Bishop Adams was invited to celebrate the midday choral Mass at Westminster Cathedral on the Fifth Sunday of Easter during a visit to the United Kingdom to attend a pair of leadership conferences.

His homily touched on natural theology, beauty, transcendence and a sacramental worldview.

Human beings are “ordered to point towards God, to go beyond our earthly restraints. We are made, we have an inbuilt appetite, we possess a desire to look beyond the here and now”, the bishop said. But human tragedies occur, giving rise to questions about goodness and God, he noted.

Bishop Adams talked about an encounter from his time as a young priest. He was asked to speak with a woman had been diagnosed with inoperable, aggressive ovarian cancer and had only weeks to live.

This woman had worked hard and was about to retire and enjoy life with her husband, visiting children and grandchildren.

“. . . [S]he asked me if the God that I professed was so good and loving, why had her project of life apparently been in vain? Why was her life about to be cut short before her earthly goals could begin to be fulfilled?

“As people of faith here this afternoon, let’s face it, none of us are inoculated from that type of human tragedy,” Bishop Adams said at the cathedral.

“But surely one answer to this important question turns us back to our Gospel today. Yes, the journey of life is good, but that goodness might only become clear if we understand that the journey of life extends beyond this world.”

The woman died three weeks after first meeting then-Fr Adams, holding the priest’s hand. Many times they had read John 14:1-6 about there being many rooms in the Father’s house – the Gospel reading on the day Bishop Adams was preaching at Westminster Cathedral.

Bishop Adams said the woman, a “deeply good person”, came to trust in those words, and “God-willing, was about to begin the journey for the room prepared for her”.

Earlier in the homily, Bishop Adams reminded the congregation of Jesus’ words not to let hearts be troubled because “even at this moment a room is being prepared for you and for me in the Father’s house, and there will be a moment at the end of our lives when the Lord will come looking for us to take us to that room”.

Reflecting on celebrating Mass in the historic building, Bishop Adams said he had lived in London as a young man and had often attended Mass at Westminster Cathedral. He described his return as a bishop celebrant as “an emotional moment”.

The bishop said he was able to greet many Kiwis after the Mass, including those in London for the leadership conferences, as well as expat Kiwis.

“It was a wonderful occasion in my own priestly journey and I was very grateful for the opportunity.”

After the Mass, Bishop Adams and cathedral staff discussed initiatives in the Church in New Zealand and the strong pastoral programmes that are part of the life of Westminster Cathedral.

Source: CathNewsNZ