FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY!

In the Office of Readings for S. Andrew’s Day, S. John Chrysostom reminds us that 

‘after Andrew had stayed with Jesus and had learned much from him, he did not keep this treasure to himself, but hastened to share it with his brother [Peter]. Notice what Andrew said to him: We have found the Messiah, that is to say, the Christ. Notice how his words reveal what he has learned in so short a time. They show the power of the master who has convinced them of this truth . . .’ 

‘Jesus’, as you would expect, is the most mentioned name in the New Testament; it occurs 930 times. The next most mentioned name is ‘Peter’ - 155 times. The name ‘Andrew’, however, is mentioned only 13 times, and mostly just in passing. Yet he is the very first of the disciples called by Jesus, and he responds to that call. He then brings Peter - the future chief apostle - to Jesus. In John 6 he brings a little boy with a modest lunch to Jesus, who takes it and feeds the five thousand. In John 12 (with Philip), he brings a group of Greeks to Jesus. 

On S. Andrew’s Day, 1979 (40 years ago today!) in Ballarat Cathedral, I was made a deacon in the Church of God by the Rt Rev’d John Hazlewood who by then had been Bishop of Ballarat a little over four years. Father Austin Day, Rector of Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney, conducted the retreat and preached the ordination sermon, emphasising the importance of being like S. Andrew in responding to Jesus and then bringing other people to him. This morning I offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in thanksgiving to the Lord for his love, his faithfulness, his forgiveness, and his blessing during the good times as well as during the hard times since then. I thanked him for my family, for the parishes and people I have tried to serve, and for so many wonderful colleagues who have helped to sustain me down through the years.  

The photo above is of Bishop John giving me a New Testament (the one I still use when visiting the sick and housebound). Beneath his signature facing the title page he wrote '2 Corinthians 1:7', a verse of S. Paul that - 40 years later - I still regard as a little gift of encouragement from Bishop John (may he rest in peace): 

‘Our hope for you is unshaken; 

for we know that as you share in our sufferings, 

you will also share in our comfort.’ 

Below is the Ballarat Courier article covering the ordination. You’ll need to click on it if you want to read the article and make out the faces in the photograph. On the far right is Archdeacon Graham Walden (later to become Assistant Bishop of the Diocese, and then Bishop of The Murray) who presented the candidates for ordination. Bishop John Hazlewood is in the centre. Between him and me is Father Austin Day.

St Mary Magdalene's Day

Today is the Feast of St Mary Magdalene, the “apostle to the apostles” because she announced to them the resurrection of the Lord. In the western Church, she is identified also with the penitent woman who washed the feet of Jesus, and sometimes with Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha and Lazarus. Certainly, Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century declared them to be the same person. But the East has never made that identification. Today, there Western Christians tend to be divided on the question.

Here are two hymns for today. The first (sung to the tune "Petersham") was written in 1884 by Mrs R.F. Williams, and clearly identifies Mary in the traditional Western way.

The second is from the Saint Helena Breviary, published in 2006 and focuses on the Gospel for the day. It goes beautifully to the tune "Puer Nobis Narscitur."

When Mary, moved by grateful love,

The precious ointment poured

Upon the head and feet of him

She owned as Christ and Lord,

The odour of the costly gift

Pervaded all the room;

How grateful to the sense it seemed --

How sweet the rich perfume.

An off’ring similar I bring

In thanks and praise to thee

My heart’s devoted love is all,

O Christ, accept of me

This gift, and may its fragrance rise

As incense to thy throne

And seal me with thy gracious hand

To work for thee, thine own.

___________________

Out of the night where hope had died,

to tomb once sealed, now gaping wide,

the Magdalene made haste, to mourn

and bring her spices through the dawn.

She gazed in disbelief and pain

where Jesus in his death had lain,

until the radiant angel said,

Seek not the living with the dead.

Soon trusting love cast out her fears;

she rose and brushed away her tears.

As first apostle, Mary ran

to tell God’s resurrection plan.

Jesus is risen! Mary cries,

Lift up your hearts and dry your eyes,

Jesus is risen - come and see - 

and goes before to Galilee.

All glory be to God above,

for Mary’s apostolic love,

all praise to God whom we adore

for ever and for evermore. Amen.

