29th Sunday. B.

You might think that on an occasion such as this – my last Sunday in the parish after more than twenty four years – I might have something wise or insightful to say. But I’m afraid it isn’t like that. I have really struggled with this week’s homily and have decided, in the end, to just tell you how it was that I came to be here in the first place and how it has come about that I am leaving tomorrow to go to West Kilbride. My hope, in doing this, is that it will help us see the providence of God at work every step of this journey and help us understand what it is he is doing among us at this particular moment.

The story began in 1981, about a year after I had been appointed parish priest in Sanquhar, Kirkconnel and New Cumnock. In September of that year I was also appointed Diocesan RE Advisor for Secondary Schools and as a result spent the next four years driving around the diocese at the rate of 30,000 miles a year. It was a far from ideal situation and as this became more and more obvious, Bishop Taylor assured me that, as soon as an opportunity arose, he would move me to a parish which would involve less travelling. And so, when in the summer of 1985 it became clear that a series of moves were about to take place, I expected to be involved. On the day the bishop was actually making the moves, however, I received three phone calls from him. The first, just before the Vigil Mass that Saturday, said that, despite his promises, he was not going to be able to move me after all. The second, which awaited me on the answering machine when I came in later that evening after having been out for a meal with Robert Johnstone, was that he was going to move me but didn’t know where. And the third, which came about half past eleven that night, told me that he was sending me here, to St Matthew’s. His original plan, it turned out, had been to send Fr Alistair Tosh here. That very morning, however, Fr Charlie McLaughlin’s doctor had told him that he must retire immediately, as a result of which Fr Tosh went to Kilbirnie and, two weeks later I arrived here filled with hope and enthusiasm.

As you know, of course, my first few years here were very difficult, undoubtedly the most difficult of my life up to this point. The problem was not the people in the parish, although one person, very unhappy at my arrival, was heard to ask, ‘Whit, is he going to live in Fr McSorley’s hoose?’ The real problem was inside me: in my need for approval and my inability to cope with a level of antagonism and personal criticism I had never experienced before. And this took me into two and a half years of psychotherapy to try and make sense of what was happening to me followed by the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius which proved to be the single most powerful movement of God in my life. The approval issue hasn’t gone away. These iissues never really do. But it does not have anything like the power now it once had. Mind you, I could do without it being put to the test in West Kilbride in the coming weeks and months.

And so the years passed. I was actually moved once and appointed parish priest of St Margaret’s, Ayr. But that move came to nothing since it was challenged by three of the priests involved in the process and never happened. From time to time priest friends would suggest that maybe I should think about a change. Every few years the bishop would send us all a letter asking us to let him know if we were interested in moving. But whenever I took this to prayer there was never any inclination or desire in me to do so. Over and over again the message seemed to be: Leave it. Do nothing, Trust, and something will happen. And then, earlier this year, something did begin to happen.

And what happened was that I suddenly began to notice a change inside me and a gentle, tentative attraction to, of all places, West Kilbride. Canon Sam McGuiness had died in the February. I was approaching the fortieth anniversary of my ordination and the idea that West Kilbride would be ideally suited to me at this stage on my journey began to grow. I wondered at one point if I should volunteer to go there, but in prayer the message was still the same, ‘Do nothing.’ And then, in August, the bishop called a meeting of what are know in Canon Law as the ‘consultors,’ where the changes that needed to happen would be discussed. As a consultor, a should have been there, but due to the fact that I had a wedding rehearsal that afternoon at Glasgow University, I could not attend. Afterwards I was so tempted to try and find out what had happened, but again the message was, ‘Do nothing.’ By the following Tuesday I was convinced I was not involved in the forthcoming moves and during the Hour of Prayer that morning the call to trust was very strong. And then, five minutes after Mass, the phone rang. Could I go down that day and see the bishop? And the rest is history,

So why do I tell you all this? Well to help us all to see that what is happening here today is of God. It is God’s doing and, as such, it is our job to embrace it in faith. Leaving here is a huge step for me. I came here when I was forty and so in St Matthew’s have lived through what Miss Jean Brodie would have called ‘my prime.’ But I go to St Bride’s to face the future filled with hope and invite you to do the same and to give Martin all the support he will need in the months and years ahead.

I have been really struck over the last few days by the words of the first reading. ‘ The Lord,’ we heard, ‘ has been please to crush his servant with suffering.’ Well he did a bit of that in my early days here. ‘If,’ however, ‘he offers his life in atonement’ and I have tried to do that, ‘He shall see his heirs and have a long life.’ I don’t know about the long life, but my heir is sitting here right beside me. ‘And through him’ the passage ended, ‘what the Lord wishes will be done.’

I believe it has been and is being and invite you to join me today in thanking God for it.


BIDDING PRAYERS


We begin today by praying for the whole parish at this moment of transition. Our God is a God of constant new beginnings and we pray for a real openness to what he is doing among us at this time. We pray, in particular, for the grace to go where God leads so that there is no challenge too great and no invitation from God too demanding for us. We pray, too, for a deep sense of gratitude for all that God has already done in us and will continue to do in the future........Lord hear us

We pray, too, for Joe as he prepares to leave us for West Kilbride. We ask God to guide him in the days and weeks ahead and to give him the graces he will need as he begins the process of adapting to life in a new town, in a new church, in a new house and with new parishioners. We ask God, too, to be with the people of St Bride’s as they also enter a period of uncertainty and change, that they, in their turn, will be open to the challenges Joe will no doubt present them with........Lord hear us

And we pray for Martin. Having spent the last five years in Ecuador, he now faces the challenge of adjusting again to life in Scotland, a very different place from Ecuador. And so we ask God to be with him. We pray that his experience in the developing world will help the people of this parish come to a deeper understanding of the great issues of poverty and injustice facing humanity today and inspire us to respond to them in a way which is effective and appropriate......Lord hear us

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that in the Kingdom anyone who wants to be first must become the servant of all. And so we pray for priests throughout our diocese, called in a very particular way to a life of service, that they will always remain faithful to that calling. We pray, especially, that they will never succumb to the dangers of a clerical system which encourages, not service, but the seeking of status, power and position within the parish community............Lord hear us

The second reading from the letter to the Hebrews speaks of how Jesus, the high priest has experienced in his own person what it is to be a weak human being. And this, of course, is true of every priest in the Church today. They are all weak and often deeply flawed men. And so we pray that people in our parishes will have the maturity, not only to recognize this, but embrace it and provide priests everywhere with the help and human support they so often need............Lord hear us

Perhaps the most amazing thing about God is the mystery we call Divine Providence. God does not control events, either in the world or in our individual lives. Having given us the gift of freedom he is often helpless in the face of the decisions we make. And yet, deep within everything that happens, in a way far beyond our comprehension, he works to bring about his dream for us. And so we ask for a deep sense of this providence at work among us today..........Lord hear us