Standing My Ground

I received a book in the post yesterday as a gift for the 20^th anniversary of my ordination. It is called Standing My Ground, the autobiography of Matthew Hayden. The card with it simply thanked me for standing my ground for twenty years in the priesthood. He starts the book in this way:

I was born and raised and live my life as a Catholic. It’s a very important party of who I am. But there is already one Saint Matthew in the Church, and I am dead certain there won’t be another one coming from the ranks of recently retired Australian cricketers.

Hayden goes on to describe how his favourite saint is St Peter, the one who did his best,  let the side down a bit, but finally triumphed. Hayden’s Catholicism has been very public, and I have heard him called a hypocrite, along with as many who model faith. However, Hayden is very conscious of his weaknesses and sees in Peter someone who recognises the source of his strength.

This apparent contradiction, expressed so well by Hayden, holds a lot of us back. Our own weakness, very apparent to us and those that know us well, often stymies us from letting our light shine. As followers of Jesus, we are called to publicly witness to the truth we experience. This requires great honesty on our part, the same honesty Hayden displays in his introduction. At the beginning of Mass we admitted our sinfulness. The rest of the mass does not make sense without the penitential rite. It is our chance of saying how much we need the grace of God in our lives and the difference it makes. It is this process that allows you and I to stand before others honestly and proclaim that we are not perfect, but we are at least trying; we are not saints, but we know the right direction to move; we do not have all the answers, but we are not waling in the dark, because we know that the best place to find the answers to the great questions of life is within the family of the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit.

We need to be clear. One of the great gifts of Pope Benedict is his clarity. In the build-up to his visit to Britain last year you may remember some of the outrageous anti-Catholic publicity that was circulation, topped off by the defamatory claims by the celebrity QC Geoffrey Robertson. The Holy Father said nothing, and on arrival to Britain, with some sections of the popular press predicting mass anti-Catholic demonstrations, he wooed people with honesty and clarity. A gentle, honest shepherd confronted a few bigoted atheists who had whipped up a storm of opposition. Honesty and gentleness won out, accompanied by clear teaching. Pope Benedict did not alter one word of his teaching to placate those who insisted that divine revelation was somehow faulty or not suited to the 21^st Century. He stood firm and won. In the words of our Gospel, he put his light on a stand where it could been seen by all in the room. At no stage did he insist others follow, but he proposed truth as the way forward, as we are urged by the gospel to do today.

The truth will set us free, and it will set free those around us. We are able to add salt to the diet of our conversation and lives so that we will be seen for who we are, people who know the truth and try to follow it in our own imperfect way, always learning, always growing. In his book Hayden tells the story of the 2003 cricket tour to Zimbabwe. It was a mistake, he says, to go and not to boycott the tour to publicize a stand for human rights.  In the end, he says, he got it all wrong. That, however, was not a reason tot retreat or drop the ball. No, it is an opportunity to acknowledge learning, growing and the getting of wisdom……sometimes we just don’t get it at the right time.

Today we are called to stand for who we are, to let our wonderful light of faith and life shine for ourselves, our families, friends and world. It is part of who we are, and I pray that we can all say and live, in Hayden’s words, standing my ground. 


Homily 6th February 2011, 5th Sunday of  the year, OLQP Cathedral