Rites of Passage Homilies for Our Times

ISBN: 9780980326420
Page count: 146
Published: 2007
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Father James Murray
Language: English
Author: James Murray.

These sermons were mostly preached in Christ Church St Laurence in Sydney at the Healing Mass offered each Wednesday, or at Sunday celebrations. Selected by Dr Colette Rayment, from a diverse collection of homilies, she also edited them skilfully, retaining their idiosyncratic style. Meant to be read aloud, the often-eccentric punctuation allows the reader to grasp the emphasis desired by the preacher. References to contemporary events, mostly of the eighties and nineties also remain, and the terminology used owes its emphasis to the Catholic tradition in the Anglican Communion.

Its most persistent themes, however, are common to all traditions and are entirely Biblical, from rites of initiation to the contemplation of death and the hope of resurrection. It has been the practice of some distinguished preachers always to preach for decision, a position I respect. I recall with affection the advice I received prior to my ordination, from my great mentor, Father Farnham Maynard. "What shall I preach about?" I asked. "Jesus, just Jesus," he replied. And we went into St Peter's Church, Eastern Hill in Melbourne where I made a solemn promise to do that. It is one vow I have religiously kept.

For many years it had been my practice to prepare a sermon, then reduce it to a few headings and preach apparently extempore. Father Austin Day persuaded me to write and deliver the full text, perhaps out of fear that my habit of lengthy asides might carry me off into uncharted waters. Though I was merely an assisting priest at Christ Church, he gave me ample opportunity to preach, and often on important occasions when one might have expected the rector to be in the pulpit. He was a generous pastor, and a great encourager to many priests. He was also entirely free from the temptation to jealousy which has sometimes bedevilled clerical relationships.

Christ Church St Laurence is a wonderful house of prayer, its atmosphere of deep devotion a superb context for proclaiming the Word. To preach there grants the privilege of an attentive though not uncritical congregation. After all, the attitude of your hearers can be either an encouragement or a deterrent. Of course, the pulpit poses the danger of self-importance, as utterances made from it are little likely to be challenged. Which is probably a pity.

The parish has had the benefit of a succession of distinguished priests, Father Adrian Stephens its present rector upholding its witness to the profundities of the Catholic faith with courage and acumen. All, I imagine, have been conscious of the unseen companion who is our judge and saviour, who is both the Word of God, and the Sacramental sign of God's involvement in human affairs.

These simple sermons are offered as a means of meditating on the great truths of the gospel. Some are very personal expressions of priestly intimacy, but their inspiration has been the faithfulness of committed men and women who have made worship the most important impulse in their lives. Naturally these homilies assume some knowledge of the scriptures and of the liturgy. Their focus is devotional rather than doctrinal, and their basic belief is that God became a human person that we might be saved.