1 Sweet Sacrament divine,

hid in thine earthly home,

lo, round thy lowly shrine,

with suppliant hearts we come;

Jesus, to thee our voice we raise

in songs of love and heartfelt praise:

sweet Sacrament divine.

2 Sweet Sacrament of peace,

dear home for every heart,

where restless yearnings cease

and sorrows all depart;

there in thine ear all trustfully

we tell our tale of misery:

sweet Sacrament of peace.

3 Sweet Sacrament of rest,

ark from the ocean’s roar,

within thy shelter blest

soon may we reach the shore;

save us, for still the tempest raves,

save, lest we sink beneath the waves:

sweet Sacrament of rest.

4 Sweet Sacrament divine,

earth’s light and jubilee,

in thy far depths doth shine

thy Godhead’s majesty;

sweet light, so shine on us, we pray,

that earthly joys may fade away:

sweet Sacrament divine.

Francis Stanfield

Sweet Sacrament Divine

Sweet Sacrament of Peace

Sweet Sacrament of Rest

Dear Father Steven,

we wish you these things.

Sweet sacrament divine is of course one of the favourite hymns of Anglican Catholics.

It places at the heart of our lives the holy sacrament of the Mass which we are celebrating here today and which has been at the heart, the centre of your life. That has been the deep place from which you have drunk and fed so often.

We are here not to say farewell, because you will be part of the life of this diocese, we pray, for many years to come, but thank you. 

Eucharist, of course, means precisely that, thank you.

And we pray for you every possible blessing of this great hymn.

First and foremost the divine.

As you share your retirement with Christopher and care for each other we pray for you, as for all retired people, a letting go into God.

A deepening of your relationship with each other and a deepening of your participation in the life of the Trinity. We wish you everything that is divine; meals together; time together; the phone not ringing and emails not coming in.

We pray for you time for your prayer, for holy reading.

There is in Hinduism a great tradition of four stages of life of which the last is the sannyasi, the renunciant. 

It is hard to retire. 

It is hard to let go. 

And when the demands of parishes for retired clergy to help out is so strong it is hard to resist. 

But I pray for you Father, the gift of saying no. 

The gift of giving time for what is truly important, this deepening of your relationship with God, the strengthening of the divine.

I have been in the Church in Wales for barely 8 months, but I have been a friend of many here and a visitor for most of my adult life. 

If I dare offer a note on what is lacking it is is good Spiritual Direction.

It is so easy for priests to lose this in our lives. 

To be too busy. 

For a Spiritual Director to die, or move away and no alternative to be found.

Dear Father Steven, you are a gifted priest. If you find no time for anything else, this Church in Wales, the priests of this diocese need that wisdom. The most powerful way of offering that is to be a Spiritual Director to them. 

We ordained wonderful people to ministry in this cathedral last weekend. Those people need accompaniment. 

Your ministry to them in the journey as a soul friend will transform the church.

Sweet Sacrament of Peace.

Perhaps the world feels the least peaceful it has ever felt in my lifetime.

We are anxious people in anxious times.

Dear Father, the second gift I pray for you and that you may share with the church in this diocese is peace.

Like every human being you will have made mistakes.

 You will have done things in your ministry that you wish you had not done and that you regret doing.

Be at peace.

In our times we find it hard to recognise that acknowledging that we are sinners is the most liberating thing that we can do.

We find it hard to recognise that knowing we are sinners is the beginning of wisdom, because we don’t have to do it for ourselves. 

In God, Jesus does it for us.

Dear Father, in the sacrament of reconciliation, in making our Confessions, we are set free.

 The world needs that freedom so much. 

Day by day in this church as I meet our visitors, our tourists and pilgrims they are hungry for this freedom.

Your ministry as a confessor would be a gift to the church in this diocese.

Your wisdom, your experience, your knowledge of your own sinfulness is a gift we need to receive.

Finally, Sweet Sacrament of Rest.

Dear Father. Please be a model of restfulness to us.

These are anxious times, 

we are all pulled in so many directions. 

We are called to so many things.

 We could all attend so many meetings so many events.

But God at the very beginning of creation shows us the model we are called to follow. 

A whole day of rest every week. 

One seventh of our time being at rest.

My prayer for you Father, and for all our clergy in their retirement is most of all rest. That shalom, that peace which is God’s desire for us, for you.

Divine

Peace 

Rest

But let’s not forget that this beautiful hymn is also about sweetness.

Sweet sacrament.

Dear Father, we pray for you and Christopher much sweetness in your retirement. 

The sweetness that is knowing Jesus, 

the sweetness that is being as you are and have been a faithful priest, 

the sweetness that is divine, 

that is being at peace, that is a sabbath rest.

I will end with a poem of Fr Andrew one of the early Anglican Franciscans:

A Prayer of Silent Love

To rest a tired Head upon Thy Heart,

And to be still —

To come to Thee from the whole world apart

And learn Thy will —

And in that will, because it is Thy will, to live and die,

Knowing Thy love and will are one eternally.

That be my way of prayer —-

That bring me where Thou art —

Heaven is there.

Fr Andrew SDC

What a joy it is dear Father, to say thank you to you today and to do that in this Holy Eucharist:

Sweet sacrament divine.