The Land of the Foreigner

Homily for Pentecost Masses

What does God think of migration?

There’s been a lot in the news this week about how many people have come to live in the UK, and how many have left. In 2022 the population of the UK rose by more than 600,000 people – that’s well over half-a-million – because of people from other places coming to live here.

I wonder how you feel about that?

Maybe you are a migrant – maybe you weren’t born in Wales but have come here during your lifetime. In which case I say Croeso i Gymru! Welcome to Wales!

Maybe you’re descended from migrants. For most Catholics in Britain, if we come from a Catholic family at least some of our ancestry is likely to be Irish or from continental Europe. But you might have to go back a century or two for that.

Maybe you’re a native. I was born in Wales too, and my family is Welsh way back, apart from a great grandfather from Gloucestershire. The very name “Wales” means “land of the foreigner” (though it was the Anglo-Saxons who regarded us as foreigners in our homeland) and I’m glad we’ve been able to welcome people from many nations into our midst over the centuries.

But I do understand that some of us might feel worried about migration. There’s something In our fallen human nature which likes to divide people into “them and us”. And when someone has a different skin colour – or a different passport – that person easily slots into them. And in our human brokenness we start worrying, fearing, excluding, insulting anyone who is “other”.

Which is why we need the Holy Spirit.

Among the many gifts of the Holy Spirit are charity and generosity. Perfect love casts out all fear – we may need the help of the Holy Spirit to overcome our broken feelings about immigration. Or if we are people who have come to live in Wales and sometimes we meet hostility about our nationality or race, we need the Holy Spirit to help us respond generously to that, too.

So to come back to my opening question, how does God feel about migrants?

God asked Abraham to migrate from Iraq to the Holy Land.

God helped Moses to lead the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt to the Holy Land.

God allowed the Israelites to be exiled to Babylon for 70 years.

Jesus migrated from Bethlehem to Egypt and then to Nazareth.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit united many nations by the miracle of making St Peter’s words intelligible to people from across the known world, who spoke many different languages.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read how the Holy Spirit guided the first followers of Jesus as they began to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Both Old and New Testaments contain advice to welcome the stranger who wanders among us – because we are the heirs, at least the spiritual heirs, of wanderers who came to the Promised Land – and of missionaries who came to our ancestors. These are signs that our wandering is not over – our ultimate migration will be through Heaven, to the new heaven and new earth which God has prepared for the resurrection of all people. But since we’re not there yet, the Holy Spirit will help us to do what we can to build heaven on earth.

Let’s come back to the news about migration. Why have so many people come to Britain in the last year?

We’ve welcomed people who have had to flee war and oppression – refugees from Ukraine, those who worked with British forces in Afghanistan, British passport holders from Hong Kong who fear the growing restrictions imposed by China.

Rules have also changed for University students. Our British Universities depend on the fees paid by international students – but right now those students are permitted to bring their husband or wife, and their children, with them. As Catholics, we are called to firmly support family life; I hope we would all want families to be able to stay together while one member is studying in Wales.

Yes, migration has consequences. Yes, when there are limited places in Catholic schools, a British family living a mile or two from a school might not get a place when a foreign family moves in to a closer address.

When Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now St Teresa, won the Nobel Prize, she told this story as part of her acceptance speech:

Love, to be true, has to hurt… One evening a gentleman came to our convent and said, “There is a Hindu family and the eight children have not eaten for a long time. Do something for them.” And I took rice and I went immediately, and there was this mother, with her little ones’ faces showing sheer hunger. She took the rice from my hand, she divided it into two and she went out. When she came back, I asked her, “Where did you go? What did you do?” And one answer she gave me: “They are hungry also.” She knew that the next door neighbour, a Muslim family, was hungry. What surprised me most, not that she gave the rice, but what surprised me most, that in her suffering, in her hunger, she knew that somebody else was hungry, and she had the courage to share, share the love. And this is what I mean, I want you to love the poor, and never turn your back to the poor, for in turning your back to the poor, you are turning your back to Christ.

The Holy Spirit longs to transform us, to love as Christ loves, to love as Mother Teresa loved, so that each of our hearts becomes a fountain of grace for others. The way we respond to news of migration is a good mirror for the state of our heart. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful – and renew the face of the earth!

