St Mary the Virgin, Higham Ferrers

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Fr. Grant Writes..
 

My dear Parishioners,
I am so encouraged when I contemplate the lives of the Saints; not because they were all strong in faith and were powerhouses of energy in proclaiming the Gospel, nor because they were mostly good and courageous people. I am encouraged by them simply because they were all sinners, but redeemed sinners. They understood in some way that God was able to work through their foibles and personalities to allow the Kingdom of Heaven to grow ‘on earth as in heaven’. They lived in vastly different cultures and world scenes than we do in the 21st century and especially in the Western world, and yet they help us to see what is essential in our culture today. St Thomas, whose feast day it is on 3rd July (although the Bedesmen and Bedeswoman and St Mary’s, Higham Ferrers recognise it also on its earlier date of the 21st December), has been known by his nickname ‘Doubting Thomas’ for centuries. The scene is also remembered during Eastertide when the Church celebrates those occasions when the Risen Lord appeared to his Apostles and Disciples. According to St John’s Gospel, on the first day of the week, when Jesus first appeared to the Apostles cowering in the upper room, Thomas was not present. (This incident may have given rise to the picture depicted on the great seal of Higham Ferrers where the hand of God is blessing originally ten people i.e. the Apostles without Judas the betrayer and without Thomas.) Thomas could not believe that Jesus
had risen from the dead and would not believe the other Apostles until he himself received confirmation through the special appearance of Jesus one week later.


For St John, for his readers and for us, the importance is what Jesus says to Thomas after ‘Doubting Thomas’ had become ‘Believing Thomas’ the one who had fallen on his knees to worship his Lord and God. ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have come to believe.’ John 2029 None of us today has seen the Lord in person and yet we are encouraged to believe in Jesus Christ. Our Creeds ask us to believe not in propositions nor in ideas or philosophies of life but in a Person. While the 10 Commandments might be a good set of
rules by which to live, while the Beatitudes might be some wonderful sayings which inspire us, the basis of our Faith is belief and trust in the Person Jesus who is no longer dead but alive for evermore.


On the 22nd July we observe the Feast of St Mary Magdalene whom Jesus had cured of demonic possession (Luke 8 1 – 2) and who had cooked meals and ministered to Jesus and the Apostles as they were moving around the country. According to St John, she was the first to see the Risen Christ on the first Easter Day. You can imagine her surprise when the man she thought was the gardener spoke her name ‘Mary!’ No wonder she wanted to cling to him, to keep him as she was used to, in his physical presence. But she had to see that his new risen life was to be shared by others, firstly the Apostles, but then also others in their turn too. Again the emphasis was to be on the Person of Jesus but not as she had known him, rather as he was to be known in his Risen and Ascended glory. Yet it was to be the same Person Jesus with whom she could relate and with whom others could relate too.


All the other Saints whose lives we celebrate throughout July and indeed throughout the year help us to worship Jesus as a Person and not a set of beliefs or commandments. Even St Benedict (480 – 550 AD) (Feast Day 11th July) whose Rules have influenced Monasticism to the present day, was concerned with the faithful person’s growth in his spiritual life so that he could be more like his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There was always to be room for the penitent, the sinner, to be forgiven and to return to Christ’s flock.


Likewise the writings of John Keble whom we remember on the 14th July aptly show that the Church had to return to the faith and discipline of the Apostolic Age if it was to be truly Catholic. Keble (1792 - 1866) was one of the founding fathers of the Tractarian Movement within the Church of England which tried to promote a greater understanding of the presence of the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. That same Jesus who had walked the roads of the Holy Land nearly 2000 years ago could now be met in the bread and wine of Communion.


I have just returned from the splendid Sung Mass which was celebrated in St Mary’s Church for the 40th Anniversary of the Ordination to the Priesthood of Canon Roger Knight, one of our Hon. Assistant Priests. We were reminded by Fr Humphrey Prideaux who trained at Lincoln Theological
College with Fr Roger that all of us share in ministry. Indeed we are thereby all called to be saints, to enable others to be aware that God can work through all of us despite our individual personalities and characters. The loving nature of God could be seen in the Saints we commemorate throughout
the year but, I hope and pray, also today through each of us, whether clergy or faithful laity. And all of us, departed or alive today, are sinners; through Christ we are redeemed sinners, and able to reflect the Person of Christ to others every day. And that is what is essential in our society today as it always has been.


With every blessing,
Your Priest and Friend,
Fr. Grant