1 Cor 13: 6
Dear friends
With perfect timing the sun shone for the festival of Candlemas. After what seemed like endless grey, cold and wet January days the sky was blue and the cathedral was bathed in golden sunshine.
The weather suited Candlemas because the festival marks the turning point between winter and spring, darkness and light, between Christmas and Lent, when Christians remember the baby Jesus being presented in the Temple and being recognised as Lord by the elderly faithful ones, Simeon and Anna.
Towards the end of the Candlemas Service we process to the West End of the cathedral. carrying lit candles and placing them around a large cross formed by candles in red holders. In this movement we embody turning towards the Cross and Christ’s passion. We are turning towards the darkness of human sin and suffering, yet carrying light to ward off the darkness and carrying hope that the light may grow within and among us each day.
Christian faith teaches that we are always ‘in-between’ the old creation and the new. We live at all times with both light and darkness. It is both a comfort and a joy of our Benedictine heritage, to rest in the ‘stabilitas’ of worship in community and know that it is not perfection that leads us to God, but rather, humility and perseverance. We are simply human and in need of mercy and forgiveness.
There is so much suffering in the world, and so much to discourage us in being people of hope. Having hope can feel like bashing away with a feather duster at a rock. But hope is powerful. We are taught that ‘these three remain, faith hope and love…’ Hope recognises the reality of human suffering and failure but refuses to accept that this is how it has to be. Hope encourages each of us to persevere in seeking to do something to make a difference.
At this time of turning, the installation in the cathedral, ‘Whales’ by artist Tessa Campbell Fraser, brings me hope. Her work invites us to join her in paying close attention to these magnificent and mysterious creatures, with whom we share our planet, and to treat them with wonder and respect. In the past, sperm whales were almost hunted to extinction, (their oil was used extensively during the industrial revolution) but after decline their numbers are now on the rise. There is hope that we have turned a corner to enable the whales to live and flourish again.
I’ll close with a prayer for hope and perseverance after Thomas Aquinas, with echoes of Benedict’s own prayer:
Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart,
which no unworthy thought can drag downwards;
an unconquered heart which no tribulation can wear out;
an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.
Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know thee,
diligence to seek thee, wisdom to find thee, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace thee;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
With blessings and best wishes,
The Very Revd Catherine Ogle
Dean of Winchester
Photo: Russell Sach ©