This Promise Is For You

Homily for the 7th Sunday of Easter, Year A

Jesus has promised you the Holy Spirit.

That’s a promise.

That’s a promise from the God who created you.

That’s a promise from the God who loves you.

That’s a promise from the one who promised Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day – and it happened!

Of course, the promise of the Holy Spirit has already been fulfilled – as we will celebrate next week at Pentecost. But what about our own personal Pentecost?

Have you ever received an unexpected gift of a book?

I’m not talking about times when you’ve dropped hints and been given a novel or factbook you’ve wanted for a long time. I’m speaking of the unexpected gift.

Someone thinks this is a good book for you. They hope you’ll read it. But what happens next is on you.

You could throw it away, but that would be rude.

You could file it on the bookshelf, to gather dust for eternity.

Maybe you’re curious enough to open the first page and try reading. But it doesn’t catch your imagination, and so you put it away.

But the funny thing about books is you can pick up the same book on another day, and that dull, dry passage suddenly comes to life and speaks to you!It’s the same with the Holy Spirit – because there are many comings of the Holy Spirit.

Our word sacrament comes from a Latin word which means oath or promise. All the sacraments are promises from God that when we do something, God will do something. A priest blesses bread and wine – it becomes Christ’s body and blood. A priest says the words of absolution – your sins are forgiven. A person is baptised – not only are any sins forgiven, but that child is adopted into God’s family.

But baptism and confirmation are promises in another sense. Through both sacraments, we receive the Holy Spirit. In baptism, the Spirit makes us holy – from that moment onwards, our body is a temple where the presence of God loves to dwell. In confirmation, we ask for another share of the Spirit that we may make the world around us holy. But when we receive the Holy Spirit in this way, it’s like being given a book. The book does no good left on the shelf – we have to open it and use it for the purpose it was intended.

God has promised us the Holy Spirit for such a time as this.

Like the Apostles of old, we are living in an in-between time.

We know something is about to change.

We don’t know quite what’s going to happen.

So let’s take our example from the Upper Room.When you don’t know what’s happening next, pray.

When you find yourself somewhere in-between, pray.

When it all looks hopeless, pray.

When you have reason to believe God is on the move, pray.

But what does it mean to pray?Jesus taught his followers to pray – he gave them the Our Father. They weren’t always great at it – in fact his three most faithful disciples fell asleep when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane – but they learned from their experiences. On Ascension Day – in both Luke and Acts – Jesus instructed his followers to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes. And what do they do while waiting? They “prayed continually”.

What does this mean? Well, no-one can pray 24/7. We all need to eat, sleep and use the bathroom! Maybe it means they prayed in shifts. Or maybe it just means prayer was the main thing they did.

In this week of all weeks, we should pray to the Holy Spirit. If you’ve been confirmed, you probably remember being taught that the gifts of the Spirit include patience, fortitude, wisdom and understanding.

If you wish we didn’t have to change things, ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding.

If you’re anxious about waiting to find out what is going to happen, ask the Holy Spirit to give you patience.

If you’re thinking “here we go again”, ask for fortitude.

Jesus has promised you the Holy Spirit. So say, “Holy Spirit living in me, I need your gift of – whatever it is – right now. Please help me.”

Following Jesus is not going to be easy. Today’s second reading tells us we will suffer for being his followers. That includes the pain of having to change our arrangements for Sunday Mass. But even a good shepherd has to say to the sheep, “Move on! We’ve eaten all the grass we can here, to thrive we need to move to our next pasture.” It’s because it’s hard that Jesus never wanted us to be alone. He wanted us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But that’s as useful as a closed book unless we are open.

Prayer isn’t all about feelings. Most of the time when I go to pray, I have no sense of connecting to God. But there are times in prayer when God draws close to us, and we should draw hope from the opening prayer. All round the world this weekend, the Church is praying to God “That we may experience your abiding presence.” This prayer can be fulfilled in you, today – but there is one condition. To receive the full presence of God, you must seek Him with all your heart. That needs trust. God is the Father who keeps His Promises. God is Jesus who rose from the dead. God is the Holy Spirit who came as promised at Pentecost, and is hovering over you.

