Text: Fr Dominic Robinson SJ at ACN Benefactors Mass

Image: ICN/JS

Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, gave this homily at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street on the Feast of the Sacred Heart and Aid to the Church in Need Benefactors' Day.

A crisis of faith. Many people talk about this. I certainly notice it in our culture. But what does it really mean? People say we're lucky not to be persecuted for our faith in Britain - our faith is tolerated, even respected in a multicultural society - but what is it that is tolerated and respected? Our being allowed to enter as church, to worship, to pray? Our freedom to express Christian and Catholic values and teachings? Or is it more? For me at the heart of faith is a God whose kingdom is one of justice. This involves fighting for it, for reconciliation between peoples, and it involves standing up against governments, cultures, ways in which faith is actually undermined.

Nearer to home this is for me expressed in what we are called to say and do for those who are on the margins in our own society. And this evening as we thank you, benefactors and supporters of Aid to the Church in Need, it brings into close relief those who are persecuted unjustly simply because of their faith, seen in those countries as contrary to the prevailing culture and the laws which enshrine it. This is the heart of the crisis of faith and why we fight for it. This is why we have presented a petition to bring to justice those who were massacred in Owo, Nigeria, at Pentecost 2022. This is why we fight for those condemned under the blasphemy laws in Pakistan. This is why next Tuesday I'll be with a delegation at the Indian High Commission pleading for justice for faith under attack. For justice for those who allowed Fr Stan Swamy to die in prison. This is why we continue to pray for those kidnapped in the Middle East, even though they may be dead. We do it because we are people of faith. Faith involves justice at its heart. And we must fight for it.

This evening, though, is also a celebration and an occasion to thank you for all you do and give as benefactors. So let's look back and spend time also thanking God for the huge contribution made by you, our benefactors. You are the pillars of our organisation whose generosity allows us to proclaim the message of hope we are called to convey to our world through our communion with the persecuted Church So thank you for all you give, all you do, from all of us at ACN.

And today's Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus gives us a lead in reflecting on this. We are all called to spread the passionate love of Christ for all people as a pastoral organisation at the heart of the Church. Last year's message from Aid to the Church in Need International spoke of the benefactors as the "hidden heart" and the "driving engine" of ACN's pastoral mission and activity. "The benefactors of ACN, in their help to the needy and the poor, imitate the love of the Heart of Jesus", it said, "which conquered evil in the world and gives us eternal life. Probably the earliest biblical depiction of the Heart of Jesus is Christ as the Good Shepherd. He seeks out every single sheep and cares for it. He lifts it on His shoulders and presses it to His heart. This is also the basis of the pastoral character of ACN's projects. Through His most Sacred Heart, Jesus reveals to us the mystery of God's goodness to all people. From Him we learn to meet our fellow human beings with His mercy and to see Jesus Himself in them. He holds every human being so intimately in His heart that He could say, "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." (Mt 25:40). Works of mercy unite us most deeply with the heart of Jesus. Mercy - Misericordia means to have a heart for the suffering, the needy, the weak and the injured. That is why we want to thank God especially on the Feast of the Sacred Heart for the generosity of our benefactors and pray with our project partners for them, their families and their intentions".

So thank you so much for giving us hope. For continuing to support us even at this difficult time in so many ways, not least financially. But finance, however generous we can be, is not at the heart of things. It is hope we need above all. This is what Pope Francis is calling us to in his encyclical letters Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si'. At a time of transition called to rebuild in hope together, recognising our need for community, our interdependency as the human race, and our place on this fragile planet. A time of new beginnings, of new hope, when we turn our hearts and minds towards our brothers and sisters and reach out to them in fraternity. When we trust anew that God does have a plan for our world, as he has since the beginning, and, as St John Henry Newman puts it, a plan for each one of us to have a specific vocation as part of that plan.

Happy Benefactors' Day. Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And thank you for all you do once again and may God bless you and reward you now and always.

LINKS

ACN Benefactors' Day: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/47409

Aid to the Church in Need: www.acnuk.org