HIdden Treasure

The sermon preached today, the seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary time, by Fr Ian:

The Kingdom is treasure hidden in a field

When Jesus speaks of the Kingdom, He is not talking about how His disciples are to organise themselves. Jesus is talking about something that is much more mysterious and elusive – God's Kingdom.

The phrase sums up our deepest longings and desires for human blessedness (happiness). It is the answer to every deep question in the human heart. It is the fulfilment of divine promise. At the very beginning of His preaching, Christ declares that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In His most important sermon Christ teaches what it is to be in the Kingdom of God, turning on its head what people normally think of that brings happiness.

As soon as we talk about God's Kingdom we have to immediately scrub out human ways of thinking. God's Kingdom is not like any human kingdom. The only similarity with a human kingdom is that there is a king and that king reigns in that kingdom. But in the Kingdom of God the King is unlike any other human king, and reigns in a way that is utterly different to the way any other human king has ever or could ever reign. (This should be good news to us.)

And Jesus taught about this Kingdom through parables. And parables are very demanding things. We do not immediately understand what they mean, and how they could refer to this reign of God. The parables demand much from us. We must reflect, ponder, and search our hearts.

This is the very characteristic of the Kingdom itself, it is hidden treasure. We must search for it, because God's Kingdom is a hidden kingdom. It is not “in your face”. So if over the last few weeks you have been struggling with the parables as you have heard them in the gospel – that is a very good thing! Because the Kingdom of God is hidden treasure and we need to be people that have the tenacity to be seekers of that treasure.

We need to face up to the fact that God wants us to have the treasure but He has hidden it away! He wants us to seek, to search, to turn over stone after stone, and never be satisfied until the treasure is found.

Do not think that you have become part of the Ordinariate for an easy life. Do not think that you have left the difficulties you knew in the Church of England to have it easy now. Do not come to me to have easy answers, or be presented with an easy way. You have become part of the Ordinariate because you are searching for the truth, and you must not stop doing that – searching and seeking.

Like Solomon we could ask for “long life...or riches or the lives of [our] enemies”. As we begin the Ordinariate we could ask God that it be long-lasting – but the truth is we do not know how long it is for. We could ask God for great wealth for the Ordinariate. Or we could ask God for victory over our adversaries. But the ordinariate needs the wisdom that Solomon sought – first and foremost. We need to be seekers of the Kingdom of God before anything else. It might be that God will give us long life. It might be that God will give us wealth. It might be God will give us victory over our enemies. But that is His business and not ours. We must seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost. It is hidden, but we search for it with diligence, with patience and with complete confidence in God.

Part of this need for tenacity and patience is expressed differently by St Paul in his letter to the Romans. Can indeed all things work for good, for those that love God and are called according to His purposes? It is of course very easy to see God at work when things are good and working well. It is easy to see God at work when we know peace. It is something altogether different to see God at work when things are not good but downright bad. It is something altogether different to see God at work when we feel in turmoil and everything is going wrong. But nothing happens by chance. Part of the tenacity we need as seekers of the hidden treasure of the kingdom, is to be able to see that indeed God is making things work for the good when it seems the very opposite is happening.

When we face sickness, when we face persecution, when we struggle with despair, when life just seems to be going wrong it is easy to give up and forget the hidden treasure. Of course finding God's goodness in the adverse things of life is not at all easy – it is not at all obvious. It is hidden. And we are likely to have to struggle with it over and over again. Yet if we are to be seekers of the hidden treasure, we must continue to struggle.

We follow in the King's way. We follow Him who walked the path that revealed the greatness of the Kingdom of God by subjecting Himself to death on the cross. The cross was the Kingdom's victory over death and sin. As we face adversity, suffering and even our own mortality let us persevere as seekers of the hidden treasure. Let us hold on to the cross of our King, and let us pray that in our adversity we may share in part of the victory of Kingdom, and find that treasure that was hidden – that for which we have given everything in order that we might have it for eternity.

Pilgrimage to Walsingham

On the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16th July, a significant proportion of the Ordinariate gathered at Walsingham to join the Pilgrimage of Reparation and Consecration. As the weather was particularly British we all crammed into the Catholic National Shrine Church avoiding the torrential rain. Confessions were heard from 11am and Mass began at 12noon. A goodly proportion of the Ordinariate clergy arrived during the hour beforehand such that the vestry could not accomodate us all and we had to leave and wait in the church while others vested. As coaches arrived with pilgrims so the church filled to capacity with many standing at the back.