So at least pray this week, “Holy Spirit, help me!” If you are feeling a little bolder, you can surrender more. “Holy Spirit, I offer my life to you. Guide me! Use me! Take me out of my comfort zone, and into the place where Jesus knows I will flourish.”

So let go. Let God. Jesus has promised you the Holy Spirit.

The Body Beautiful

Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension, Year A

We believe in the Resurrection of the Body.

We recite these words in every Creed, but have you ever stopped to wonder what they mean?

We’re not declaring here that we believe Jesus was resurrected – we’ve already asserted that on the third day he rose again and ascended into heaven. This one’s about us.

God has a plan for your body.

God’s ultimate plan is Body 2.0. When Jesus returns from heaven – as the angels promised he would on the day he Ascended – this world will be transformed. Then anyone alive will be given a body like Jesus, and anyone who has already died, whether in purgatory, heaven, or hell, will be raised in a perfect body. Those who accept God’s mercy will be happy with Jesus for ever – in bodies like his, which can be as old or as young, as solid or as fluid, as you need to be.

But God’s plan for us right now is Body 1.0. You might not think much of the body God’s given you, but it’s one of the things God loves about you. Since your creation, your body has reflected something of God’s image. Since your Baptism, God’s spirit has been dwelling in it. Since your First Communion, Jesus himself has kept entering your body to bring His graces to your very being. Have no doubt that God loves your body. It’s His gift to you.

That said, some of us have undoubtedly wonky bodies. It’s all very well claiming your body is God’s perfect gift to you, but what if someone’s born with a disability than can never be fixed? In such cases, as in all stories of human difficulty, the Bible assuresChristians of two things: God has permitted this, and God will bring good out of it.

Nick Vujicic is a man who knows a thing or two about accepting his body. He was born without arms or legs, but that hasn’t stopped him from living a full and happy life. He’s a motivational speaker, an author, and a husband and father. Nick says that he used to be ashamed of his body. He would hide it away and try to make himself look like everyone else. But then he realized that he didn’t need to change. His body has taught him to be strong, to be resilient, and to never give up. Nowadays he travels the world, sharing his story of hope and inspiration fuelled by his Christian faith: a life without limbs can still be a life without limits!

Or there’s Ashley Graham – a Christian well-known in the modelling industry. Some would call her “plus size” but she says she’s just “my size” – and she gave a TED talkchallenging the fashion industry to “change the way the world sees beauty”.

Nick goes as far as to say his disability is a gift from God. It takes a lot of faith to see things that way. When we’re faced with something which seems wrong with our bodies – whether from birth or from some later decline – we have to work out whether we need to ask God for the grace to accept it, or to use the best efforts of medical science, as well as prayer, in the hope of changing things.

Fixing things seems reasonable, but what about trying to swap one good thing for another? Or what about using technology to enhance ourselves? Body modders want to upgrade to Body 1.5 by using surgery or medication to try to improve who they are.

Here we need to go very carefully. Are we really seeking a change for the better? Or are we believing lies that we’re not good enough as we are? Remember, that the media chooses the most beautiful people to start with, and then photoshops them, and that’s the diet of images we’re all living on. We can’t all look like that – even the supermodels don’t look that good in real life. If we start chasing an impossible dream, we’ll never be happy. Instead, can we be happy that our bodies are good enough for God?

If you’ve ever visited the Anglican shrine in Walsingham, you may have seen the Chapel of the Ascension – with Our Lord’s two feet disappearing through the ceiling. Jesus didn’t need to do that – he could have disappeared in an instant as he did at Emmaus. But he chose to do this so we could know that the human body is something so wonderful that God wants it in heaven. What Our Father has done for Jesus, Our Father will do for us. Next time you look in the mirror, remember that a beautiful image of our beautiful Saviour is looking back at you.

So today, on this great feast of the Ascension, let’s celebrate the gift of our body, made in God’s image. Let’s resist the lies and impossible ambitions presented by the world around us. Instead, let St Paul’s prayer be realised in us. May we be wise enough toperceive what God has revealed. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.Why not give thanks, right now, for the gift of your body? And may the Lord who loves your body sustain you in this world and raise you to Christlike glory in the world to come.

