Thine Own Service

Thine Own Service

Tag Archives: papacy

Homily for Trinity XVI

20 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

authority, homily, papacy, papal visit, pope francis

Window depicting Saint Peter (Max Ingram Studio), Saint Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, MD

Window depicting Saint Peter, Saint Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, MD

Unless you have been on another planet, you will know that this week Washington, D.C. will welcome an important guest. For a city accustomed as it is to greeting significant persons, from those renowned for acts of heroism, academic ability, or sporting prowess, to heads of state (I believe the King of Spain dropped by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this week), there is a surprising amount of excitement as we prepare for the arrival of Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, on Tuesday. In an interview this week, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, in his capacity as the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, underlined why this might be so: “The Holy Father,” he said, “comes as a pastor”. How true this is. As the Successor of Saint Peter, to whom Christ entrusted the power of binding and loosing hand-in-hand with the command to “feed my sheep”, the Holy Father stands in the shoes of the fisherman and as such is bound to exercise the pastoral office given him as the shepherd or pastor of the whole of Christ’s flock (Jn 21). As Peter was girded about and led to martyrdom, so his successors are called to set aside their own life in service of the universal Church as “the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful” (LG 23).

Continue reading →

Homily for Trinity X

24 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

church, homily, papacy

Detail from the Cathedral Church of the Sacred Heart, Richmond, VA

Detail from the Cathedral Church of the Sacred Heart, Richmond, VA

One of the most significant changes in the lives of those who have become Catholics, particularly through the gift of the ordinariates, is the beautiful realization of what it means to be fully a part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ. These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, ‘indicate essential features of the Church and her mission’, and so are necessary for us to correctly identify, in order to find the authentic Christian life in all its fullness, and thus the path to our salvation. United to our Redeemer through baptism, Christians are incorporated into his mystical body, the Church, in order that we might share in his passion, death, and resurrection. Our communion with God is made a reality by this very union with him in Christ, and thus his mystical body, first through the waters of the sacred font, and then by our continuing reliance on grace in the sacramental life of the Church. Our union with the Church is a sign and instrument of our communion with God, which is why—as an example—we confess our sins to a Priest; because our reconciliation to communion with God is by and through his holy Church.

Continue reading →

Not an institution, but a body

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bxvi, john allen, papacy, pope, tracey rowland

John Allen has pointed out that Pope Benedict’s last address to the College of Cardinals this morning made direct reference to the writings of the twentieth century theologian, Romano Guardini. On a number of occasions Benedict XVI has included Guardini’s work in his own, not least in the title of his book as Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, which is also the title of one of Guardini’s central works. This morning, though, it was Guardini’s emphasis on the mystical nature of the Church (no doubt influenced as much by Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis as by Lumen Gentium) which the Pope chose to propose.

In her recent article, The Pope and the Philistines, Australian theologian Tracey Rowland reflected on the way in which Pope Benedict – negatively portrayed as a conservative, by some – has in fact sought to distance himself from the ‘administrative machinery’ of the Church. Instead, as this week, proposing the Church as ‘a living reality’, or ‘a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ’ (General Audience, 27 February 2013). Emphasising not the structure the world sees, but the person into whom the baptised are incorporated.

Professor Rowland reminds us that in Called to Communion, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, ‘The more administrative machinery we construct […] the less place there is for the Spirit, the less place there is for the Lord, and the less freedom there is’. In many respects, we have seen this approach – a light-touch institutional bureaucracy – very clearly in his pontificate, and especially in his proposals for liturgical reform, each of which has been by personal example rather than institutional decree. If this has limited the implementation, then it is has – at least as much – enabled it to be a deep reform and renewal where it has found fertile soil.

It is typical of Benedict to leave us with this thought, because it reminds us again that not only is the office that he will soon leave not about him, but that the Church – and thus her mission – is not about us, rather (because it is fundamentally his body), it is about Jesus Christ. Again and again we have seen this in Pope Benedict’s writings and in his own life, and now in these final hours – in this final act as the Vicar of Christ – we see it again. ‘It is not I’, he says with St Paul, ‘but Christ living in me’ (cf. Gal. 2:20). May we strive to say the same.

Homily for the Chair of St Peter

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Benedict XVI, homily, papacy

This year we celebrate the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter with a particular poignancy as we prepare, in just under a week, for our beloved Holy Father to renounce the office which that very chair signifies. Pope Benedict XVI’s relatively short pontificate has been an astonishing moment in the life of the Church, but far from simply being a series of exciting events, it has also been a masterclass in the Christian life and, more specifically, in the nature of the papacy. Pope Benedict has shown us the primary role of the occupant of the Chair of Saint Peter: to point us to Christ.

How has this been achieved? We have seen it in the establishment of Personal Ordinariates – a fatherly hand extended in love to those who have sought his care; we have seen it in his gentle but decisive renewal of the sacred liturgy – always by example, never by force; we have seen it in his clear teaching, at once simple and profound – always true and always loving. And now, in this final action of his public ministry, we see it once more: ‘It is not I’, he says, ‘But Christ’. Joseph Ratzinger means nothing, the action tells us, except as a lens through whom can see more clearly the Lord whom he has served so faithfully.

Today, then, is a feast not of earthly ecclesiastical power, but of Christ. Today we celebrate the Lord’s abiding presence in the Church, made known to us in a particular way through the office of the successor of Saint Peter, the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. And we do so with sincere gratitude for the example of the current occupant of the Chair of Saint Peter, and in confident hope of the example of the next, because – as Pope Benedict has shown us – the office is greater than the man. We know that the Lord will not leave his flock abandoned – he is the Good Shepherd, how could he? Rather in the office of the Chair of Saint Peter he sends us a man whom he has entrusted with the task of gathering us in, so that, united in the one true fold, we may be so united to him.

Enter your email address to follow:

Categories

  • Canon Law
  • Evangelisation
  • Homily
  • Liturgy
    • Beauty
  • Media
  • Music
  • Ordinariate
  • Pope Francis
  • Talk
  • Uncategorized

Tags

advent Anglicanism anglicanorum coetibus Anglican Use apologetics architecture baptism Beauty Benedict XVI bishops BOL2015 BSDW bxvi canon law catechesis catholicism charity christmas church communications communion confession cross discernment discipleship Divine Worship DW: Collects easter ember days eucharist evangelisation extraordinary form faith fid formation fr robert barron heaven holy week homily intentional catholicism law lent liturgy mary mass media mercy morality music new evangelisation new media ordinariate ordination our lady papacy passiontide patrimony plainchant pope pope benedict pope francis pre-lent priesthood reform of the reform sacred heart sacrifice septuagesima sherry weddell social communications social media tracey rowland unity virtue vocation worship

Archives

  • February 2021
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • April 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012

Blog Stats

  • 128,318 hits

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×