The Conference of Religious of England & Wales had been due to celebrate the opening of its new offices at Euston, with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald, on March 26th. We instead join in prayer for an end to the pandemic. Cardinal Michael has kindly shared the homily that he would have delivered to mark this new chapter in Corew’s life:
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Due to the COVID-19 crisis there will be no gathering on this day. The blessing of the new office for COREW will be scheduled for another day which we hope will not be too far in the future. Here in the meantime is a reflection on the gospel passage that we would have heard during the celebration of the Eucharist (Jn 5: 31-47).
“Were I to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.”
These are striking words, even more so when we realise that they were spoken by Jesus himself. Jesus says quite clearly that he cannot bear witness to himself. In fact, the concern of Jesus was to announce the Kingdom of God. He proclaimed this Kingdom, for instance in what could be called his manifesto, when he declared: The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour (Lk 4:18).
He announced the Kingdom by fulfilling this prophecy through his miracles of healing. Jesus first appeals to the testimony of John the Baptist, the Precursor, who bore witness to him. But he also testifies to the witness of the Father who has sent him and who is always with him, the Father who through the Spirit allows him to perform the works that render testimony to him. It seems to me that these words of Jesus have considerable importance for us who, as religious, wish to be his true disciples.
First, we cannot testify on our own behalf. We are not called to bear witness to ourselves, or even to our own respective institutes. We are called to announce the Kingdom of God, by our words, but even more by our deeds. Attention is not to be focused on ourselves, but on those to whom we are called to reach out: the poor whom we serve, bringing them at the same time assistance and encouragement, approaching them with respect and love; the captives whom we wish to help in order that they may be free, whether they be prisoners, or victims of human trafficking, or simply people completely immersed and bound up in material things; the blind whom we care for, helping them to negotiate the difficulties of life, but also children and young adults – or perhaps even not so young adults – whose minds we help to broaden through education, giving them new sight; the socially deprived whom we assist, helping them to stand on their own feet, giving them new dignity.
We can say: All you works of the Lord - all you works of religious institutes - O bless the Lord, to God be highest glory and praise for ever.
Secondly, we are not alone in giving this testimony. We can call on the witness of our predecessors, the Founders and Foundresses who have passed on to us their charisms, charisms which we have made our own and which we try to live by. We acknowledge too all the members of our Institutes, those who have gone before us and those still with us, whose example strengthens us. We recognize the role of many who do not belong to our Institutes but who play their part in building up the Kingdom of God. We are not alone, because we are part of the Church, and we are conscious that we are called to play our part, however small, in this Body of Christ which is a sign of union with God and of the unity of the human family.
In the third place, we are not alone, because we work together. We share information and ideas, we learn from our experiences, we collaborate in joint ventures. And we are grateful for those of our members in this Conference of Religious of England and Wales who offer their services so that we may always work together better and better.
Finally, like Jesus we know that we are not alone, because if we remain in him, if we continue to let ourselves be led by his Spirit and strengthened by this same Spirit, we are united with the Father.
We can say with Jesus: “As for human approval, this means nothing to me.” We are not looking for praise, for ourselves or for our religious bodies. We are simply working for the coming of the Kingdom of God, to whom be praise for ever and ever.
Amen.