The Rope of Hope

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Eastertide at All Hallows and St Dyfrig’s – with the children who are soon to make their First Holy Communion.

Children, when I was learning Sign Language, I discovered that the sign for HOPE is this – it’s like clinging on to a rope. So today I would like to introduce you to the ROPE OF HOPE.

Hope is a funny word, isn’t it! Sometimes we use it to mean that we wish something would happen but it very probably won’t. So I’m going to ask someone to stand this end of the rope with a sign saying that.

Other times, we use it to mean that we’re absolutely sure something good is going to happen, but we’re going to have to wait for the good stuff. So I am going to put that at the other end.

Now we’re going to hang a few other things on our rope of hope. See if you can work out which end these should go?

• It will be sunny on the next bank holiday.
• There will be presents under the tree on Christmas Morning.
• The bread and wine will become the Body and Blood of Jesus at Mass today.
• My cold will be better within 7 days.
• A few people will give me some presents on First Communion Day.
• It won’t rain for at least 3 weeks during the summer holidays.
• The Archbishop will offer to Confirm me when I am in Year 8.
• I will choose to be confirmed when I am in Year 8.
• Jesus will return one day and we will all be happy with Him forever.

I know that Jesus will come back one day and sort everything out. I’m sue of it!

Why?

Jesus keeps his promises.

He promised his friends that when he was killed, he would rise on the third day. He did!

He promised that after he ascended into heaven he would send the Holy Spirit. That happened at Pentecost. It happened when Peter and John prayed for the people Philip baptised. And it happened to me in 1993. That’s a story I’ll tell you another day – but Jesus keeps his promises.

There’s another thing we can put our firm hope in – there will be Mass in this place every weekend for the foreseeable future. But to work out when the best time is to guarantee that, we now need to ask everyone to fill in a form. So children, you can help me by giving out these forms as you go back to your places.

Food Handling for Churches

For all the years I’ve been a priest, I’ve never got round to looking at proper food handling… until now. Having just taken a Level 2 Food Hygience certificate, I won’t claim to be an expert, but treat the following notes as a summary of information you should verify elsewhere, and this may prove a useful guide.

For All Food

In many cases, churches will only be handling ready-to-eat food. For this you will need to be aware of the universal principles for handling food safely. Further down you will find additional guidance for food to be served hot, and then preparing food from raw ingredients. But initially let’s assume the simple case where everything is ready to eat, coming either from cold storage or a sterile sealed container.

The Preparation Area

Your place for preparing food should have surfaces (worktops, walls, floors) which are hard-wearing and easy to clean, and with a ceiling in good condition (no flaking). Before and after a food preparation session, clean the worktop. A robust method of cleaning is this:

• Remove large debris.
• Use hot water & detergent to degrease
• Rinse with very hot (>82°C) water
• Use disinfectant or sanitiser to kill any remaining microbes
• Rinse with hot water
• Air dry or use paper towels

Depending on how the workspace is treated by other users, consider whether you need to clean chopping boards, utensils and crockery before use.

Check for signs of pests (droppings, gnawing) and clean surfaces where it’s indicated pests may have been. If you have windows which open, ensure they have insect screens.

Food waste should be stored outside the food preparation area.

If you intend to maintain a simple hygiene reigeme by forbidding raw food in the preparation area, make this policy clear.

Deicde how to handle allergens – will there be a designated place for them, or will you exclude them as an operating policy?

The Personnel

No-one who is sick, particularly with diarrhoea, vomiting or a fever, should handle public food for at least 48 hours after their symptoms end.

Food handlers should remove watches, jewellery, false nails and anything else which could fall into food. Long hair should be tied back or covered.

Disposable gloves and blue plasters should be provided to cover sores and wounds on hands. Hand should be washed (and gloves changed) every time there is a trigger: a seneze, touching something dirty, moving from one raw or allergenic foodstuff to another. Proper handwashing technique should be observed.

Storing Food

Food in sealed, sterilised packets may be stored at ambient temperature in a cool, dry, well-ventilated room. To avoid pests, the lowest shelf should be at least 15cm above floor level. The storage room should also be inspected for pests on a regular basis, and the inspection documented.