John Henry Newman on St Matthias' Day

The first act of the apostolic community in the days between Ascension and Pentecost was to fill up the number of the apostles themselves by replacing Judas with one of the men who had been a disciple from the very beginning, that is, from the baptism of Jesus by John until the Ascension itself. The reason for this was simple, the new apostle must be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection. Matthias was elected. That’s the first and the last we hear of him in Scripture. Of course, there are also legends arising out of the memory of the ancient Church indicating St Matthias’ faithfulness in fulfilling his evangelistic ministry, in spite of persecution, and martyrdom in the service of the Lord.

I share with you today the last paragraph of a sermon (“Divine Decrees “) John Henry Newman preached on St Matthias. It was published in Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 2 on Feb. 21st, 1835. 

What solemn overpowering thoughts must have crowded on St Matthias, when he received the greetings of the eleven Apostles, and took his seat among them as their brother! His very election was a witness against himself if he did not fulfil it. And such surely will ours be in our degree. We take the place of others who have gone before, as Matthias did; we are "baptized for the dead," filling up the ranks of soldiers, some of whom, indeed, have fought a good fight, but many of whom in every age have made void their calling. Many are called, few are chosen. The monuments of sin and unbelief are set up around us  . . . The fall of one nation is the conversion of another. The Church loses old branches, and gains new. God works according to His own inscrutable pleasure; . . . Thus the Christian of every age is but the successor of the lost and of the dead. How long we of this country shall be put in trust with the Gospel, we know not; but while we have the privilege, assuredly we do but stand in the place of Christians who have either utterly fallen away, or are so corrupted as scarcely to let their light shine before men. We are at present witnesses of the Truth; and our very glory is our warning. By the superstitions, the profanities, the indifference, the unbelief of the world called Christian, we are called upon to be lowly-minded while we preach aloud, and to tremble while we rejoice. Let us then, as a Church and as individuals, one and all, look to Him who alone can keep us from falling. Let us with single heart look up to Christ our Saviour, and put ourselves into His hands, from whom all our strength and wisdom is derived. Let us avoid the beginnings of temptation; let us watch and pray lest we enter into it. Avoiding all speculations which are above us, let us follow what tends to edifying. Let us receive into our hearts the great truth, that we who have been freely accepted and sanctified as members of Christ, shall hereafter be judged by our works, done in and through Him; that the Sacraments unite us to Him, and that faith makes the Sacraments open their hidden virtue, and flow forth in pardon and grace. Beyond this we may not inquire. How it is one man perseveres and another falls, what are the exact limits and character of our natural corruption,—these are over-subtle questions; while we know for certain, that though we can do nothing of ourselves, yet that salvation is in our own power, for however deep and far-spreading is the root of evil in us, God's grace will be sufficient for our need.

St Matthias' Day

Western Christians celebrate the Apostle Matthias today. According to Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius and Jerome, Matthias, whose name means “gift of God,” was known to have been one of the seventy-two sent out in pairs by Jesus to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. Certainly from Acts 1 and 2 we know that Matthias was part of the small community Jesus had around himself from the time of his baptism until his ascension.

When Peter said that Judas should be replaced (Acts 1:15-21), two names were selected, "Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." So the community prayed, cast lots, and Matthias was chosen. From that time on he was numbered among the twelve. He was with them on the day of Pentecost, but we don’t meet him again in the New Testament. He is, however, said to have preached the Gospel for more than thirty years beginning in Judea, then in Cappadocia, the shores of the Caspian Sea (in modern day Georgia) and Ethiopia. There are conflicting stories of his death. He was either crucified in Colchis or stoned in Jerusalem.

The traditional symbol of St Matthias is a double-headed axe resting on a Bible.

Here is a beautiful – if slightly quirky – poem on St Matthias by the English poet, Charles Walter Stansby Williams (1886-1945):

I am Matthias; I am he who covers

The cloudy opening of the uttermost prison,

Where on went down - and is not re-arisen,-

Out of the Twelve who were the Lord Christ's lovers,

About my name upon this day there hovers

A rumour of despair and desolation;

And even the Holy City's glad salvation

Sighs for the memory of its exciled rovers.

I am Matthias, yea, and am another,

Installed within the bishopric of my brother;

I who am his oblivion am his fame.

I am the dream, upon your strife attending,

That all things, bound to a most perfect ending,

Shall be made one by Christ's invincible Name.