On Sunday, 3rd. September, I took part in the Eucharist which celebrated ten years of the ministry of women priests in the Church of Ireland. The service was held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin; and with me was Joan Tracey, BASIC's Vice-chairperson.
This is not an account of the celebration - how moving and deeply right it was to hear women's voices proclaim the Gospel and speak the words of institution; to receive the Body and Blood from women's hands; and to see women and men minister side by side, sharing in the one ordained ministry.
No, this is just the account of a grace which I received during the service - and which, with gratitude, I want to share with all those who labour in faith for the ordination of women: a powerful word of encouragement.
One of the Prayers of the Faithful was:
We also pray for women who long to serve you in the ordained ministry, but for whom it is impossible...As this prayer was being read, I "heard" an inner voice stating with the utmost conviction:
WITH GOD, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!So much so, that it stopped me from joining in the prayer: I could not utter the word "impossible"!
WITH GOD, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! The words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary of Nazareth when she queried how the seemingly impossible would happen.
The very words which I "heard" in 1990 when my own calling to the ordained priesthood "came back" so urgently.
The very words which sustain countless women's vocations throughout the world - in their dark and painful times of rejection by Church authorities. We have dared to say YES to God, because we trust in God's promise.
On 16th. October, I shall celebrate with joyful gratitude ten years of ordination "by desire" (if one can receive Baptism "by desire", why not ordination?!!!): God's powerful, gracious and passionate Desire and mine - a very small echo of God's.
Indeed, WITH GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. Let us trust the Angel: the best has yet to come. So let us lift up our hearts and our voices: THE LORD IS NEAR! Very near, in this Jubilee Year.