THE
P RTAL
Rome and Assisi Supplement
Page ii
Homily
Preached by Archbishop Gerhard Müller
at Saint Peter’s, Rome on Thursday 28th February, 2013
My brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a great pleasure to be present with you during your pilgrimage
to the tomb of the apostle Peter. It is always a great joy to be in this place, which is a sign for us of the communion
we share with our Holy Father, and also a reminder of the apostolic mission in which we collaborate with him
as fellow workers in the vineyard.
great project of Christian unity
I know, too, that it is a particular joy for those of you
who have travelled the journey into that communion
from the Anglican tradition as part of this great project
of Christian unity which our Holy Father has begun.
You will receive much reward for your courage, and
for your fidelity to the pursuit of truth. You bring a rich
patrimony and heritage, which does not only nourish
your own faith, but is a ‘treasure to be shared’ with the
whole Church (cf. Anglicanorum coetibus III).
recall your own pilgrimage
into full communion
Together, united in that bond of communion,
the Church now journeys through the season of
Lent, toward the passion, death, and resurrection of
our blessed Lord. This pilgrimage has a particular
poignancy for you, as you recall your own pilgrimage
into full communion during this season in recent
years. The trust with which you set out to fulfil that call
to unity, is a reminder for us all to trust in the Lord’s
providence, because in doing so we open our hearts
not to our own will, but to the will of the Lord himself.
We ‘put out into the deep’, in faith, and in complete
trust of God (cf. Luke 5:4).
Mgr Jeffrey Steenson, Abp Gerhard Müller & Mgr Keith Newton
we will not simply survive, but flourish and become
beacons of hope, drawing others into a profound and
intimate relationship with him.
trust in the Lord
In these early moments in the life of the Personal
Ordinariates, such faith is no luxury! You are forced to
trust in the Lord because you have placed yourselves
so utterly and courageously into his hands. This is a
powerful witness to us all, but also a particular moment
of grace for you. With your patron, the Blessed John
Henry Newman, ‘do not ask to see / The distant
scene’, but rather allow that trust to manifest itself in
seek to be faithful
your prayer, in your charity, and in your fervour for
In the First Reading, from the prophecy of Jeremiah, the Gospel. Be joyful in the knowledge that ‘He who
those who trust in the Lord are compared to ‘a tree calls you is faithful’ (1 Thess. 5:24), because it is that
planted by water [that] does not cease to bear fruit’ joy which will draw others into a deeper and more
(Jer. 17: 8). This is an essential message for you who profound relationship with us, and with the Lord.
now have the task of establishing and growing the
Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and Mary shows us way
indeed for all of us who seek to be faithful to the call of
And if we seek the perfect model of Christian joy,
the Lord. We are assured that our fidelity to the Lord then Mary shows us way: she, who bore God himself
will never leave us stranded nor alone, rather, that in her womb and rejoiced in trusting obedience to his
faith is the very thing that gives us life. If we place our will, giving herself entirely over to him. As she was
trust fully in the Lord, then, like Mary, Our Lady of filled with a deep joy, through her intercession may
Walsingham, we will see the fulfilment of that trust in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
the eternal life promised to us: the Promised Land of become a place where the joy of Christ himself may be
heaven toward which we journey from the moment of found - a Holy House in which all who seek the Lord
our baptism. Indeed, if we place our trust in the Lord may find him.