Chilled food should be kept in a fridge maintained between +1°C and +5°C. If the temperature rises above 8°C the food should be considered spoiled and disposed of. Regular, documented, checks of the fridge temperature are legally required to verify that the food has been kept safely.

Frozen food should be kept in a freezer maintained between -18°C and -25°C. Regular, documented checks of the freezer temperature are needed to verify that the food has been kept safely. ‘Freezer burn’ may discolour exposed parts of frozen products but this does not affect safety to eat. Airtight bags are advisable for any foodstuffs likely to remain frozen for more than two months – supermarket wrapping is likely to be permeable to air. Torn packaging of a frozen item may be made good by adding cling wrapping over the tear. As with fridges, regular temperature checks are required.

Bread is an exception to the usual storage rules and may safely be stored at ambient temperatures until it visibly spoils.

All stored food must be checked and rotated so that items with the earliest Use By or Best Before dates are used first; food past a “use by” date must be discarded, while a quality check may find that food is still palatable after a “best before”.

If some contents from a sealed packet of food are not to be used immediately they must be stored chilled; consider possible ways of ensuring the food is cooled below +8°C as soon as possible, such as chilling the packet before opening or using an ice bath for surplus contents.

Preparing and Serving Food

Adopt a “clean as you go” approach – clean worksurfaces, and replace or clean utensils, after each distinct foodstuff is handled. Any disinfectants that are used in the kitchen need to meet BS EN standards and be designated as “food safe”. 

If your production process includes any known allergens, they should be introduced to the process at the latest possible moment; if possible use a physically separate part of the kitchen for dealing with them. Use a separate board and utensils if available, otherwise clean equipment thoroughly before and after handling allergens. Cleaning with hot soapy water – but NOT simply wiping – is defence against cross-contact of allergens with other food. Remember that cutlery, crockery and cleaning cloths can carry allergens if not treated with detergent. All products containing allergens must be clearly labelled with the relevant ingredients emphasised.

The “danger zone” for microbes to multiply in food is between 8°C and 60°C. Remember that in warmer weather, food will spoil faster. Ideally food for public collection should be in a chilled cabinet at or below 8°C. Food placed out at room temperature must be discarded after 4 hours (and best practice is to discard after 2 hours). Food removed from a fridge should ideally be eaten or cooked within 30 minutes.

Reheating and Cooking

Best practice is that hot food should be presented to the public in ‘hot holding’ – a hot service cabinet, bain marie pan or soup kettle maintained at 63°C or above. It is permissible to put hot items on a buffet table in ambient temperature but only for 2 hours; then they must be thrown away or reheated to ‘steaming’ temperature and then maintained in hot holding.

Reheating

Food which has previously been cooked (or contains ingredients previously cooked) must be heated to 75°C for at least 30 seconds. (In Scotland, there is a legal requirement to cook to 82°C.) Further, this temperature must be attained within 2 hours of the start of cooking, and verified with a temperature probe. You can only reheat food for public use once. This also applies to ‘sterile’ goods such as tinned or powdered soup which must be heated to such temperatures before being placed in a pre-heated soup kettle.

Cooking

If you are cooking from scratch, you will likely be handling “raw” ingredients – uncooked meat and unwashed vegetables. These should be stored and handled separately from sterilised and cooked products, and care taken to avoid cross-contamination via hands or utensils. If you have only one fridge, raw items should be stored on shelves below cooked items. Holding at 63°C can be sufficient for food to be cooked safely (the first cooking cycle doesn’t need to be as high as 75°C) but check what constitutes “enough” holding time for the food you are preparing.

If a cooked product is to be served or stored cold, it must be chilled quickly (such as in an ice bath or cold pan), but it should be allowed to reach 8°C or lower before being placed into a fridge or cold serving cabinet. It can help to divide the warm food into smaller portions.

Particular hazards to note:

• For any meat cooked from raw, ensure the juices run clear and it is not too pink inside;
• Products made of rolled minced meat must be thoroughly cooked through;
• Rice can be safely reheated but only once, and test that it has been cooked thoroughly;
• Raw egg should not be used in recipes for public service (such as home made mayonnaise).

