The Octave of Christmas is a time of richness and of confrontation. Richness because of the great liturgical and popular tradition that takes us day by day into events and places that deepen our faith in the Christ Child.
The feasts of Stephen, John, Holy Innocents, and the saintly martyr Archbishop Becket, all follow one another in a tumble of carols and remembrance. But these are also days of martyrdom and mass murder.
The Child was laid in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. These were the clothes in which the Jewish dead would be buried. They were kept in the stable so as not to be within the realm of the living. "His death cast a shadow over His birth, because his death was the reason for His birth."
The martyrs of His octave, the first of the martyrs, Deacon Stephen, the Anglican Archbishop Becket, the host of the Innocents, the children who died for the comfort of a King, the Apostle whose failed martyrdom led to the Apocalyptic exile on Patmos, these are the ones who accompany our Christmas thoughts, and remind us of the cost of following the Child of Bethlehem.
These are appropriate thoughts in this year's Octave when the bishops of our Communion receive their formal response to their petition for communion with the Bishop of Rome and those in communion with him in East and West. To be a splinter is not a virtue, it is an irritant destined to fester. A branch unconnected to the vine withers and corrupts.
Catholic communion is not an idea, nor the acceptance of a set of beliefs. It is standing together at the Altar of God, affirming one faith and receiving together the one Body and Blood of the Christ who is God and brother.
Our bishops have realised from the start of our separation from the Anglican Communion that it was a separation of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage must have a goal. Our goal was the healing of catholic disunity, that Anglicans had sought and then abandoned.
There is great integrity in being a pilgrim. If the destination be holy, God sustains on the journey. We will not be rushed or stampeded. Nor will we falter. So in our waiting as the vision of our destination becomes clearer in the mists of our wandering, let us take clear sight of the martyrs who are our Octave companions. Their echoes are all around us, in the destruction of innocent life, in the failure of episcopal teaching, in the denial of the Christ Child's godliness, in the transformation of love into hate, even within the company of those who bear His Name. The dying Stephen prayed for Saul, and the Church was given Paul, and the world was transformed. These are important days for us, and days that demand that most difficult of prayers. "That we be transformed, so that the Church may transform the world."
+John
Primate
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A powerful and timely message!
May God bless Archbishop Hepworth and all who follow him on this journey. May God protect them and go before them.
I second this response, as I have said in my own blog column.
Your Grace, we are with you all the way and our trust in you is complete!
You throw a piece of rock into a fire- not just any rock-a rock which you suspect at its core has something of great substance. You leave it in that furnace of trial over a period of time and at the end, if your suspicions were correct, you now have pure gold purified by time and trial.
This is how I have come to view the life and witness of Archbishop Hepworth-a man being purified and given grace through the trials of his position. Not knowing him at all several years ago I had to look at his words and actions to measure the man. I have seen his words and actions refine over time – especially as he deals with the weighty matter of the Unity of Christ's Holy Church. The depth of his reflections has changed – he has gone through trial and is leading us in the TAC bravely, skilfully and, most importantly, pastorally.
Our parish joined the TAC because we saw it exactly as +John described it – one whose main focus was unity. It had reached out to Forward in Faith as well as to various continuing Anglican bodies. From the very start it announced its approach of Rome for some form of visible unity. Most of us crusty old curates thought this was yet another pipe dream – but always one worth pursuing. Apparently the Holy Spirit felt otherwise and we have now been blessed with the Apostolic Constitution. Our leaders are being blessed in faith and courage and the Church may be one step closer to being one.
On a personal note – I was so glad to see the comment posted by Alice Linsley. Through blogs I watched her spiritual growth and have the greatest admiration for the difficult choices she has made along the way. She knows that the wood of the crib fashioned the cross- and will receive the crown of blessing promised to those who have taken up the Cross and followed.
Christmastide blessings to all.
Rob+
Archbishop Hepworth rightly enjoys an excellent public reputation for his powerful advocacy of the rights of the unborn. He puts many of the other Anglican bishops to shame.
As this thread seems to be in the process of becoming a series of testimonies about our beloved Archbishop, I should add that he is the only real spiritual father I have had as a priest, deacon or seminarian. He accepted me warmly into his jurisdiction some years ago and gave me a licence and mission to minister as a priest. I was “out in the cold” when he took me into the TAC, a Communion of Christians desiring and actively working for unity with the Catholic Church. I thank him with my whole heart and do all I can to help him in his mission as we all stand on Rome’s doorstep. This is so important, because we are not priests for ourselves, but to serve the Church. Archbishop Hepworth has so often talked with me about this all-consuming vision of the Church and universal Communion. Cut off from the tree, we can only dry up and die. He is bringing us hope for our faith, our vocations and all we love in our Anglican origins.
He has taught me not to care about ourselves but to live for the Church. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John xii. 24). We work for the Kingdom of God, and our own agendas are unimportant. This is why I have never doubted my Archbishop’s reports of what is happening, even if some thought they were exaggerated.
I was at Portsmouth in October 2007 and heard the Archbishop’s Charge at the beginning of the Bishops’ College meeting that produced the letter to be hand-delivered to Cardinal Levada. He spoke profoundly and prophetically. There are many who would “trash” Archbishop Hepworth, without doubt because they don’t know him and have not listened to his words and depth of thought.
Ad multos annos!