What kind of saint will you be?

Homily at St Philip Evans, on the Solemnity of All Saints, 2017.

What kind of saint do you want to be?

In the Missal, there are prayers to honour different kinds of saint. First place goes to Our Lady and the Apostles. But there’s no room for new Apostles – they belong to the New Testament.

What kind of saint do you want to be?

The second place goes to Martyrs. It’s not impossible that any one of us might be killed for our faithfulness to Christ or the Catholic Church – but in this country, it’s not very likely right now. Our patron, Saint Philip Evans, reminds us that it was different in the past… we pray that all of us here today will be spared the honour of shedding our blood for Christ.

What kind of saint do you want to be?

Next place goes to Pastors. This covers all kinds of priests and bishops, from Pope Gregory the Great to the humble Curé of Ars. Some founded religious orders, others led churches in times of crisis. Maybe God is calling someone here today to be a priest. Usually, in our Western tradition, that is someone who never married, but widowers are eligible too – for instance, Deacon Peter MacLaren, who preached at my 10th anniversary Mass, is now a priest. But not many of us will be called to take Holy Orders.

What kind of saint do you want to be?

The Missal has a large collection of prayers in honour of Virgins. Some of these, the virgin martyrs, were women who died for refusing to enter ungodly relationships. But most of them are women who knew that God was calling them to live their life on earth as a bride of Christ. The Bible hints that there are special rewards in heaven for men and women who choose not to enter a sexual relationship on earth, as a shocking sign to the world that our relationship with God is more important than any earthly intimacy.

All of us, who are followers of Christ, are called to chastity – that means waiting until we are married before experiencing sexual union for the first time. Some of us here today may be called to Virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. This can be a lived out in a formal way by joining a religious order, becoming a hermit, or for women only, making a vow of virginity directly to the bishop of the diocese. Others among us may discover in practice that God has called us to this because the right relationship has never come along for us during our lifetime. It can be a scary thought, that God would call you to live for intimacy with Him alone – but He asks this of you, when you find the courage to embrace it, He will give you strength.

What kind of saint do you want to be?

Perhaps you haven’t found the right kind yet. Not many of us will be ordained ministers or embrace virginity for the sake of God’s Kingdom. St John Paul II and Pope Francis agree with you – we need another kind of saint!

Virginity is good, for those who are called to it, but marriage is also blessed by God – indeed we call it a state of holy matrimony. The final kind of saint in the Missal is found in ‘the Common of Holy Men and Women’. In case that sounds like a poor relation which is ‘none of the above’, remember the most pre-eminent such saint is no less than St Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin!* Among these saints are widows who entered religious life, deacons and religious brothers who never became pastors, and visionaries like St Bernadette and the little shepherds of Fatima.

St John Paul realised that we need more role models who are not religious or in holy orders, and made it his business to beatify and canonise many more examples of holiness who are closer to our everyday life. Pope Francis recently rewrote the rules to emphasise that there is another way to become a saint. “Greater love has no-one than to lay down his life for a friend,” said Our Lord. Yet until this year there was no explicit category of saints who did this – and that is going to need a new page in the Missal. But there are examples to inspire us:

St Maximilian Kolbe offered his life to save a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz.

St Gianna Molla and Blessed Chiara Corbella were pregnant mothers who chose to forego life-saving treatment for themselves in order to avoid damage to their unborn children.

Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati, a young Italian in his 20s, visited sick people in Turin, and died of an illness he probably picked up by doing so.

Blessed Laura Vicuña, a Chilean teenager, made a vow offering her life to Jesus if He would rescue her mother from living in sin. She died following a beating from her mother’s abusive partner, but her mother found the strength to leave the abusive relationship and return to the Church.

St Giuseppe Moscati, an Italian doctor, was canonised for simply being a prayerful man who devoted himself to his medical craft.

What kind of saint do you want to be?

It is not even necessary to die for the sake of others to become a saint. Pope Francis recently canonized the parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux – now Saints Louis and Zélie Martin – for the example they gave of being committed parents over a truly Christian family.

Blessed Chiara Badano and St Dominic Savio both died in their teens; they were beatified simply for living lives which embraced Catholic values to the full in the way they put God first and loved their friends in purity and simplicity.

