St Philip Howard - Homily by Father Kieron O'Brien
Father Kieron delivered this homily at the Saturday vigil Mass, celebrated at Christ Church, (during St Richard's alterations) to mark St Philip Howard's feast day
"If saints are supposed to be our heroes and a local saint, a local hero, then at first sight Philip Howard comes with some interesting credentials: Born with something of a silver spoon in his mouth, an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen to his Father’s stepdaughter, and an extravagant career at the court of Queen Elizabeth where money flowed like water and the young Philip played away from home neglecting his wife – not much evidence of conventional sainthood there! But perhaps it is the sheer humanity of Philip Howard which makes him attractive and relevant for us today – the fact that he wasn’t always perfect and he knew it! The Saint’s wayward youth makes the story of his conversion and eventual martyrdom all the more remarkable and compelling.
His conversion consisted in so much more than becoming a Catholic in his personal pursuit of truth (a huge undertaking in its own right) – he underwent a complete conversion of life which involved a reconciliation with his ever faithful, patient and saintly wife, the discovery and nurturing of a life of prayer and a daily devotion to the Eucharist. Of course, in the eyes of the crown all of this also conspired to mean that he had been converted from an attractive courtier enjoying favour from the highest levels…. To a traitor. He spent the last ten years of his life incarcerated in the Tower of London, deprived of the presence of his wife and family, but not of their love and prayers. Even his death was un-hero like; no flamboyant public execution, rather, his young life simply ebbed away at the age of thirty-eight as the mental and physical regime of imprisonment slowly but surely took its final toll. One word of acquiescence could have prevented this, but Philip chose to remain faithful. It is Philip’s fidelity to the truth, once discovered that we celebrate today. In today’s feast we recognise that conversion can be so complete that we are willing to give our lives for the truth of Jesus Christ. We do not own the truth, nor do we have a monopoly on it but as St. Paul says" we are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure – the power comes from God, not from us". All of us are still in the process of being converted, of growing more and more into the life of Christ ; that also means that we have to take the knocks and the growing pains as they come – carrying the life of Christ means being close to his cross and his death as well. Our trials may seem trivial and unspectacular compared with the story of Philip Howard but they are nonetheless real and valid as together we struggle to live our lives as Catholic Christians in an increasingly apathetic and secular society. I recently learned that the Christian Care Association has changed its name to Stonepillow. This was described to me as a marketing tactic – as though, dropping the word Christian from the title would somehow make the organisation more attractive to potential donors. It seems to me like the triumph of pragmatism over prophecy. Clearly the secular agenda in our own times brings with it a more subtle and less in-your-face kind of persecution – more of a general dumbing-down of all the values we thought we held in common with our fellow citizens. The more alarming aspects of the Human Fertilization and embryology Bill are another example of this. Our task is to use the challenges of our own time as opportunities for conversion and growth – and this happens on three levels: the personal, the community, and the ecumenical. There is no contradiction between honouring martyrs like Philip Howard and seeking to do the truth in love with all other Christians : there can only be one truth, this is all part of our conversion. |
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(It is no mere irony but a measure of our collective conversion, that we are able to celebrate mass in Christ Church - this protestant church tonight!)
Today is all about celebrating the triumph of faith over adversity and the power of prayer and human love in the most traumatic of circumstances. We need our heroes, however unlikely, we also need to believe that we are all called to be saints, we all hold the same treasure in our unworthy earthenware jars – we may be having difficulties, but never cornered, we have problems but never despair, we are knocked down, but never killed – this is the way of conversion. Conversion may have different starting points, but it always has the same goal – it starts from where God finds us and its goal is always the fullness of life and love in Christ. It is this goal which kept Philip Howard faithful, it is the same goal which will keep us on the path to sainthood, not because of what we can do, but because of what God can do in us."
