150th Anniversary of Monastic Life at Belmont

Ecumenical Vespers
27th May 2010

Abbot Paul's Homily

It's a great joy to be sharing this celebration of Vespers with you this evening. On behalf of the Community I thank you all for accepting the invitation to pray with us for a brief moment in the year which marks the 150th anniversary of the consecration of our abbey church. In comparison with the great Benedictine abbeys of pre-reformation England and their long and distinguished history, Belmont is small fry indeed, though not entirely insignificant all the same. It's amazing how much history Belmont has built up over the century and a half of its existence and its extraordinary service both to monastic life and the missionary and pastoral work of the Catholic Church in England and Wales as well as in Australia, Uganda, Peru and other countries.

As you know, for sixty years this church was the cathedral of the Diocese of Newport and Menevia, so is the mother church of the two present-day Catholic dioceses in South and Mid-Wales. The monastery also served as Common Novitiate and House of Studies for the English Benedictine Congregation. All the monks who served on the countless missions and parishes founded by the Benedictines were trained here. It was at Belmont that Gregorian chant was reintroduced into Britain and it's interesting to note that Abbot Prosper Guéranger of Solesmes preached at the consecration on 4th September 1860. Belmont was also instrumental in the reform of the English monasteries at the end of 19th Century. And, for sixty years, Belmont was a cathedral priory just like the great cathedral priories of medieval England: Canterbury, Winchester, Durham, Rochester, Ely, Coventry, Bath, Worcester and Norwich.
Well, that's enough history. "We do not lose heart." We heard those words of St Paul twice in tonight's reading from 2nd Corinthians. "We do not lose heart." That was the insistent message of Pope St Gregory the Great to St Augustine, whom he sent with forty monk companions to re-evangelise the English. "Non angeli sed Angli." We know that Augustine did indeed lose heart on a number of occasions and was ready to turn back and run for home. It's always encouraging to discover that not all the saints were perfect and that they, too, suffered from the same doubts and fears, worries and weaknesses as we do. But it was in their own fragility that they discovered the grace of God and the power of God, the God for whom nothing is impossible, the God who is light in our darkness. "For while we live," writes St Paul, "we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh." So, through God's grace and the encouragement of the Pope, as well as the support of the queen, Augustine carried out his mission successfully. In the end not only did he not lose heart but he even managed to put on a good face! Yes, we are indeed earthenware vessels, clay jars, which contain treasure and that treasure is God's grace, his very life.

Today, of course, Canterbury Cathedral is the mother church of the Anglican Communion. I'm not sure what Augustine or Gregory the Great would have made of that. However, just to balance the books a little, it must be said that Belmont was originally built with Anglican money. Richard Francis Wegg-Prosser of Belmont House, the founder, built the place with money he inherited from an uncle who, I think, had been Archdeacon of Durham. There was a court case against Wegg-Prosser brought about by the Church of England, but he won because the will didn't stipulate to which denomination the church ordered to be built should belong.

Although, as Christians, we often look nostalgically to the past, we cannot live in the past. We can certainly learn from the past but we can't turn the clocks back. In the quest for Christian Unity, we cannot unravel the Reformation or undo the Great Schism. There is much to regret in the history of the Church, but Christ is always calling us to listen to his voice, follow his teaching and example and so move forward as and where he leads us. This too is an important lesson taught by St Paul to the Corinthians. "We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence."

In the lives of the saints and in the mystery of the life of each saint we learn what it means to be a Christian. It's not at all complicated, in fact, it's too simple. Being a Christian simply means putting Christ at the very centre of our lives, listening to his voice, obeying his word, acknowledging him to be the source of life, the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega. Put even more simply: to live and to breathe Christ.

So what of Christian Unity today? There are still serious theological and ecclesiological differences that separate the Churches, though some quite spectacular advances have been made, such as the agreed statement on atonement and justification between the Lutheran and Catholic Churches, an agreement which is neither victory for one side nor capitulation for the other but fruit of a shared search for truth. Two things are certain: first of all, we know each other so much better than ever before and this knowledge deepens our understanding, friendship, respect and love; secondly, the desire for unity cannot be quenched and will not go away: we will continue to work and pray for unity because it is God's will made visible in the person of Jesus Christ.

Finally, we believe that all Christians, even those who differ most from us, are truly trying to "seek God with a sincere heart" and that God does not turn away from "those whose faith is known to him alone." In other words, there already exists among all Christians a unity in Christ that cannot be shaken or destroyed even by the lack of full communion. If our lives are truly centred on Christ, if we can say with St Paul, "It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me," then in Christ we are already one. It remains for us to work and pray day and night to bring about fully, through God's grace and in God's way, that unity which the integrity of the Body of Christ demands and proclaims, and that unity of which the Holy Trinity is both sign and fulfilment.