Chiara and Dominic were not martyrs, nor visionaries. They were ordinary Catholics like you and me. If they can be recognised as saints by the way they lived their lives before the age of 20, then sainthood is within reach of every one of us.

Resist the temptation to say that being a ‘saint’ is too lofty an ambition and you only wish to be an ordinary Christian. Oh no! Be careful! A ‘saint’ is just someone who made it into heaven. If you tell God ‘I don’t want to be a saint’, what you are really saying is ‘I don’t want to go to heaven!’

We will not all be high profile saints with a special day in the calendar. But we should all aim to make today our feast day – that when our grandchildren attend Mass today in 100 years’ time, we will be among ‘all the saints’ they are honouring in heaven. So be a saint. There’s only one question that matters: What kind of saint do you want to be?

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* The ‘Common of Virgins’ is specifically for female saints. The Catholic Church has not taken a formal view on whether St Joseph had a previous wife before his celibate marriage to the Blessed Virgin. For these reasons, St Joseph’s feast days appropriately draws from the Common of Holy Men & Women.

Facing the Future

Homily at St Philip Evans, on the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A.

[Before the Gospel is proclaimed, everyone present will be asked to remain standing at the end.]

Dear Friends, today we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the Dedication of this Church, and I have asked you to remain standing because I would like to show you the future! What does the future of our parish look like?

First of all, if you are a visitor among us, and this is not the church where you usually worship, please be seated.

Secondly, if for any reason you do not expect to be attending this church most Sundays by this time next year, please be seated.

I wish to show you the future, and we must plan for the long term. I hope that many of us will live long lives of service continuing to contribute to the parish, but for now I would like everyone aged over 75…70…65 to sit down.

Finally, I want to address our brothers and sisters from India, who belong to the Syro-Malabar branch of the Catholic Church. I don’t know what provision your bishop will make in the coming years, but let’s imagine that a priest is sent to Cardiff to celebrate your liturgy, the Holy Qurbana, every Sunday. If you would choose to go to that rather than come here every Sunday, please sit down.

Those of you still standing, have a good look at each other. The future of our parish is in your hands. There is no-one else who can make our parish thrive when our older brothers and sisters find that declining health prevents them giving the wonderful gifts they offer us right now. You too, please be seated – but be attentive!

Give to God what belongs to God.

This was Our Lord’s answer to a trick question designed to catch him out. But it’s a good question. What does belong to God? What are we expected to give Him?

When the Lord invites you to the wedding banquet, will you come? And will you be wearing a wedding garment?

When the Lord looks for fruit in his vineyard, will have have grown any?

When the Lord asks you to work in his vineyard, will you go?

Over the last four Sundays, St Luke has repeatedly told us that God has work for us to do. That work includes the care we give to our families, our work colleagues and the local community – but in particular it applies to our work for this parish community. Today we celebrate the Dedication of the Church. We are the living stones of which our church is built. How dedicated are we?

The fact that we have a church building here in Llanedeyrn makes a statement. It says that we, the Catholics of this parish, takes responsibility for what belongs to God in Llanedeyrn, Pentwyn, Pontprennau and St Edeyrn’s Village. We are not St Brigid’s with St Paul’s. Our brothers and sisters there are responsible for Cyncoed and Llanishen. One question I always have to keep in mind as your Pastor is to ask whether we are still large enough as a community to do God’s work without needing to merge with our neighbours. Let’s assume, for the moment, that we are large enough. What challenges will the future bring?

I’d like to share with you some numbers.

Every year, the parents of about 70 children ask that they should receive First Communion here. Most of those families do not attend Mass regularly. Maybe 10 of those families are not even Catholic. How can we welcome them and encourage them to be active members of our parish family?

Every year, the parents of about 30 infants ask that these children should be baptised here. How can we welcome these and encourage them, too, to be active members of our parish family?

In January, after the Parish Mission, we launched our “Connect & Explore” Groups. About 25 of us came to try them out. Last month, we launched our new season… but only about 10 of us are still coming. That means that almost all of us, more than 300 souls, are not choosing to strengthen our community bonds and deepen our faith through the programme on offer. When we offer coffee and tea after Mass on the second Sunday of each month, maybe fifteen of us stay – but 150 souls leave without joining in. This is not a recipe for a healthy parish.

