…what more can I do? What little things can I do, which will help with the community to express the love of God out there…
Good morning, everybody. My name is David Camp and my wife’s name is Nabila. I have a son called Awaid, and normally we would be at a quite a small Church in Southall, it’s been a long journey and I finally found my way into this wonderful Church. And this is all thanks to Father Matthew for giving me this chance to come and talk to you good people.
And I just like to start by just telling you a little bit about my my journey as an Ordinand, because after all, that’s what my calling has become, it didn’t start out like that. It certainly progressed. And when I eventually accepted that this is what God wanted me to do, it was a process, and it took time. In fact, three years of discerning through many meetings with my diocesan director. Was I the right person for training?
Was this really my calling? Or was it somewhere else that the Lord was calling me to? Was this some other purpose that he wanted for me? And I always look back on it as a time before I was accepted into training as a time of reflection. And just, I was on in so many people sitting in a congregation as part of the body, the Church just trying to see it, just enjoying life a little bit, just sitting in the Church and listening to others prayer and preach, singing with the music and enjoying the fellowship of others.
But it became more than that.
And then the calling became stronger and stronger. Where else am I needed? What else do I need to do? And so after a lot of meetings, as I said in a lot of contemplation and testing, I came to my first assessment panel, which is made up of four priests selected by the Bishop to test me to see just what kind of metal I had, what sort of person I am. Have I understood the Gospel right?
What am I doing? What is he doing that reflects the person we would like to have as a priest. And that went rather well, at the time I thought it didn’t go particularly well, but I was told afterwards that it went rather well, which was a big relief. So the final day came and it was the turn of the bishops assessment, which was a much anticipated affair for me, because it was the biggest thing, it was a Bishop, after all, having just been sitting in the pews and listening to other, this was this was indeed a big time for me, a time of fulfilment for me in fact. Was it that I was going forward or not? Had I understood my calling or not? And the Bishop said these words to me, he said, Well, the hard work has already been done.
I was relieved. But then he went on to say by the assessment panel, so at which point I was a little bit crestfallen. I didn’t know what was coming next. But he did say to me that Congratulations. He said they had said you’re the right person we’re looking for. We need you to go into training. I’m happy to tell you you’ve been accepted into training as an ordinand. And a very curious thing happened at that point. It was like a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I began to relax.
I began to relax too much. And it came to a point where after I begun more training two modules, two assignments were due on the same week. And I’d relaxed to such a point that I had completely sort of gone, started to just coast if you like. And then it’s rather I think that we do. We tend to cost, after a while.
We come to Church, we listen to the prayers, we go through the motions, and we love being here. But that’s the beginning of the journey. That’s the beginning. And for me, that was the beginning. And my tutor told me that because I was concerned, I had got that feeling.
I was coasting along in it, and I was really worried that I had running out of time to fill this work and do itt. He said, no, no, it’s quite natural. When you’ve been working hard for a long period of time or you’ve been attentive for a long period of time, you get a period where you drop off slightly and the slight little bit of lethargy sets in and you become complacent. And I think that’s true, certainly, of our reading this morning with the rich young man, he goes to Jesus and tells him on one need good teacher.
What do I need to do to inherit Salvation? And Jesus says to him, Why do you call me good? That’s an amazing statement? Only God is good. And I think that’s the point that that’s the whole point of it. We think that we are okay and everything is going along nicely.
Only God is good. And we looked at this young man and we see that, you know, he’s saying that he kept the Commandments and he’s on all that’s required of him, except for one thing, go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor. To me. This is Jesus in absolute top form, teaching mode. There is a big picture.
There he is teaching it’s a big picture about giving, giving of time, giving of yourself, giving of the things you have. The young man was content with telling Jesus that he kept all the Commandments. Clearly, if he had kept all the Commandments, there would be no room for the growth that Jesus was telling. It needed to happen. And that, I think, is where we are sometimes. We need to continue to realise that we need to grow.
We need to do more because complacency sets in. It is a natural human thing. I do it all the time. And so we need to start thinking in the same way Father Matthew says every morning and when we do the prayers and when we do the he tells us the notices what’s going on in the Parish. Those are little reminders for us that these are the things which are going on that we need to be involved in.
And for myself, sometimes they really do touch home, and particularly with our Rosary mission. I fully intend to get on board with it and help out as much as I can. And I hope that that’s something that we can all do as well. But it is also about looking at what’s needed in our Church. It is a call.
It reminds us of the things that we need to do here, like helping with the teas and the coffees and everything else. I do know we’ve got people here who work very hard in our community and in our Church, but there are always very kindly I’d like to say, you know, please try and get on board with these things. Jesus was very gently he didn’t chastise when he told the young man it was very much a case of, you know, you’ve done all these things, that’s great. But there’s still this bit more that needs to be done.
And I think as we go away from here today, that’s something I’d like us to think about. Just what more can I do? What little things can I do, which will help with the community to express the love of God out there and certainly helping with the Rosary mission, helping and doing the teas and the coffees and cleaning at the Church, I know there are both here to do cleaning at the Church, but anybody who’s got any spare time, please come and ask the Father Matthew or myself. Hopefully, Father Mathew Casinos far more about it than I do. What else can I do? And I just like to to leave you with that. Amen.
Thank you.