A Priest on his journey to the Lord

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you have come to St Francis’ Church this morning to attend Holy Mass. You have come, drawn by your Catholic faith. You have come to celebrate Sunday Mass as you have done faithfully over the years.

You have come because you know that God has commanded this of us. In the fourth of the Ten Commandments we are asked to “keep the Sabbath day holy”. Sunday is the Christian sabbath, the day of the Resurrection of the Lord. Attending Mass is the way in which we keep the Lord’s Day holy.

You have come because you faithfully live what the Lord said in the Gospel today is the first commandment: “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and will all your mind”. You love God. He is the centre and focus for your life. You want God at the very heart of all that you are and all that you do. You are a believer. You are a Christian.

You have come to Mass today to offer your prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God who is full of mercy and compassion. We have tasted the mercy of God in so many ways. Our lives have been touched by the love of God for us. In this Mass we offer ourselves to Him in gratitude for all the ways God has blessed us and helped us. We come with thanksgiving in our hearts. We lift our hearts to Him in joyful praise.

You have come to Holy Mass today to listen to the Word of God proclaimed in the Sacred Scriptures. Moses said in the first reading, “obey the voice of the Lord your God”. You hear His voice in the words of the Sacred Scriptures. The word is near to us, as Moses said in the first reading this morning. As the readings are proclaimed we listen to what they say to us. We hear not only with our ears, but we hear the word in our hearts. The word of God is light and truth, inspiration and consolation.

You have come to Mass because you know that each Mass commemorates the mystery of the death and resurrection of the Lord. At each Mass we unite ourselves with the saving action of Jesus, dying for us on Calvary. So as we say, “we proclaim your death O Lord and profess your resurrection until you come again”. We know that Jesus has saved us and we want to live under the grace of salvation. We know we cannot save ourselves and we rely totally on what Jesus has done for us. We embrace and live under His saving grace.

You have come to Mass because you want to be more fully united with Christ who is your joy and hope. You approach the altar with a desire to receive Him in Holy Communion. You want to eat the Bread of Life. You want to invite Jesus into your soul and life. You want to live ‘in Christ’ as St Paul taught.

All of this needs the ministry of a priest – your parish priest whom you call “Father”, because he is your spiritual father. He is the mediator of the saving grace of Christ through the sacraments. Through Baptism and Reconciliation and especially the Mass.

Fr Martin has been a spiritual father to this community for eight years now. You have come to know him and love him. He has faithfully served you and drawn you more deeply into life in Christ.

Now he is seriously ill and has a terminal medical condition. His life now is under the governance of doctors and specialists. Medical procedures will do much to help him. But the doctors have said that they cannot cure him.

Today we are all shocked and saddened by this news. This parish now will be different. Fr Martin will not be able to continue to lead you and serve you as he has. He is still, however, your priest, your pastor, your spiritual father, but how he must serve you now in a new and different way. He will serve you at the spiritual level as he lives with his condition and enters into the most sacred of human journeys – the journey from this life to meet the Lord face to face. He undertakes this journey with great faith and trust in God. He undertakes this journey in company with the Virgin Mary whom he loves so much.

He will undertake this journey supported by our love. We will accompany him with our prayers. He does not go alone. We will walk with him and share this final journey with him.

And, of course, we can pray earnestly to God that in his mercy he would heal him of this cancer. We never let up seeking the healing power of God that is witnessed to in the Scriptures and in the life of the Church. We know that ‘nothing is impossible to God’. So we pray for Fr Martin with great faith. We pray that God will be with him and His presence will be a healing presence, in the spiritual and the physical realm.

The parish community, saddened by this news, will be accompanied by the Church of Tasmania. His brother priests will pray for him. Parish communities will pray for him.

In order to care for this community in the immediate future I have appointed Fr Fidelis as Administrator. You will not be left alone. You will have a priest in your midst to meet your pastoral and spiritual needs. While Fr Martin will be there with you in spirit, carrying you in his heart as he undertakes this journey.

Mary, our mother, we entrust Fr Martin to your maternal love and ask you to watch over him in the time ahead. Holy Angels surround him and protect him from evil spirits. Lord Jesus be with your priest.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Saturday, 09 July 2022