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SCRIPTURE
READINGS
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Isaiah |
50:4-7 |
| Psalm |
21 |
| Philippians |
2:6-11 |
| Mark |
14:4-15:47 |
My
dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This
is the last time that I will be addressing you as
Archbishop of Westminster. As you know, the Holy
Father will soon be accepting my resignation and
appointing a new Archbishop to have pastoral care
of this great diocese. For my part, I have now been
a Bishop for nearly 32 years and I can only give
thanks to God for all His goodness and the graces
that I have received during that time. These past
nine years as your Archbishop have been very eventful
and fulfilling ones. There have been difficulties
and challenges but also for me great joy and fulfilment.
There are many things that come to mind as I reflect
on these years. I remember the great occasion when
over ten thousand of us gathered together at Wembley
Arena to celebrate the beginning of our initiative,
At Your Word, Lord. What a joyful day that
was, with representatives from every parish - a
huge Catholic, Christian family gathered together
in faith and hope for the future of the growth and
flourishing of the Church. There are so many other
things I remember: the Mass every year for the Immigrant
communities and the thousands of people that come
to Westminster Cathedral from many, many nations
and gather together in a spirit of prayer and faith
and membership of the Church. How often was I able
to say to them, as I say to all of you, that you
are members of the family of the Diocese, sharing
the same faith and giving witness to Jesus Christ
by the example of your life.
Of
course, a great period of my life was preparing,
after the death of Pope John Paul, for the election
of Pope Benedict XVI. That was a grace-filled time
when, in company with my fellow-cardinals, I was
able to take part in the election of the Holy Father.
We Catholics are united in faith through our baptism
and the Eucharist, but particularly through our
communion with the bishops and with the Pope, whose
Petrine ministry binds us all together in truth
and unity. What a great privilege that is.
But
what I have particularly enjoyed, Sunday after Sunday,
is visiting, even for a short time, the parishes
of our diocese. There I have found vibrant Eucharistic
communities; people young and old who gather together
week after week to celebrate the Mass. No Christian
community can be built up unless it has as its basis
the celebration of the Eucharist. This is why we
understand that the Mass is the centre and summit
of Christian life and must and should be celebrated
with great reverence and great care - in the old
phrase, It is the Mass that matters. From
this there follows another way of building up the
Church and that is through prayer, the prayer of
the family of God, the prayer of the Church. Without
prayer we are no longer a living Church and so I
urge you to pray personally in your families, in
your groups, so that people will see that we are
indeed a family, a people that pray.
What
I have also realised during these nine years is
how important are all the people who live in our
diocese. We are told in the Gospel that Jesus said,
If a man serves me, he must follow me. Wherever
I am, my servant will be. If anyone serves me my
Father will honour him. The mission that God
has given in Christ to us is to somehow, by word,
by example, by the courageous witness of our faith,
to bring the love of God, the presence of God, into
people's lives. We live in a very secular society
that finds it difficult for people to hear and to
experience the presence of God in their lives. Yet
everywhere I go - and I meet people who are not
necessarily fellow-Catholic or Christian - they
often want to talk to me about the meaning of their
life, the hopes they have
for themselves and their children. Our message,
which is the message of Good News for the poor,
a message of hope and meaning for everyone, is so
important that we should understand that each one
of us has to be brave, courageous in the profession
of our faith.
My
message to you is one of encouragement as I thank
you for the ways in which each in your own family
and parish community endeavour to build up the life
of the Church. There is much to be done but one
thing you must know is that you are not alone. The
Church of Christ depends not on me as Archbishop,
or the priests, it's all of us together, bishop,
priest and lay people who together make up the Church
which is the Body of Christ and the sign of His
hope. It is together that we must continue to undertake
the wonderful task of building up the Church in
prayer, in celebration of the Eucharist, in community
and in service to our society.
My
dear people, my dear friends, may God bless you
abundantly. Do not be afraid of the future because
God's Holy Spirit is with you and with His Church,
which will never fail: I am with you always,
even to the end of time, said Jesus. In particular,
I would like to thank all the priests of the Diocese
who have served you so faithfully and zealously
over these past years. They have also been very
warmly supportive of myself in my own ministry as
Archbishop. In a particular way, I want to thank
my four Auxiliary Bishops: Bishop George Stack,
Bishop Alan Hopes, Bishop Bernard Longley and Bishop
John Arnold for their wise counsel and unwavering
help to me during my time as Archbishop of Westminster.
I have been very fortunate to have had such a loyal
team of close collaborators.
I
always ask the good Lord to forgive whatever needs
to be forgiven in my own life and any ways in which
I have failed to live up to the wonderful vocation
to which He has called me, firstly as a Catholic,
and as a priest and bishop. Be assured I will always
remember you and pray for you and ask in return
that you will remember me in your own prayers. I
will
end
with the words of St. Paul in his Letter to the
Ephesians: Glory be to Him whose power working
in us can do infinitely more than we can ash or
imagine. Glory be to Him from generation to generation
in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and
ever. Amen
May
God bless you all.
Yours
devotedly in Christ,
Cardinal
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
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