satisfied by finding a poor man his dinner, saw no corruption in death, and lives the patron of his fellow countrymen." Mgr. Ronald Knox
Like all the saints we celebrate this month, St Therese, St Bruno, St John Leonardi, their lives were shaped by the knowledge that the one who never changes would always abide with them. This is a definition of holiness, where ordinary men and women who do extra ordinary things because they believe, like Our Lady, that “the promises made them by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
In the aftermath of the reformation, Pope Paul V asked St John Leonardi to reflect upon the problems facing the Church of their time. “Those who want to work for moral reform in the world must seek the glory of God before all else. If at first glance they appear difficult, compare them with the magnitude of the situation. Then they will seem very easy indeed. Great works are accomplished by great men and women, and great women and men should be involved in great works.”
The truth is we know we have to change, as St John Henry Newman reminds us for “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”. We are troubled in our conscience by our cowardice, our complacency, our lack of courage. We feel guilty that we don’t do more, and this is where we stop. Perfection simply means becoming the person God has created me to be! Be cannot change structures unless we first change our selves. We give up what we are now, with the help of God’s grace, for what we can become.
As we celebrate the great works of Blessed Gerard, if they are to be more than the history of the past, the Church calls, challenges, even demands each one of us today, to build an Order of Great works fit for our times, as we defend the Church, by our service of the sick and poor. Great works are accomplished only by great men and women, and great women and men should be involved in great works, and if at first glance our structural challenges appear difficult, compare them with the magnitude of the situation we face as servants of Gods Mercy to our fallen world, then the “minor issues” we face will seem very easy indeed.
Gerard teaches us by his life that the changes we all long for in our troubled world, can only begin with the human heart, and this comes about by humility which understands that all I have is a gift of God, and the gift grows only by sharing it with others. The consequence of this gift is a greatness of the spirit that we know as nobility of heart. It is a depth of generosity, at the very centre of who we are, that we willingly share wight those most in need. I am what I share, and I share what I have received for a loving God.
It is holiness alone that renews and changes the world, the Church and the Order, and in our founder, we hear why. He was called "the humblest man in the East, the servant of the poor, and kind to strangers. His appearance was not impressive, but it was a noble heart that made him conspicuous.” On this his feast day, let us renew our vows and promises, made at our profession and when we joined the Order. Much is to be done, as in our time as we commit ourselves once again to be instruments of grace to overcome the evil and suffering of our world. Inspired by Gerard’s humility and nobility of Heart, may we walk in his footsteps as witnesses of hope, as great men and women who have committed themselves to the great works of our beloved Order, for “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more!”
Blessed Gerard, pray for us.
Grand Priory of England - ad multos annos!
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