Homily

given by Fr. Anthony Chantry MHM at the Closing Mass of the Missionary Insitute London on 29 June 2007

Having heard the heartfelt and well-deserved tributes this afternoon and the edifying lecture by Father Shorter, the task falls to me to express on behalf of all of us who have brought life to this great centre of mission, our trust in the grace of God which bathes our world in mystery and love.

Peter and Paul are fine examples of what happens when we place our trust and confidence in the God’s leadership: our minds are opened to new possibilities, we are led along expected paths, we face impossible situations with optimism, we experience miracles of change, healing and protection and perhaps ultimately find the courage to lay down our lives for our friends.

It was by the grace of God that this Institute was born forty years ago. It was by God’s grace that it served the fundamental purpose of all our missionary groups “to provide the best possible academic and practical formation for those destined for missionary work” and it is because of the grace of God that we choose not to mourn the end of era but to celebrate a future which is ultimately in God’s hands. “In the demanding work of evangelisation we are sustained and accompanied by the certainty that the Lord of harvest is with us and continues to guide his people,” the Holy Father writes in his message for World Mission Sunday this year.

For though we know the Light has come the night still tempts us to doubt. We all acknowledge that we currently face enormous global challenges. The night is the home to many a demon: poverty, oppression, exploitation, violence, abuse to name but a few of them.

A world made smaller and more accessible by high technology, the frantic transfer of information from one side of the world to the other and the massive increase in people’s mobility seem as not to have brought unity, oneness, any closer.

Divisions abound: Israeli and Palestinian, Shia and Sunni, the West and Middle East, Muslim and Christian, overdeveloped and underdeveloped countries, the mega-wealthy and the rest of us. The list reads as a litany from hell. Yet the voices that tempt us in the night give way as they always must to the gentle but firm voice of the Lord Jesus calling us and sending us out to the ends of the earth to bring good news especially to those whose lives are filled with only bad news.

From this place God has indeed sent out thousands of missionaries, 2,382 to be precise, to bring the Light to those trapped in darkness. Follow the sound of their footsteps and we will see the wondrous deeds God has done, nay is doing in the lives of those who have emerged from this Institute, enlightened and empowered, consecrated in the truth that Jesus is Lord.

Men and women, priest and lay person, young and old from every continent witnessing across the huge spectrum of human diversity to the beauty and the power of the Good News of Jesus Christ. To those who are deeply divided our missionaries offer the hope of reconciliation. To those degraded by grinding poverty our missionaries are signs of God’s special option to be present among them. To those blinded by their own wealth we offer the joy of sharing. To those who exploit the weak and plunder the planet we say “Enough is enough. We will tolerate no more”. To those so weak that they resort to violence we turn the other cheek. To the sinner we offer not just forgiveness but acceptance and a genuine chance to begin anew. To those who think themselves so powerful as not to feel any need for God, we are gentle irritants challenging them to be open to other possibilities.

These same men and women, missionaries from this Institute face insecurity, loneliness isolation, intense discomfort, sickness and real danger. Many suffer one way or another.By the grace of God most endure and some find the wisdom and courage to withdraw. Likewise in that same grace, our MIL martyrs Christian, Declan and Martin paid the full price for daring to love the people they served. More may follow.

This evening we have so much to be thankful for and hopeful about past, present and future because of what God has, is and will be doing in and through all of us who have been part of this great project. We are all fully aware of the crisis facing the Church in Europe the symptoms of which are depressingly familiar. In his Mission Sunday message the Holy Father acknowledges all of this and suggests that our Churches risk withdrawing into themselves which weakens their missionary effort. Yet, he says this is the very time for opening oneself up to the Providence of God.

At the recent graduation Mass,Tom Ryan reminded us that the Church was born in the crisis of hope, that Christians thrive on crisis,concluding that when you are down to nothing, God is up to something. The flourishing churches in Africa and parts of Asia might well demonstrate something of what God is up to. The large number of missionary training centres cross Africa, Asia and South America often staffed by MIL graduates gives us even more clues about God’s intentions.

The challenge to us to keep the fires of missionary outreach burning in our European churches is something that will occupy hearts and minds of our MIL staff and graduates living and working here in Europe.

Thus this evening’s liturgy, the very core/heart of our Thankgivings celebration we proclaim the grace of God that over four decades has brought so many good and gifted people students and staff together in one place to offer education in the ways of Christ in unity with the wisdom of the universal Church and an apprenticeship in the meaning of service, equality, mutuality and collaboration.

We give thanks for the sending out of wave after wave of missionaries in all directions, near and far, to all the nations to confess in word and deed that Jesus is Lord that Light always conquers darkness and that ultimately all are called to flow towards oneness with the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It was two days ago that a certain national leader ended his particular influence on our world with the words “That’s that, this is the end.” In contrast we speak words of enduring truth as we say this evening:That’s that, this is the beginning, by the grace of God.