Called to be a Sentinel
Words often spark off thoughts and images, associations and memories. At the wonderful 25th anniversary mass at Southwark Cathedral last Thursday, 12 September, Bishop Stephen Cottrell looked at different images of priesthood in the Ordinal and focused on the priest as sentinel. My first thoughts returned to the Old Testament with that picture of Ezekiel called by God to be a sentinel for the House of Israel (3.17) and the psalmist in psalm 130 waiting expectantly for the Lord, knowing that he will come in steadfast love and the power to redeem. From scripture to hymns - and those words of Charles Wesley, ‘Still let me guard the holy fire,’ for a sentinel is someone commissioned to be on duty as a guard.
In the Society of Catholic Priests we promise to follow a rule of life that is centred on that holy fire of word and sacrament, which is hallowed by history and tradition and all that ‘catholic’ means. But the priest as a sentinel is not simply guarding that heritage; the priest is alert to the present and called to make the heritage live for today. Charles Wesley’s hymn continues with the prayer to ‘still stir up the gift in me.’ In other words, to let that holy fire, that living heritage open our eyes now, move our lips and warm our hearts. Then we can serve the kingdom as we allow ourselves to be moved by the promptings of his Holy Spirit in the world – as we seek to make his kingdom a reality in the lives of all people.
In these ways, the sentinel, like the other powerful images in the Ordinal, is intimately linked to the life and ministry of our Lord. He venerated the past, that holy fire with its history and tradition in worship at synagogue and temple. But he also showed how that past could point out a new way in the present, bringing forgiveness and freedom, healing and wholeness in a kingdom where all are welcomed and all nourished.
We follow our Lord as sentinel as we guard the holy fire and open our lives to his Spirit in the church and the world. As a sentinel, we can then become sign and sacrament, offering good news which is not stone, but bread for his hungry people.
—Fr Michael Burgess, Rector SCP Chester Chapter