Sunday 18th August 2024 was a very significant day for me because it was my first day presiding at the parish Eucharists as Vicar of the parish of East Crompton St James with St Saviour. It was the first day of a new phase of ministry where I am no longer a curate in training and serve across the whole mission community with a new status.
It isn’t an elevated status, but it is certainly more permanent framed by the words of the Bishop at my licensing service at the end of July who said to me “receive this cure of souls which is both mine and yours, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
It certainly does not make me any more important than anyone else, but it has given me a clear responsibility which I will forever take seriously, will never take for granted and receive with such deep joy and hope. And I receive it knowing that I am so well supported by my partner, my colleagues and friends both from all five churches.
And there are many aspects to receiving the cure of souls that are so important. The bishop said “Priests are called to be servants and shepherds among the people to whom they are sent”; proclaiming the word, teaching, admonishing, telling the story of God’s love, baptising, supporting the weak and defending the poor, praying for all in need, ministering to the sick and preparing the dying for their death.
Priests are also “to discern and foster the gifts of all God’s people and so build up the church”. It is all such a privilege, and I am so glad to be here having received this charge.
To be honest with you, being here with you in the mission community is a responsibility is beyond my wildest dreams. I never for one moment thought that someone like me would be doing this. And to let you into a secret, every time I stand at the Altar in one of our five wonderful churches presiding over the most Holy of all the sacraments of the church, I am awestruck.
I am awestruck because to me the sacrament is not merely a nice memorial of the last supper, though of course there is a strong element of that, the Sacrament is Jesus himself here among us. It’s mind blowing really isn’t it!
St Jean-Marie Vianney, patron saint of Priests (who I have quoted here before) is to have said of the Blessed Sacrament (the blessed bread of Holy Communion) “there He is: the one who loves us so much! Why not love him!” and of course the He referred to is Jesus; the one who loves us so much and is so worthy of our love in return.
And that love takes us out of our beautiful worship spaces into our communities and the wider world where the love of God dwells and grows. God in Jesus left us the legacy of love in the Blessed Sacrament, but it is the food of life that fuels us to take his love out and work to alleviate suffering, inequality, and injustice. To work to ensure that every single human being is treated with dignity and love.
Our Christian life is rooted in the worshipping life of the church, and it is in worship that I find my strength and energy to do the work I have been called to do. This is not just the reserve of priests, it is the energy and strength that flows for the whole people of God; an energy and strength that is radically inclusive of all, and we are all channels of it.
So in these early days of a new and important phase of my ministry here among you, I am energised and strengthened by Jesus who gave everything for us and withholds nothing from us, and who feeds us in the Sacrament. I look forward with immense gratitude to serving in this place and to all that lays ahead.
Every blessing,
Fr Paul .
