Exhibition Mass 2022

Exhibition Mass 2022 ST AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY

Homily by Fr Ambrose Henley OSB

When St Augustine, whom we celebrate today, landed in Kent those 1400 years ago, and first brought the Christian message to the English, he did so with the Rule of St Benedict, as it were, tucked under his arm: a blueprint for community living, constituted in God’s love. He had Jesus’ great commission ringing in his ears: it is by your love for each other, they will know you are my disciples.

So that means, and I speak particularly to all you leavers: your Benedictine credentials are a kind of birth certificate of the English peoples, of which you can be proud. And there comes with it, an inheritance: which is, a joy; a joy that is not a feeling of selfish well-being, but a certainty that springs from faith, that soothes the heart and provides the ability to proclaim the good news of God’s love.

It means, that from now on, your greatness will lie in the costliness of your love, that will mark you out from the merely powerful or successful in life.

It means, the greatest masterpiece of your life must be other people: the lives you’ve touched for the better.

But you are far from the finished product. Indeed none of us are. And one special vow Benedictines make which marks them out from all the others, is the vow of conversion of life. Which means never losing touch with the truth we’re only fully alive when growing and maturing – and in particular, open to being changed and seasoned by the needs of the people around us. Family, friends, and closest to Christ’s heart, the poor.

So a conversion of heart is needed therefore, in the way we love: no longer living-for-me, but dying-for-them. And make no mistake that in the short time you’ve been here, global disease and war in Europe have left their mark. They’ve revealed that, in spite of our sophistication, we remain vulnerable to the same old illusion: that love first means me, and only then, and only if there’s any left over, does it mean you.

Maybe we’re afraid of the letting go. Perhaps we’re afraid of the world seeing through the brave face we put on. Or perhaps we’re afraid because we wanted to believe adulthood is about the world dancing to our tune now. But the saints are people who are not afraid to be touched by the mercy of God, in a heart broken open; who know that a deeper happiness comes to those who are prepared to learn what it takes to be happy first of all for others, even those we find it hard to like, perhaps even those who’ve hurt us. After all, what a sad and empty occasion this would be if it suddenly became clear we were all here, not because we are grateful and happy for each other, but united only by being pleased for ourselves. So where do we find such a profound love that it changes everything?

A lot of people think Christians are people who sit around in despair at a world passed away – but Christians are instead those spurred on by an inspiring glimpse of humanity’s capacity to be a living image of God. So when Jesus preaches, when he eats with sinners, when he is moved, when he reaches out to touch and heal, when he sets free, when he kneels to serve, when he weeps, when he laughs, when he walks, talks, challenges, loves, forgives, suffers, dies. He reveals to us who God is.

Christians know that the true beauty of life cannot be experienced without having real faces to love, that it’s true nobility is found in a life freely given away.

That’s you. You have been the bearers of this message entrusted to you these years here at Ampleforth, for each other. Now for the world. Do so with grace, reverence, humility, generosity of spirit and self-sacrifice, and they will know you are Amplefordians in the best tradition. And God will say, my eyes will be upon you and my ears will listen for your prayers, and even before you ask me, I will say to you: here I am. (Isaiah 65:24).

And here we will be, praying, as we do, every single day for you.