Monsignor Newton was the principal celebrant and preacher and reminded us that we gathered to give thanks for the visit of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to Britain. Many of the members of the ordinariate gave special thanks because the holy Father had given them special encouragement as they were discerning the call of God. This is true for me and I remembered some very happy memories of sitting with my family at the Beatification Mass in Birmingham and thinking, "yes I feel more at home here than in the Church of England." Yet at the same time the Mass felt welcoming of Anglican tradition as we sang so many of Newman's hymns, and his very English character seemed palpably present.

Following mass we went back to our cars, coaches and minibuses to each lunch until we gathered in the church for exposition and benediction. During benediction we offered the intentions of the day including asking for forgiveness for the sins that separate the followers of Christ. We also prayed a prayer to consecrate ourselves and the Ordinariate to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady of Walsingham. The priests of the Ordinariate prayed:

Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father: For their sake, He said, I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth. (Jn 17:19) We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this His consecration for the world and for the human race, which, in His divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.

 Following benedicition we formed into a silent procession along the holy mile to the Anglican Shrine. Plans had been altered by the persistent rain, but then as we formed up suddenly the rain stopped and we could feel the sun's warmth on our heads. So we began a silent offering for reparation for the sins of disunity amongst Christians. I pushed Rose's pram and a brother priest asked if he could put his case on the pram, and I was reminded that we must be willing to carry our brother's burden in the pilgrimage to unity.

As the sun shone over the fields I was particularly taken by the diversity of wild flowers along the edges of the pilgrim route. Seeing my sons joyfully dancing through the verges of the path I was severely tempted to shout a fatherly word that they shouldn't be tramping the flowers, but we were offering up silence so I bit my tongue. In the gathering quietude in procession I looked out on a field of wheat and was reminded of the parable we would be hearing the following day, and the sermon I would preach the next day. Not too many weeds evident in these fields, and they definitely shone in the sunshine.

Eventually we passed the orthodox church and 'landed' at the Anglican Shrine where we were warmly and emotionally welcomed by the Shrine Administrator. To be on Anglican ground as the Ordinariate, and to worship with our Anglican brothers and sisters was a significant moment for many of us. Part of the worship was the traditional taking of Walsingham water: renewing our baptism and asking for healing and peace.

A very special and heartfelt day for everyone present.


May our Lady of Walsingham pray for us.
May Blessed John Henry Newman pray for us.

May God's Holy Angels defend us from every evil.

Photos from the baptism

The blessing of mother and father

Thank you

Thankyou, Buckfast Ordinariate Group. The Rituale Parvum has arrived today. It is an excellent little book that will fit into my pocket easily, as it needs to. Many Thanks.
Fr Ian

Baptism Mass of Rose

Fr Ellis reading the gospel. Photo taken by Simeon, age 4.

Yesterday priests and faithful gathered for mass and the baptism of our daughter, Rose, at the Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit, Bovey Tracey. We were not at Buckfast Abbey this week because they had a big diocesan celebration in the afternoon (no, the abbot hasn't chucked us out!). Fr Carrick, the parish priest, had graciously opened his doors for us to use his church for mass and baptism. So at 12noon priests and faithful of the Ordinariate, family members, friends and former parishioners gathered to celebrate the bringing of Rose into Christ's body. Fr David Silk, of the Ordinariate, was principal celebrant and preacher, and the three concelebrants (Fr Lashbrooke, Fr Furness and Fr Ellis) were also of the Ordinariate. Another ordinariate priest, Fr Ed Tomlinson, was in the area on holiday, so he and his family also joined us. So we were very well supported by so many different people all joyfully gathering to celebrate baby Rose's incorporation into the body of Christ. It was touching that all my former local parishes were represented by someone from the regular congregation. It was truly a moment of grace.

Fr Silk celebrated the sacraments for us with his gentle authority and peace. He helped us reflect on the scriptures (which were read from the RSV, which is now the norm for the Ordinariate) and led us into a parable of his own, bringing out the meaning of the sacrament of baptism as the restoration of the image of God in us, just as a painting is restored revealing the true image originally intended.

As the Church is a stone's throw from the vicarage we opened our doors for a celebratory barbecue buffet. With lots of contributions from various kitchens we were able to share an abundance of food happily in the warm afternoon of Sunday, as our varied guests mingled together enjoying each other's company.

For the family it was a time of great joy. The day also carried for us a sort of calm, especially as we reflected how much the family had been through just recently: the birth, sickness and uncertainty about our future home. Now we know where our home is to be. Now Rose is in safe harbour, just as the rest of the family are.
Blessed be God for His generous gift of grace. As the psalm said today so our year has been crowned with God's goodness.