I know there are good reasons why some of us cannot take part. Maybe some of us work shifts which change from week to week. I have tried to address this by making sure that Connect & Explore runs in three different slots. Maybe some of us don’t like to drink tea or coffee – well, tell our caterers what we should be providing.

Those of you who were the last parishioners standing, you are from many nations, languages and cultures. I know that it takes extra effort to mix when you have to speak a language which is not your mother tongue, or share food which is not your natural palate. But consider this – what happens when a marriage takes place across such boundaries? Let me tell you about Graeme, who is Scottish. He married my friend Alina, who is Polish. Before the wedding, and again regularly afterwards, he went with Alina to visit her family in Poland. Graeme doesn’t speak Polish. Alina’s parents don’t speak much English. But this relationship matters. Alina’s family had become Graeme’s in-laws. So although it wasn’t easy, and still isn’t, Graeme continues to visit Poland, eat their food at their table, and do his best to communicate.

We are the bride of Christ. We celebrate today that in this parish, we are one spiritual family, bound together by our common baptism. But every time we refuse the invitation to spend time with one another, our actions are saying “You are not my family” – and the body of Christ is broken once again.

Now, how are we to respond to these many requests for baptism and first communion from families who do not often attend weekend worship? The law of the church (Canon 843) states: “Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, [who] are properly disposed…Pastors of souls and other members of the Christian faithful… have the duty to take care that those who seek the sacraments are prepared to receive them…”

Did you notice that? It’s not only my job as parish priest to help them become ready. It is also your job. You’ve heard the saying that “it takes a village to raise a child”? Well, “it takes a parish to make a Catholic”.

Last year, more than 60 children made their first communion in this parish. I’d like any children who made their First Communion in the last 3 years to stand up. [Affirm the children who do.] Is it OK that most of our children are missing now?

Last year, we baptised more than 30 children in this parish. How many of those babies are here right now? I do recognise that it’s difficult for parents to manage small children at Mass – indeed there’s no obligation to bring children under First Communion age to Mass – and I have good news: now that we have launched our parish Toddler Mass, more than 100 people came last Saturday. But that still doesn’t represent all the babies we have baptised. Is it OK that many of our families are missing now?

It’s not OK. So what are we going to do about it?

I want to share with you now the vision that Deacon Steve and myself have for the future.

Next Autumn, September 2018, we will launch something we’re calling the “Parish Connection Programme”. This will be a short course, over several evenings and perhaps a day retreat, that reminds us why we do the things we do as Catholics, why Our Lord Jesus is at the centre of faith, and what it means to be a member of this parish. This programme, or PCP, will be the gateway to receiving Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation in this parish. Do you want your baby baptised? Do the PCP. Do you want to become a Catholic? Do the PCP. Do you want your child to receive First Communion? In order to give your child appropriate parental example and support, do the PCP. What exactly we put into the PCP will be developed over the next few months with our Parish Leadership Group. But next year I will ask all of us to take part in a PCP so it becomes part of the shared history of our parish. I want us to come together from our different languages and cultures and do this together. And those of you who were the last ones standing, I am looking to you in particular to learn to run our Parish Connection Programme.

We will need to run lots of PCPs. Next autumn, a few pioneers will take part and iron out teething troubles. In spring 2019, the graduates of the first courses will run more of them so we can all take part. This will be the way to help our parish grow and become strong. We may need to put some of our other parish actitivies on hold for a few months to make space for this.

We CAN do this.

We NEED to do this.

If we face this with the wrong attitude, giving to God the work that belongs to God, it will become as tedious as paying taxes.

If we do it with the right attitude, we will meet the challenge in the same was as the Thessalonian Christians St Paul addressed his words to: “When we brought the Good News to you, it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction. You have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope.”

We know what we need to do. This week we’ve been comparing notes with other pioneering parishes across the UK, and we know we’re taking the right steps. But we have to work together. We have one year to get ready for this new way of being parish, where all take part in the Parish Connection Programme, so we in turn can offer it to our missing brothers and sisters.

We can do this.

We WILL do this.

Who is ready to stand up and give to God what belongs to God?

 

Catholic or Christian?

Homily at St Philip Evans, on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A.

