St Richard, Haywards Heath St David’s Day 1.3.23

Introduction to Mass

March begins in the church calendar with St David’s Day. With the Welsh people we celebrate a bishop who was truly apostolic founding monasteries and churches from Wales across to Brittany. Born around the year 500 St David is acclaimed as patron saint of Wales where today he is honoured by a solemnity with both Creed and Gloria at Mass. In England we break Lent for his Feast with special readings and we recite the Gloria. Not long before he died David gave this advice: ‘Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do’. As we begin Mass we call to mind such little things in our life, our failure to do them to God’s praise and service let alone the times we do things to our own praise and service.

Homily 

I sometimes think of the forward progress of our Christian Faith as being like a relay race.  You know - the baton goes forward but is handed on again and again by a series of runners. The apostle Paul who talks in our Philippians reading of ‘running the race’ of faith speaks a couple of times about ‘handing on’ what he received from the Lord.  Through eighty generations the Gospel has been handed on, brought forward right up to this day.

In this process the apostolic succession of bishops has played a key role.  Christ sent his apostles and they sent the bishops, who in turn consecrated new bishops in succession over 2000 years. Even if the baton got dropped a few times, so to speak, many see in the episcopal government of the church a sign of the continuity of Christian Faith.

‘As the Father sent me, so I send you’ said the Lord – and still he sends apostles and missionaries to places of his choosing.  In the sixth century it was David to Wales, as earlier it was Patrick to Ireland and Peter to Rome.  Today there are missionary bishops in Nigeria and The Society has recently received a new missionary Bishop of Oswestry, Fr Paul Thomas. 

The handing forward of the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ may be a special responsibility for Christian leaders but it is the responsibility of all the baptised. So we heed Our Lord’s invitation in the Gospel to be salt and light in our circle, in Haywards Heath and its surrounds, and the invitation of Paul in the Philippians  reading to ‘strain ahead… for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus’. 

Lord, may the Feast of St David renew our zeal to spread the fragrance of Jesus all over this land.  Amen.