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St. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH NEWSLETTER Spring 2010 No 77

SHADOWS AND ORGANS

Last month I attended a retreat for priests at Walsingham in Norfolk. leaving home comforts behind, but laden with a fan heater and several extra jumpers, I set off wondering what to expect!  I needn't have worried about the cold, I was given an en suite room in the new wing recently opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, and very comfortable it was too!  Sometimes priests need to take a step back from the busy world and remind themselves what it is we are here for and what we should be doing.  This retreat was about priestly renewal, based around some words from John Henry Newman;

'Christ's priests have no priesthood but his.  They are merely his shadows, his organs, they are his outward signs, and what they do, He does.'

'What they do, he does'- in other words it is through his priests today that Jesus exercises his ministry in the world, and more specifically in each parish and faith community.  'What they do, he does' - doing what Jesus does can seem a million miles away from the highly technological, media dominated world we live in.  How are we to be faithful stewards of God's holy mysteries as we go about our work as priests?  What can a priest do that makes the slightest bit of difference?  How does a priest make Jesus' presence felt in Aldershot and in our local community, North Town?  Well of course without faith, and some big helpings of hope and love, love for Jesus and love for people, like any other priest, I would be lost!  A priest's faith is meant to be more than a personal consolation, the gift of priesthood is given so that we may fulfil God's purpose, working to build his kingdom by make his saving love and grace available to all.  Although the priest is often in the public eye, there are no Oscars for brilliant performance, priesthood isn't about worldly success!  Quite the reverse!  Stepping where angels fear to tread, a priest's ministry can look a bit of a failure, living out a vocation that many would rather ignore.  Priests are people living at the edge, outsiders challenging the predominant forces and values of our society, trying to show solidarity with those who are also on the edge or feel pushed outside.  Those who, if only temporarily, may be experiencing some personal tragedy or crisis in their lives, those going through a family breakdown, those living without hope or purpose addicted to drugs or alcohol. Others tum fNiSy but God is there, and the priest shares in God's work of love to help people 10 see He is there! Sometimes the situations a priest is called to share in seem hopeless- what can the priest do? II may not be very much, a word of comfort, some gesture, a human touch.  God has shown us the way, helpless and at his most vulnerable when, in the person of his beloved Son, he hung on the cross on Good Friday. at that darkest hour, He showed the depth of his love.  Love such as this, tried and tested, never fails, that same love that shows a new blossoming on that first Easter morning in a garden containing an empty tomb.  'What they do, he does'- as I renew my priestly vows this Easter, all I can try to do, is love as He does, a love that draws me always to the outside rather than to the comfort of my own little world inside!

Your friend and priest
Father Keith


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