Procession of the Blessed Sacrament

A Procession of the Blessed Sacrament followed by Benediction was held in the grounds of Lesnes Abbey on Sunday, 24th June 2007.

Archbishop Kevin gave the homily:

Today we have gathered and have walked in procession with the Blessed Sacrament. It has been an act of faith and a witness to our faith. We have come together around the sacred host which is the real and living presence among us of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world. Jesus is present with us and to us in his suffering, death and resurrection to new life. The risen Lord bears the wounds of his passion and that Lord is with us and among us. Our procession is an act of public witness, of individual and communal testimony to the living presence in our midst of Our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer.

The focus and perspective of this year’s procession is the fact that the risen Lord, truly present among us, is the Saviour of the whole world. The letter to the Colossians tells us that all things were created through him and for him. He became incarnate to save all humanity and specifically to reconcile all things through his death. So when we ponder the mystery of the Eucharist, our spirituality is not narrow and not individualistic, rather it is all-embracing and inclusive. But how can this be when so many people in our society reject or ignore the person of Jesus? How can it be when so many religious people do not accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord? And why is it that those who do believe in Jesus are often so divided and at odds with one another? Let us consider some of these questions in the light of the Eucharist, in the light of Christ.

First of all let us consider unbelievers; people who have no faith and reject religious faith. Some oppose religion because they say you simply can’t prove it: you can’t demonstrate that it’s true. Others see religion as a positively dangerous influence in our world, the root of prejudice, repression, terrorism and war. What do we, who worship Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament, have to say to them? Well there is a great deal that could be said since those who attack religion today are often very shallow in their thinking. But this isn’t the time to go into all that. All I would say is that we ourselves are not immune from doubts and questions. Throughout the history of the Church there have been saints who have struggled in a very fundamental way with the question of the existence and presence of God. One need only mention St Jane Frances de Chantal and St Thérèse of Lisieux as two examples of people whose spiritual life was often very dark and for whom the light of faith sometimes burned very dimly indeed. It may be the case with you. There is nothing abnormal about that, indeed it is in the nature of faith. We live by faith and not by sight. And in our modern scientific world we’re bound to be to be affected by the culture in which we live, in which, for many, science has replaced religion. Some say that science provides all the explanations that we can expect. But, of course, that is not true. The word of God and the sacramental presence of Jesus speak to questions in the human spirit that science can never answer: questions and longings for the absolute love which is God and for a future in which those longings will be fulfilled. Our faith in God and love for God are part of the way we are, part of our reality and as we walk in procession, in faith, we are expressing those deep hopes and longings that lie within the human heart. The truth of our faith is absolutely reasonable but can’t be proved scientifically. It’s at a different level. But today we should bring to our prayer and embrace in our hearts all those who have no faith, those who never had faith, those who have lost their faith, and there may be people very close to you who have lost their faith. Don’t be anxious about them today but bring them all to God in prayer because he embraces them. The rays that go out from the monstrance reach out to all. Everyone is included in the embrace of God’s love, everyone is part of his providence, everyone has a place in God’s design and God’s purposes. So let us bring them all with us to this prayer.

But, what of other religions? Let us bring members of other religions to our prayer today. Firstly, the Jewish people. The Jews are our parent religion, our elder brothers, the ones to whom God first revealed himself and with whom he made a covenant, a covenant that has not been revoked. And the Ark of the Covenant which contained God’s Law was regarded as the place of God’s presence in the world. The Holy of Holies. But for the Jews, the Messiah, the Saviour, has not come; Jesus was not the longed-for Messiah. The first Christians went to the synagogue; they were Jews. But it became clear as time went on that there was a great divide between those who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not. And hence the divorce between the Church and the synagogue, which gave rise to much bitterness and hatred over the centuries. In recent decades the Church has done much to heal relations between Jews and Christians, stressing what we have in common - our common roots - rather than what divides us. Let us pray for greater understanding and reconciliation between Jews and Christians. St Paul said that Christ came to unite all humanity. Although the figure of Christ may seem to be the focus of conflict, we as Christians cannot but hope and pray that in some way, perhaps beyond our present capacity for understanding, all people will be reconciled in Christ, the one in whom all things were created. The other great Abrahamic faith (there are three faiths that see Abraham as Father) is of course Islam, and the Muslims recognise Jesus as a prophet, they accept the virgin birth of Jesus, but believe that Jesus was superseded by Mohamed and that the Koran, not the Bible is God’s final revelation to the world. Clearly we have here a direct conflict at the level of faith, though that is not our concern here. But thinking of Muslims we cannot but bring to prayer the terrible conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and, indeed, the Holy Land; the terrible wars that scar our world. Our prayer before the Blessed Sacrament today must be prayer for peace in the world. We should also seek to build bridges with Muslims, to look at what we have in common, and think in terms of dialogue and reconciliation. It’s easy to despair and to think that we’re condemned to a clash of civilisations: the Christian West and Islam of the Middle East. It need not be so and the Eucharist must remain a sign of hope and a focus for hope in a divided world. And let us pray today especially for Christians in the Holy Lane, Iraq and Iran who suffer for the faith. Let us be in solidarity with them, solidarity in our faith in Jesus Christ present among us.

The great religions of the East have no historical connection with Christianity. I think of Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto and so on. But our Eucharistic faith should push us to go out to other religions in a spirit of openness, to proclaim our faith, but to listen respectfully to their faith, to discern the seeds of the word that they have received within other religions. It is vital for peace in the world that religions relate to one another positively and constructively. There can be no peace in the world without peace among religions.

And, finally, of course, our fellow Christians who may not share our faith in Christ truly present in the Eucharist. Some do, of course, particularly the Eastern Churches. But with many Christian Churches in the West, the Real Presence has been a focus of division. Much work has, however, been done and much progress has been made in trying to come to a common mind on what the Eucharist is and how Christ is present among his people. With our fellow Christians we should celebrate our common faith in Jesus Christ our risen Lord and in the Scriptures that bear witness to him. Let us pray that we may come to that depth of shared faith that will enable us to share in the Eucharist and, together, to recognise and worship Christ’s sacramental presence among us. Again, we must never lose hope but be open to the gift of Christian unity which is and will be precisely a gift.

So, in our procession this year, we reach out and embrace all our fellow men and women throughout the world. May the Eucharistic Benediction that will take place shortly reach out and draw together in peace and reconciliation all God’s scattered children, and may each of you be blessed, too. You have come here today with your own concerns, worries, hopes and fears. I pray that Jesus, truly present among us, will speak to your hearts and bring light and wisdom and healing into your life. Amen