#martydom

Ecumenical Vespers at Our Lady Help of Christians

“Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.” (Ephesians 4:3-6)

Between the Ascension and Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus gathered with Mary and, in the upper room, they prayed in preparation for the gift of the Holy Spirit. So today, as disciples of the Risen Lord Jesus, we gather here under the patronage of Our Lady Help of Christians, and we pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, of that promised Paraclete who Jesus said would “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (Jn 14:26) For, all too often, we have forgotten the unity for which Christ prayed, forgotten the forgiveness and charity which he demonstrated. And so we ask the Holy Spirit to bring these good things to mind, and to teach us again all that the Lord first taught us and handed on to his apostles, all that he showed to his first disciples. Thus we pray, as a people baptised into Christ, to be led by the Holy Spirit who we believe will “guide you into all the truth” (Jn 16:13). Let us, therefore, be led deeper into Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf Jn 14:6). For this is the principal work of the Holy Spirit: to grace us with those virtues and gifts of Christ that would deepen and intensify our following of Christ; that would refashion us, as Christians, more fully into the image and likeness of Christ; that would sanctify us. 

Hence Pope St John Paul II said that, as Christians called into deeper unity in Christ, we “proceed along the road leading to the conversion of hearts guided by love which is directed to God and, at the same time, to all our brothers and sisters, including those not in full communion with us. Love gives rise to the desire for unity…  If we love one another, we strive to deepen our communion and make it perfect… When Christians pray together, the goal of unity seems closer. The long history of Christians marked by many divisions seems to converge once more because it tends towards that Source of its unity which is Jesus Christ.” (Cf Ut unum sint, 21, 22) 

For me, coming from an Evangelical Protestant background, and as the only Catholic convert from a devout Bible-believing, God-fearing, Christ-centred family, these statements from St John Paul II are very pertinent. For love does inspire in me a desire for unity, a desire to teach and preach my Catholic faith to my family so as to deepen our dialogue, and a desire for conversation and fellowship so that we can find a broader understanding of the many truths we hold in common as Christians. Above all, I appreciate the times we pray together as a family, for in prayer and in song, we converge on Christ and on the holiness that comes from him through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

So last Wednesday, on the feast of one of the first apologists and martyrs of our Christian faith, St Justin, my aunt and uncle came to visit me at St Dominic’s – their first time inside a Catholic church. Now in their seventies, they are both senior pastors of one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Malaysia, and they also have a tremendous openness to the riches of our Catholic tradition, and an openness to hearing me speak about the Catholic Faith and philosophy. For example, my aunt loved hearing about St John Paul II’s theology of the body, and she lamented the loss of reverence and awe in Evangelical churches. My uncle discussed with me aspects of Biblical archaeology as we toured the British Museum, and we talked about the challenges of preaching in our current cultural contexts, ways of deepening the discipleship of our congregations, and the pastoral complexities we faced. In short, we spoke as equals, as disciples of the Lord Jesus seeking to make him known and loved in our world today. And this, I believe must be our focus, for this, too, is what the Holy Spirit comes to empower us to do. 

For me, the visit of my aunt and uncle to St Dominic’s is a sign of hope that our ecumenical aims are as alive as ever, and indeed, how could they not be, since it is the Lord Jesus himself who desires that we be one, and since it is his Spirit who leads us into all truth? All we need, is to be more sensitive to the promptings of grace, we need, as St John the Baptist said, to decrease so that Christ can increase in us. We need, in other words, to each seek holiness, and so to seek a deeper conformity with Christ, converging on charity. So as St Paul says, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col 3:12-14)

Over the past few days, leading up to Pentecost Sunday, we have had the celebrations of a few martyrs, beginning as I have said, with St Justin Martyr whose writings of dialogue and debate still inform us. Yesterday, the Dominican Order honoured our protomartyr, St Peter of Verona, whose example of Christian forgiveness and love as he died moved his killer, Carino, to conversion and repentance; he became a Dominican lay brother, and is now regarded as a Blessed. And on Friday, we celebrated the Martyrs of Uganda, St Charles Lwanga and his companion martyrs, among whom were nine Anglicans. Together as Christians, they witnessed with their blood, to their common Christian faith – a witness to the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of marriage and sexual love, and the freedom of conscience against the tyranny of the political and civic powers of the day. 

We owe it to our countrymen and to the future of our society to preach and teach and witness to the Gospel with fidelity, albeit with the meekness and patience and forbearance spoken of by St Paul. So the same brave witness of the Ugandan Martyrs and the charity of St Peter Martyr or the penetrating insights of St Justin are demanded of us, even required of us, in our time and in our nation. Although in Britain we may not, as yet, need to lose our lives for the Faith – even as countless Christians throughout the world are already being violently persecuted and martyred day after day – nevertheless, we will need to shed tears, sweat, and even some blood for the sake of the Gospel. Of this we can be sure, for as Christianity is forgotten or even forsaken by our peers, so we Christians shall become, like our Lord and Master, a sign of contradiction. Pope Francis has therefore spoken of “an ecumenism of blood” that will unite us Christians in our time. For, again, the Holy Spirit is at work to unite us against those who would oppose love, and truth, and the Gospel in its fullness. 

So, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we will need to bear witness to the truth of the human person, the truth of God’s creation, the truth of Christ our Saviour who sets us free (cf Jn 8:32). The Accuser seeks to divide us and so to conquer us; the Enemy would sift us like wheat (cf Lk 22:31) which is why on this Pentecost day, and indeed every day, we must pray the Holy Spirit to unite us, and hold us together, and cause in our hearts a convergence on Christ who alone is our peace, our unity, and our hope. So, we pray: Come, Holy Spirit, come and lead us into all truth. Come, O Spirit of Truth, and bring to remembrance the words of the Incarnate Word. Come, O Love Divine, and enkindle in us the fire of charity so that we would give our all for the salvation of souls. 

Martyrdom of Saint Cucuphas, 1502-07

• Imam Musa Khadim (as)

Christopher Winter Bavarian Sebastian (Bavarian Kinder Kids)