Visit from a bishop

The Ascension Sunday concluded in a fraternal way in our scholasticate this year, as our brand new bishop, Rev Mark Edwards OMI joined us for dinner and story sharing. We began with Vespers during which Bishop Mark blessed three volumes of Divine Office for Br Sayyane. In a few weeks when Br Sayyane is ordained a deacon it will be his privilege and duty to pray five times a day canonical hours prescribed for various times of the day and night to sanctify the time. The Divine Office, or Breviary as it is also called, is not a simple prayer book but it is Liturgy of the Church. Our Pope, bishops, priests and deacons pray those prayers not as their privet prayers but as the worship of the whole Church. It is worth remembering that the ministry of our clergy isn’t limited to their work we can observe, but in their presbyteries or religious houses, whether they are at home or travelling, they pray in the name of the Church and for the Church continually. We can be sure that this act of worship never cease. There is always somewhere in the world, a bishop, a priest or a deacon praying for those who toil for God’s glory. Before a bishop ordains a new deacon he asks the man to promise to pray the Divine Office daily for the rest of his life. If you attend ordination one day I would encourage you to pay attention to this promise made by a candidate to the priesthood. It is not a burden placed upon him but it is something you can rely on, that the ministers of the Church keep praying for you too. It is such a serious business that without that promise, to fulfil this prayer duty faithfully every day, one cannot be ordained.

Later after dinner Bishop Mark fed us with so many stories of his episcopate. He had just returned from his first Bishop Conference in the Shrine of St Mary MacKillop in Sydney and was so enthused by the great example of prayerfulness and commitment of our Australian Bishops. He told us that every session bishops held began with praying together the Divine Office. As I was listening I was trying to imagine this inspiring and supportive picture of the shepherds of our Church not only discussing urgent issues the Church is facing but praying for us. They had also Adorations of the Blessed Sacrament which I believe was like what we can read of in the Bible – the Apostles gathered around the Lord Jesus.