Working Safely

Every food-handling business needs to identify the hazards involved in what it intends to do and put in place both safe working practices and checks to ensure that these hazards have been avoided. Government advice and guidance in keeping a diary (safety log) is available online.

Royal Reflections

Today, Charles III was crowned King of England in a profoundly Christian service.

As someone who’s been involved in many Christian ceremonies, as a presider, participant or congregation member, certain features stood out for me. I’d like to share them with you.

Before the Archbishop of Canterbury made a formal beginning to the service, King Charles was greeted by a boy on behalf of the “children of God”. There is a longstanding tradition of children acting as a brake to the pomp of the pompous, from the boy bishops of the Middle Ages to the legend of the child who cried out “The Emperor has no clothes!” I was pleased that the ceremony was grounded at the beginning in this way. Later, a close-up of the Coronation Chair of King Edward I clearly showed the graffiti of past generations of choirsters – a healthy reminder that the highest in the land are not insulated from their subjects. I’m glad the chair was not replaced or restored!

The positions of the various royal chairs were highly significant. The King alone was seated on the centre line to be enthroned with regalia, but King and Queen began and ended the ceremony on seats placed sideways – thus identifying them as members of the congregation in a Christian ceremony.

Prayer was prominent. The King knelt before the altar and offered a prayer for himself. On several occasions, the Archbishop of Canterbury turned to face the high altar, away from any camera, to pray. For me this worked less because of the direction, and more because the prelate faced a prominent crucifix and mosaic of the Last Supper: a clear visual indication that he was addressing Christ.

The Gospel was proclaimed – almost – from Augustine’s Gospel Book. St Augustine of Canterbury was the misionary who re-evangelised Anglo-Saxon England. Using his historic 6th Century Book of Gospels directly might have been a risk to the fabric, so the text was proclaimed from a card held before it, from the floor rarther than the pulpit. While it’s less than ideal to read the Gospel from the floor when the Epistle had already been spoken from a high pulpit, the antiquity of the Gospel Book compensates with its own symbolism.

Of neccessity, the Coronation was also an Anglican Communion service. The business of consecration and the distribution of communion was dealt with quickly, communion apparently being confined to the prelates and princes on the sanctuary: a necessary compromise for a liturgy which was also an international media broadcast.

Christian traditions were well represented, with leaders of various churches – including Cardinal Nichols – offering prayers. Representatives of other religions appropriately took civic rather than religious roles.

Overall, without being burdened by a long sermon, the ceremony was one where Christian leaders and Christian prayer was prominent. Necessary pomp was balanced by serious inclusivity. I grew up being entertained by Floella Benjamin on BBC’s Play School – so it’s almost as if my nursery teacher became a Baroness and honoured the King on behalf of the nation today. That is the kind of Britain I’m happy to belong to.

A Congregation of Kings

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (at the churches whiuch didn’t hear a similar message two weeks ago)

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God.”

Sometimes it takes a rare event to help us understand familiar words. How many times have you heard this declaration that you are a “royal priesthood”? But when did you last stop to think about royalty?

We’ve witnessed a rare event this weekend. One of the images which struck me from the coronation of King Charles III is that he was ceremonially clothed in a golden robe, with a golden stole.

Priests are no strangers to stoles. A priest will wear a stole around his neck for every formal liturgy. I’m wearing one right now, except you don’t see it so easily with the outer robe, the chasuble on top. It’s easy to forget that a stole is a royal robe because you don’t often see a King or Queen wearing one. But this weekend’s coronation was a moment to show the world, through signs and symbols, the authority which is always carried by the one who sits on the throne. The King only wears a stole once in his lifetime, since authority is his by right. I wear a stole every time I officiate, because I put on the authority which belongs to Jesus Christ. It is a sign that I act in Jesus’ name when I forgive sins or command bread and wine to become His Body and Blood.

King Charles was born to the throne, but he is also a prisoner of his role – there are certain duties he has to fulfil, and because he is royalty, he is no longer free to do speak his mind and go wherever he wishes. And the same is true for us as followers of Jesus – the moment we commit to be members of the Church, we are servants of God and of one another. We are a congregation of kings, but bound to royal duties. We are a nation of priests, set apart to sing God’s praises – and the way we are called to do this is by attending Mass on Sundays.