Fr Ian Hellyer

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

"I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will." Matt 11:25,26 RSV

A number of times our Lord says in the gospel that we have to be in some way like children if we are to enter the Kingdom that He is proclaiming.  In today's gospel our Lord was referring to the nature of divine revelation. Divine revelation is grasped not through human skill, intellect or wisdom, but through purity of heart and virtue, especially those of faith, hope and love.  The little child can very easily exemplify this. They place their trust so readily into the care of their parents and those that love them. They have no developed intellectual skills or any wisdom, yet how often they can speak a truth unknowingly, or ask a penetrating question!  You might think that a father who has studied theology would be well equiped to deal with the questions of little ones, but it never fails to surprise me how challenging my children's "simple" questions can be; more penetrating than any professor's.  And I think that is a key to what our Lord was pointing at in the gospel. Our hearts are far from simple, they are very complex:  we have several agendas all working at the same time,  we have mixed motives over almost everything,  whereas the child is simple.  The truth is that God is simple too.  In fact God is the simplest of all. God is holy - in fact thrice holy.  God's motives are pure. God's understanding is complete and utterly beyond us.  Yet God condescends to reveal Himself to little children - those that have sufficient purity of heart to be able to grasp the simplicity of God's revealed truth.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you shed your truth as light upon humankind; help us to grow in purity of heart, that with simplicity and virtue, your divine truths may penetrate our hearts, through your Son, Jesus Christ, your Word and our Lord. Amen.

Corpus Christi with Buckfast Ordinariate Group

Homily given by Fr Ian at the Ordinariate Mass

Very soon English speaking Catholics throughout the world will begin using a new translation of the liturgy of the mass. While there are no seismic changes, there are a number of refinements and improvements in the interests of accurate translation. The first word to be changed in the mass is from one of the greetings the priest can use at the beginning. They were words we heard last week in the Epistle of St Paul, when he said, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The word “fellowship” is to be replaced with “communion”.

I like the new word and it gives a more definite sense of what we are a part of in the mass. I think “fellowship” seems a bit looser. “Communion” gives a more definite sense of participating in something very real.

But it also reminds us that there is a real connection between our celebration of mass and God the Trinity who is a perfect communion of divine Persons. But what is the connection between God's divine, perfect Communion and the communion we share through the bread and wine, which visibly seems so very ordinary?

One of the big differences between a Catholic approach to church and a Protestant one is I believe found in their fundamentally different understandings of worship. I think the Protestant approach is one of generating worship from the bottom, up. Whereas the Catholic approach is of worship coming from the top, down. Catholics do not generate worship, cause worship, but participate in worship that is going on already. The poverty of our offering is made perfect by its participation in something very much greater than us. So as Catholics we do not make up our own services or liturgies; they are a given. They are given to us by the working of the Holy Spirit in the Church. It needs to be refined from time to time, because we do not hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit perfectly, but nevertheless we receive the liturgy as a gift of God. It is not primarily something man-made. That is a big difference, and actually lifts a great burden from us.

As we reflect more deeply on the Eucharist/Mass we find this principle continues. If we think of this word “communion”, we do not generate communion ourselves. We do not create communion ourselves. We do not generate a fellowship by our own work. Through the mass we are drawn into a communion that already exists, and that exists perfectly. It is found perfectly in heaven, and its source is not in a perfectly arranged social programme (which I think is how many protestant churches try to do it); its source is in God who is perfect Communion. God who has revealed Himself as Three divine Persons in perfect Communion, perfect participation in one another. We cannot make ourselves be in communion, we need the grace derived from God's own communion.

At each Eucharist, the Holy Spirit is poured out on us so that we participate in the communion of the life of God, who is communion. The end of the Eucharistic prayer is called a doxology, and we say “through Him, and with Him, and in Him...” Through Christ we participate in the communion of God. We call this Holy Communion. We receive Communion directly from God who is communion. By means of the Eucharist the church participates in God's own life of communion and so is of itself a communion – a fellowship of brothers and sisters.

Hence we can say, the Eucharist makes the church. The most important thing we do in the Ordinariate is the Eucharist/Mass. And why we are called to share in that Communion each week – for we cannot do without it. If we do something else instead, we effectively say we can generate our Communion ourselves. Well we can't.

So let us rejoice in our Catholic Faith and with joy receive the free gift of Christ Himself, His Body and His Blood, which enables us to participate in the very life of God who is perfect communion.