“Give me Bow, give me Bow”
A sermon to celebrate 150 years of religious life in Bow
by Fr Javier Ruiz-Ortiz
Today is the 40th day after Christmas: the day of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple, the day of the Purification of Our Lady. This is the also the Day in which the Church celebrates Consecrated life, that is, this is the day when we give thanks to God for those women and men who have decided to follow God in a path of obedience, poverty and chastity.
Many of us have benefited from the witness, care and dedication of consecrated people. I was taught in my primary school by the members of the Order of the Company of Mary our Lady. The ministry of the Verona Father (Comboni fathers) first planted the idea of missionary work in my heart. And I have fond memories. Perhaps you have too. Despite the bad press some orders have had in the past years and acknowledging that some members of those orders have fallen short of their vows, nonetheless today we gather to give thanks to God that He has inspired men and women to dedicate themselves to the service of God, his Church and society.
Particularly we come to say that this parish would not exist if at its beginnings and thereafter there would not have been the presence of consecrated women with vision. Back in 1865, archbishop Manning invited the Religious of Jesus and Mary to minister in the newly established school chapel of St Agnes in Devons Rd, not far from here. However due to ill health of the resident sisters and other priorities of the order, made them move. By that time, a new order, the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena, or the Stone sisters, as they were called came into the picture. They had founded a house in leafy Walthamstow but Mother Margaret Hallahan, their foundress, was not completely happy. She asked Manning for a “dirty place” and he took her to Bow. She later wrote: ““That is the place for us, it is really a place to save souls in. Walthamstow is too grand for us. We want poor children, not trees.” She spent hours in the chapel praying to Our Lady, “Give me Bow, give me Bow”…. And Bow was given to her. In 1867 the sisters began their mission at St Agnes, the following year the convent was opened next door to us and, through the inspiration, tenacity and prayers of the Dominican sisters, this building was constructed between July 1869 and November 1870. Unable to visit Bow, Mother Margaret prayed on 8th December 1868, a few months before her own death, “Dearest Mother, she said, if you’ll only make me well, I’ll build you a church at Bow, – such a beautiful church it shall be!”” she did not get well but this beautiful church was built. It is good to have with us today Sr Tamsin. In her we thank her order for all they did to establish our parish.
I thank also Jean Maynard, our historian, who is writing the parish history and who has provided me with the list you see on the front of the newsletter and has contacted the religious orders. As well as the once we have mentioned we have representatives of the Sisters of Marie Auxiliatrice (sr Eilish); sr. Camillus from the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary; Sr Bernadette from the sisters of Mercy and obviously the Columban sisters. Much of their work is hidden and known to them, God and those who have benefited from their visiting, kind words or listening ear.
If we stop and think, out of the 9 congregations, only one is still here. We come and go but faith remains. A faith which witnessed in so many ways. One also could say that there are less vocations. The question remains. Is God calling you to enter a life of consecration to him? What would you say if your son or daughter said 'I want to be a religious sister'; 'a monk' or 'a friar'? We are the ones who should promote vocations by speaking well of people like these women.
Finally today’s feast day is also called the feast of the Encounter. Our Lord comes to meet his people in the figures of Simeon and Anna. This is the core of our faith. God has come to meet us in Christ. Our mission is to mediate that encounter with others. This is our greatest vocation. In this mission we can follow the example given to us by the consecrated. A Christian shows him-herself in the way he/she meets the others and welcomes them. Also, in order to meet the others, we need to expect something or someone. In today’s gospel, Simeon and Anna were expecting salvation and met him in a young couple. What are we expecting? Jesus is coming to meet us in others, can we discover him? He, the light of the world is coming on to this altar, come and meet him.