Attending Mass hasn’t always been easy. For the first 300 years, our forebears often had to worship in underground catacombs, evading Roman persecution. More recently, after one of Charles’ ancestors, King Henry VIII, separated the Church in England from Rome, Catholics again faced imprisonment or even death for daring to attend Catholic Mass. Those of you with Irish heritage will be well aware of how Catholics had to celebrate rapidly on “Mass rocks” in the middle of nowhere before a sentry spotted the British redcoats coming to break up the gathering.

When someone is actively opposing our religion, we’re strongly inspired to fight back. “No one stops ME from being a Catholic!” None of us like being constrained by our enemies. If you ask what motivated the many martyrs of the past, it is most likely some mixture of their passionate commitment to the Church and their human reaction to the threat of our opponents!

But today, my friends, we face a much more subtle enemy. We’ve lived through sixty years or more of convenience. As rules have changed in the Catholic Church, we were first able to have Mass on Sunday evenings and then on Saturday evenings. More men than is typical put themselves forwards for priesthood in the 1960s and 70s in England and Wales, and we were well-supplied with priests. So we could choose the time, and place, and style of Mass that we liked best. We were able to approach our duty to worship as consumers, who had plenty of choice in the matter. And when we are offered convenience and comfort, we become our own worst enemies. We don’t want to change from the time, or the place, or the priest who suits us. Add that to the natural warmth many of us feel for a church where family events took place, and something in us strongly objects to having to make any change at all.

Isn’t that strange! Our human nature, which says “I’m getting to Mass even if it’s on a cold wet rock in the middle of nowhere” when our enemies are outside the church – that rebels and says “Don’t you dare change things” when the need to change comes from within the church!

Friends, it is time for us to face change. Several priests in South Wales are retiring in the next year or two. After Dale, who you may have met at Easter, we have no more seminarians so there will not be more ordinations for at least four or five years. You might ask whether we can bring in priests from other countries, and we can and do so – there are three priests from Ghana working in South Wales, and you’ve met Fr Valentine who came from Nigeria and is now chaplain to Cardiff Prison. He will soon be needed elsewhere to cover for new retirements. Even with the help we can get from other countries, Archbishop Mark has decided that the “fair share” which our four churches can have for the foreseeable future is just one priest, and that one priest is me.

Four churches. One priest. Under Canon Law – and to avoid burnout – I am allowed to celebrate two Masses on a Saturday and three on a Sunday. No more. I need to keep some capacity on a Saturday to celebrate weddings and for other special events. So realistically, that means across our four churches I can celebrate one Mass Saturday night, two on Sunday morning and one on Sunday evening, or late afternoon – or possibly on a Sunday morning spaced something like 8, 10 and 12.

My desire is to choose a pattern of Masses which enables as many people as possible to keep coming to Mass. I know there are practical questions – public transport, the availability of friends to give lifts, weekend work and family duties. But I need to say this clearly: the days when we could plan Mass around our weekend are ended. As followers of Jesus, a nation of priests and kings, we are now required, once again, to plan our weekends around Mass. The enemy is not a soldier turning us away. The enemy we face is our own desire for comfort and convenience, and it is this which God is asking us now to sacrifice upon the altar.

Next weekend, you will be handed a survey form at Mass. It will ask you a very simple question. It will list all the possible times in all four of our churches, and the question is: “When is it possible for you to come to Mass?” That’s not “When would you like Mass to be”. No. Think of it as asking this about each slot: If this place and this time were the only Mass available, would I be able to arrange my weekend so I could come to it regularly? To find a solution which serves all of us, we have to work with what’s possible, but inconvenient, otherwise we will have no solution at all.

If you can’t be at Mass here next weekend, you can ask me at the end of this Mass for a consultation form. It’s important that everyone who worships here gets a chance to comment. The good news is that this Church is guaranteed to have one Mass every weekend for the foreseeable future. We are a royal priesthood, and we will be able to fulfil our royal duties every weekend, even if – like King Charles – we have to arrange our diary for the service of others. By making the spiritual sacrifice of putting Mass first on Sunday, we will truly be living stones building up God’s spiritual house in this place. Long live the King – and praised be Jesus Christ, High King for ever and ever!