The season of Advent marks the start of the Church’s Calendar. Year by year we return to the beginning of the Christian story, to walk alongside Jesus through the events of his life, death and resurrection, listening more carefully to his teaching and trying to follow his example more closely. Hopefully, this Advent will find each of us entering into this spiritual renewal more wholeheartedly than ever. This is an opportunity for all of us, bishop, priests and people to renew our spiritual lives and prepare ourselves for the service of God and his Church.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II issued a document on the formation of the clergy. He chose as its opening words a text from the Prophet Jeremiah, “I will give you shepherds after my own heart” . The Holy Father wrote, “faced with the difficulties of contemporary culture [priests] feel compelled to re-examine their way of life and their pastoral priorities”. He reminded priests that “by sacramental consecration the priest is configured to Jesus Christ as head and shepherd of the Church”.
During this coming year, the priests of the Diocese will be meeting in their deaneries to pray and reflect upon the nature of their calling and examining the pastoral priorities of which Pope John Paul spoke. In the course of the year each deanery will make a retreat to pray for guidance and help in their pastoral work. They will also set up whatever parish structures may be appropriate to serve the needs of each parish community.
The season of Advent invites us to re-visit the mysteries of our Christian Faith and fundamental to that Faith is the mystery of the Incarnation. Our Christian Faith is based on the astonishing truth that, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.” The message of God’s love for us was expressed in the language of humanity when the Eternal Son of God took a human nature like ours. Pope Paul VI summed it up in the words, “Jesus Christ, the Good News of God”.
God’s message was one of love and forgiveness. It was a message of solidarity with the weak, the poor and the sinful. It was good news for the whole world and for all time and Jesus was the messenger. Indeed, the Messenger was the message. Jesus was, if you like, the First Missionary, sent into the world by God our Father and so, after his resurrection he said to his disciples, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”
From the beginning the Church has always been a ‘missionary Church’. The Gospel of Mark ends with the words, “ And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up to heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.”
Pope Paul VI said, “The Church is an evangeliser but begins by being evangelised herself”. Each of us has to hear the word of God before we can share it with others. Evangelisation means spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ and we do this by the witness of our lives and by preaching. The work of sharing the Gospel begins in our own homes which the Pope described as “the domestic Church”.
The work of proclaiming the Gospel is the responsibility of the whole Christian Community and serious preparation is required for those who undertake this task. Beginning at Advent next year, the process of prayer, reflection, discernment and consultation undertaken by our priests will be extended to all the faithful of the Diocese. Each parish will be involved in seeking God’s will for us, both as individuals and as a Diocese. In this process there will be a special place for our young people who are the future of the Church.
To be open to the inspiration of the Spirit we need to remove the barriers that sin puts up between ourselves and God, between ourselves and other people. We must draw on the strength and the gifts which we receive in the Sacraments. We must not try to impose our will on God but humbly accept God’s will for us. By the Feast of Pentecost 2002 we would hope to have a Diocesan Assembly at which a Diocesan Pastoral Plan might be adopted.
The theme of this Millennium Year of Jubilee has been “Christ Yesterday, Today and Forever”. This is the message that we want to proclaim ever more loudly and ever more effectively. Let us pray together and work together to achieve this aim.
Invoking God’s blessing upon you
Yours sincerely in Christ
+ Ian
Bishop of Argyll & the Isles 3 December 2000