Are you a Catholic or a Christian?

Don’t take too long to think about it. I’m interested in the first answer that popped into your head. How many wanted to say “Christian”? How many “Catholic?” How many of you wanted to say “Both”?

I do acknowledge, of course, that not everyone here today is Catholic. Some of you are preparing to become Catholics – so you can ponder how you will answer the question when that happy day comes. Others among you are guests in our congregation from the Orthodox Churches of the East, welcome to receive the sacraments here. We share the same creed which declares the church to be universal – “catholic” with a small “c” – but you are not big-C Catholics under the authority of Pope Francis. You are always welcome here, and we pray for the day when our churches are known for being part of some united structure rather than a divided structure.

The big issue I want to tackle today is this: some of us are Catholics, but not Christians.

The word “Christian” means a follower of Christ. To be “a Catholic not a Christian” is to be a tenant in the Vineyard but not to welcome the landowner’s son.

Today’s First Reading and Gospel use the image of a vineyard to describe Israel, God’s Chosen People. God Our Father expected them to bear fruit – to treat the poorest people generously and fairly, to keep worshipping God and not idols. The murdered servants represent the Prophets, like Elijah and Isaiah, sent to Israel through the ages. God is represented by the landowner who has “gone overseas” – we are separated from God in our broken humanity.

In the fullness of time, Jesus came – his mission was to give the Jewish people a perfect understanding of how to live out God’s Law. But the Jewish leaders conspired to have him crucified. So God put the vineyard in the care of new tenants – the Catholic Church! (Many of the first members were Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah.) Then, through our human brokenness, we divided the vineyard among ourselves. The Protestant section has each vine managed by its own leader. The Orthodox section has national groups of vines under one manager. In our Catholic section, Pope Francis is foreman over all our vines.

The trouble us, we still suffer from the same brokenness as the Israelites of old; we can still fall into the same traps. Here in the Catholic section of the Vineyard, we can be tempted to say, “I have my membership card! Look! I’m a member of the Catholic Tenants’ Association!” But will that be enough when we meet Jesus on the last day of our lives? If God the Father was angry with the lack of fruit then, will he be pleased with the fruit we are bearing now?

What does it look like, to bear fruit for God?

The most important fruit is new Christians. How many people have become active members of the Catholic Church because of you?

Another fruit is good works – do you volunteer for any church project or other activity in the local community?

Yet another fruit is our generous giving – is your gift to CAFOD this week the change in your pocket, or is it big enough that you will truly go without something you would have enjoyed?

Saint Paul speaks today about filling our minds with whatever is noble and pure. That includes avoiding pornography and gratuitous violence in what we choose to watch, read and listen to. It also includes taking time to fill our minds with God’s teaching, by reading the Bible at home and coming together for opportunities to explore our faith.

Imagine that Jesus stepped into this church right now and pointed his finger at you. “You, now, tell me what fruit you have borne for my vineyard!” What good have you done this year for the parish? What good have you done for the local community? What good have you done for your extended family?

Make no mistake, at the end of your life, Jesus will do this. There will be a reckoning. It’s not only for the good of the parish that I preach about ways to get involved – it’s so that you can give a good account of your fruitfulness when He asks you. I do not want you to be found lacking! If you can give a good account – fantastic! If not, there’s a right way and a wrong way to deal with it. The wrong way is to try to ignore the challenge, or become so angry that we want to keep our distance from Jesus. That’s when we might be tempted to say “I’m a Catholic, not a Christian!”

The right way is to face up to the challenge, and repent. If you know you haven’t been producing the fruit Jesus wants, I would like to invite you to come to confession straight after this Mass. Make a new beginning. Is this really sin? Oh yes! Sin, by definition, is “not doing what Jesus is asking you to do”! Or if you can’t linger after this Mass, come to confession some time in the next week.

Paul reminds us not to worry, but to pray for whatever we need. We can pray for forgiveness – we can pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit which allow us to bear fruit – and we can pray for God’s guidance to help us know how to use our talents. In the very act of seeking divine help, we bear the fruit of offering God worship!

Are you a Catholic or a Christian? If you cannot yet say: “I am a follower of Jesus, looking forward to the day he returns to this vineyard” – today would be a good day to decide to become a Christian!