Ampleforth, 2 July 2011 (Abbot Cuthbert Madden OSB)
We have just listened to the sacred scriptures which Bishop Ambrose chose for his Funeral Mass. Let us take our lead, then, from the Word of God as we reflect on the life of our brother. In the letter to the Ephesians we heard the following words, ‘Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen’ (Eph 3.20-21). I did not know the young Ambrose. I began to know him better after he had retired as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. By this time, these words from Ephesians had become a key part of Ambrose’s vocabulary for God was at the centre of Ambrose’s life. Although we may analyse the situations in which we find ourselves; although we may plan for the future in accordance with what we perceive to be God’s commands; in the end all the growth, everything that happens as a result of our planning is in God’s hands and He will enable the flower to blossom and bear fruit as He sees fit. This is not to say that our analysis, our planning, is unnecessary or unimportant; but it is to acknowledge that when we place everything in God’s hands and allow him to work in us and in the other people with whom we share our ministry of service in the Body of Christ, the Church, the results often exceed our wildest dreams. Ambrose enjoyed analysis and planning but I think he took the words of Ephesians to heart and his absolute confidence in God’s power to change every circumstance to the good is a large part of the reason why he was a great optimist, a wonderful source of encouragement, a great man for thanking and appreciating people.
Bishop Ambrose, who was named Michael by his parents, was bright and curious boy with a passion for Science in which he excelled; it was no real surprise that in due course he went on to take a First in Natural Sciences at Balliol College. The possibility of a glittering career in Science was within his reach. But something else had been developing during his years at Oxford. His life of prayer had led him to consider whether it was possible that the Lord was calling him to the monastic life, and so, in 1950, he returned to the monastery where he received the habit from Abbot Herbert and was given the name Ambrose. It seems clear that his noviciate and period in temporary vows confirmed his call and in 1954 he made his Solemn Profession.
Ambrose was an able student and so Abbot Herbert sent him to Sant Anselmo to study Theology. When he returned to the Abbey after three years in Rome he was quickly appointed to the teaching staff of the school and was ordained deacon and then, in July 1957, priest. I have only heard stories about Ambrose’s life as young monk, but I imagine that he was an effective teacher with a knack for reducing the complex mass of human knowledge to a framework which focussed on essential data. I say this because at the end of his long and interesting life Ambrose presented me with a curriculum vitæ which occupied a single sheet of paper. This single page reveals the increasing confidence in his abilities which his superiors had. He taught his fellow monks Canon Law and Theology. He taught Chemistry and Woodwork in the College. He served as the Inspector of Accounts in the English Benedictine Congregation. He was a careful and fastidious Master of Ceremonies at a time when complex rubrics tended to defeat most ordinary monks and priests as they celebrated the liturgy. His considerable range of activities was suddenly focussed into a single, multifaceted task when he was appointed as Procurator, the monk in charge of all the temporalities of the abbey, in 1972 and it was from this post that he was elected to succeed Abbot Basil Hume was he was called to Westminster in 1976.
My personal knowledge of Abbot Ambrose began in 1982, towards the end of his term of office as Abbot. I came as a rather confused young doctor who wondered whether he might have a vocation to be a monk – but could not understand why this should be so. Ambrose quizzed me carefully – but then encouraged me to realise that it was not necessary to understand what God was about; the essential point was to discern whether one was being called and then to entrust one’s life into the hands of God. By the time I entered the community in September 1984 Ambrose had completed his term and was serving the community as the parish priest of Leyland. He was taken from that position in 1992 to become the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.
I rather think that the Gospel passage we heard gives us an insight into the priorities which Ambrose tried to establish as he served first his community, then the parish in Leyland, and finally in the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. Let us remind ourselves of what we have heard, ‘I pray not only for these, but for those also who through their words will believe in me. May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me’ (Jn 17.20-21).
This short passage yields two important insights. First of all there was Ambrose’s commitment to the Word of God in Scripture and to handing on that word. As baptised Christians, we are all called to listen to the Word of God in Scripture and to allow that Word to conform us to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. We are called to hand on this life-giving Word to our contemporaries in order that the world might believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. Ambrose was committed to the Apostolic task of handing on the Gospel of Our Lord and Saviour to all whom he met.
The Word of God in scripture is robbed of its voice if it has no effect in our lives. This passage in St John reminds us that we are called to be one: we, the members of the Body of Christ are called to be one with Christ our Head and one with each other. We are called to build unity in Christ. We are called to build unity wherever we are: unity within the family, unity within the monastic community, unity within our parishes. Sometimes, of course, human weakness, even human malice, undermines our work for unity – but our commitment to this God-given task must remain and must always be wholehearted. Ambrose was committed as monk, abbot, parish priest and bishop to this essential Christian task. Now we, whoever we may be, monk, priest or lay person, need to follow his example and be committed to the work of building unity in all its various dimensions; for the work of building the unity for which Christ prayed is never-ending.
The closing weeks of our brother’s life were a time of considerable blessing for those who gathered round him at this time. When it became clear that Ambrose had an aggressive form of Leukaemia, I urged him to speak very candidly with the medical staff and, as it were, take control of the last precious weeks. I imagined, and I do not think that I was alone, that it might be necessary to comfort and encourage him now that his death was growing closer. In fact it was Ambrose who encouraged me. As I reflect on this time I cannot help but wonder whether in fact these words from the letter to the Ephesians had become flesh in Ambrose, ‘Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, ... knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God’ (Eph 3.16-19). As his bodily strength failed Ambrose was at peace. When I saw him for the last time his one desire was to share with me with his complete confidence in God’s love for him and God’s love for me and indeed for the whole community.
Dear brothers and sisters, we already miss the earthly presence of our brother Ambrose – and that feeling will not depart from us quickly. But I invite you to take away from this Funeral Mass the parting gift which Ambrose has given us: the passages of the sacred scripture which he chose for this day. Take them home with you and make them your own so that each one of us may find the consolation and hope for the future which is being offered to us. Ambrose, I think, has left us an unmistakeable message: “Do not be afraid. Trust wholeheartedly in God, in his providence and in his gifts. Do not be afraid of what the future seems to hold, of the dark clouds on the horizon or even the dark clouds close at hand. Trust always in God. His power to bring good out of evil, good out of difficulties, good out of every situation we encounter, exceeds everything we fear.”