Before becoming Bishop of Argyll and the Isles I spent the previous nine years in the Royal Scots College in Salamanca in Spain, and in its cloister there is a painting of St John Ogilvie, which also hung for many years in the previous college location in Valladolid.

The painting shows John Ogilvie with a rope around his neck indicating the way in which he died a martyr’s death in Glasgow in March 1615. In the college there are a number of other paintings of John Ogilvie’s fellow Jesuit martyrs, Spaniards or Portuguese who had been killed as missionaries in different parts of the world – this was due to the fact that the Royal Scots College in Valladolid had previously been the Jesuit College and  had inherited their paintings and many other relics and religious artefacts.

Because it is a Scottish College the painting of St John Ogilvie had a great deal of significance for those who studied in and visited the college – it reminded us of our place in the Scottish Church and the roots of our college in Spain in the days of persecution in Scotland, when the practice of the Catholic faith was forbidden and John Ogilvie was put to death for being a Catholic priest, for celebrating the Mass and refusing to deny his allegiance  to the Pope.

In comparison to the number of priests executed in England in the same period the fact that only John Ogilvie suffered this fate in Scotland does indicate a reticence on the part of the authorities to inflict the ultimate penalty on those who were caught ministering as priests, but it may also indicate that their numbers were small and the threat of a Catholic revival in those days was seen as very unlikely. This in turn points to the personal bravery and commitment of John Ogilvie who insisted on returning to Scotland, the land he had left as a young Calvinist, as a converted Jesuit priest knowing the dangers this would entail and the possible fate that awaited him.

He may well have been strengthened though in his determination to give his life for Christ back in Scotland, rather than serving in the Jesuit missions and colleges on the continent, by the heroic stories of his fellow Jesuits who had already given their lives for their faith in the mission of preaching the gospel across the New World, following in the footsteps of the original Jesuit missionary, St Francis Xavier.

This resilience in the face of danger, which John Ogilvie accepted and may indeed even have relished, is an encouragement to us to honour and uphold the faith we have received and to continue its practice today in Scotland. We do not face the same physical dangers as John Ogilvie, and the intense religious opposition to Catholicism has generally died away as the Catholic community has grown again  and ecumenical links have become an important part of living as Christians today in Scotland, but it is true also that the practice of faith has been eroded and the living of the Christian life abandoned by many. Our enemy today, if we can talk in these terms, is more apathy and a lack of engagement with the faith community, which for most of us is our local Catholic parish.

A gathering such as this pilgrimage today is good for us because we draw strength from our coming together and witnessing to the importance of our Catholic faith, the love we have both for its public expression in worship and in our daily lives.

Despite the political controversy over the decision taken, the fact that the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, took the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber, Mr Al Megrahi, on compassionate grounds does indicate  the importance of such a concept and its centrality in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in making this decision I think Mr MacAskill made a statement for Scotland as a compassionate nation, in which the words and teaching of Christ still count and can be listened to, especially when difficult choices have to be made and the right decision in human terms is not entirely clear.

As the Catholic Church in Scotland we have an important part to play in upholding and defending the Gospel of Christ in its fullness and in encouraging the people of Scotland to value our Christian roots, going back to Ninian, Columba, and Kentigern, and to allow it to form and guide the decisions taken by those in power and indeed all its citizens.

Both the trial and execution of St John Ogilvie and the trial and recent release of Mr Al Megrahi put the issue of justice and it’s administration over the centuries in Scotland in the spotlight. Pope Benedict XVI in his recent encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Charity in Truth, also made some relevant comments on the place of justice in the Church’s social doctrine. He says:

“Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is “mine” to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give to the other what is “his”, what is due to him by reason of his being or acting. I cannot “give” what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just to them…..On the one hand, charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples. It strives to build the earthly city according to law and justice. On the other hand, charity transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving. The earthly city is promoted not merely by relationships of rights and duties, but to an even greater extent by relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion.” (No.6)

It would probably be fair to say that the qualities mention in these final words of Pope Benedict were lacking in the state’s treatment of St John Ogilvie, but prevailed in the decision to release Mr Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

The two verdicts come from different times but both in a way highlight the need for the rigorous application of justice through  fair laws and due process, tempered by the demands of charity and the Christian message of forgiveness and mercy. Pope Benedict concluded this particular paragraph by alluding to the fact that Charity and its various off-spring manifest the presence of God working in and through human relationships and the decisions made justly for the salvation of humanity:

“Charity always manifests God’s love in human relationships as well, as it gives theological and salvific value to all commitment for justice in the world.”

The scripture passages we have heard at this Mass encourage belief also in the value of suffering for one’s faith whatever the cost – in the case of John Ogilvie the loss of life itself. In the passage from Isaiah the servant of God who is abused and tortured  withstands the torments inflicted on him because he trusts God is with him and will finally vindicate him – the judgment of God is ultimately more just and true than that of his fellow humans.

Jesus encourages his disciples of all ages to believe that death is not the end, indeed that the result of dying for one’s faith in him will produce a rich harvest. Indeed the example of the martyrs through the centuries has inspired many to faith in Christ – it is recorded that John Ogilvie’s prayer and brave resolution on the scaffold at Glasgow Cross won converts to the Catholic faith from among the on-lookers. What sustained men and women like him as they faced persecution and death was their own love for Christ and that they were following in his footsteps as they gave their lives for him – they were putting into practice the Lord’s words:

“If a man serves me, he must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too. If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.”  

As we gather today at the Lord’s Eucharist – the provision of which for the remnants of the 17th century Scottish Catholics brought John Ogilvie back to his native land – we honour the sacrifice of those who have died for their faith and we ask that we may remain true to the Lord in our own lives, especially in our self-giving and service of our neighbour and in our commitment to live the love, in truth and justice, offered to us as we receive him in holy communion.

We seek the protection also of the prayers of Mary, at whose shrine we have gathered in prayer, and whose great prayer of thanksgiving, the Magnificat, resounds with trust and hope in God’s merciful love and justice:

“His mercy is from age to age on those who fear him.
He puts forth his arm in strength and scatters the proud-hearted.
He casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly.
He fills the starving with good things and sends the rich away empty.
He protects Israel his servant remembering his mercy, which he promised
To Abraham and to his sons forever”.