Cardinal K. P. O’Brien speaks at the end of the Funeral Mass for Br. Stephen.
Thank you, members of the community, and each and every one of you gathered here together.
I am only too happy to say these few words today. And observing, as did the Abbot, I have to keep the Liturgical Rules. Having the Abbot on one side and the Prior behind me, I am also reminded by the promise of the buffet not to be too long. That is also basic to good Liturgy.
It is a privilege to be here, and I am wearing the one mitre and also the little zucchetto. The mitre is a reminder of my responsibilities as Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, and speaking on behalf of the Archdiocese and indeed the whole of Scotland, and of many from the North of England as well, I am thanking the Cistercian monks most sincerely for the valuable apostolate all during that period from shortly after the ending of the Second World War in 1946.
And wearing the little zucchetto, I notice that some of the monks are wearing tasteful little black woolly ones too. But speaking, so to speak, as an external brother of the Cistercian community at Nunraw I just want to thank them all, and to thank Br. Stephen, for all they have taught me as an individual and for all he and the brothers have taught so many in Scotland and from further afield - all that they have taught by their way of life.
I have now passed my Golden Jubilee, my Golden Jubilee of my association with Nunraw Abbey, coming here as a young student as many did then, availing of the hospitality of the monks at the Workcamp and learning something about the monastic life.
In those days there were what we would call the working monks in their brown habits and the praying monks in white. I know that is not a very good distinction. Each and every monk works, and each and every monk prays but the working monks were symbolized for us by people like Br. Kentigern, driving that lorry and going to the quarry day by day by day, bringing the stones from which these very walls were built. And you 
might say three Musketeers in those days were Fr. Felim and Br. Ninian (and Kentigern). They not only set an example of hard physical graft but ensured that we took part in that hard physical graft as well, along with other lay Musketeers such as Willie Tear, and Seamus Short and various ladies in the Workcamp as well.
We think of those monks, those brown habited monks who did so much to form me and so many others
And then the praying monks; they are Musketeers as well – we did not know much about what went on within the walls of the guesthouse, the old monastery then, and consequently, Raymond, we were delighted to get that little peak into what goes on here up to the present time. All now united in the one family, one habit, one desire as monks together getting closer to Jesus Christ. Prayer and work, working and praying and still giving that tremendous example to those of us not within the walls of this abbey here at Nunraw. Whether it is Br. Kentigern or Br. Stephen, whatever the particular vocation within the walls of this monastery of Sancta Maria Abbey
Brothers, it is a tremendous privilege still to have you here in our Archdiocese, in our country, within these islands, a great, a great privilege.
And for me and for so many of us coming to places like this, coming HOME to Nunraw we prepare to give one of our brothers, Br. Stephen, HOME to the Lord.
As Abbot Raymond reminded us so beautifully, his life was one long prayer of the Gospels, of the Bible, of the Holy Rule – one long prayer.
And although physically it must have been hard for him in this last year and indeed years, but, please God, spiritually easy to move from this form of life here in Nunraw to the eternal vision God for ever in heaven.
And for all of us, linked with Nunraw in whatever way, whether as Cardinal Archbishop, or former camp worker, or one of the neighbours, may Br. Stephen’s example, and the ongoing example of all the Musketeers at Nunraw help each and every one of us, on our own journeys, HOME on the same journey to that beatific vision.
It was a privilege and honour to be present at the Requiem Mass and Internment of Br. Stephen. The prayerful atmosphere in the Church was an awesome experience and the words of the Abbot and the Cardinal encouraging and uplifting. Although we can be assured that Br. Stephen is now with his Lord singing his unending praises he will be sorely missed by those who had experienced his simplistic holiness and understanding. The words of the following hymn total express my prayer for Br. Stephen
ReplyDeleteGo, silent friend, your life has found its ending;
to dust returns your weary mortal frame.
God, who before birth called you into being,
now calls you hence, his accent still the same.
Go, silent friend, your life in Christ is buried;
for you he lived and died and rose again.
Close by his side your promised place is waiting
where, fully known, you shall with God remain.
Go, silent friend, forgive us if we grieved you;
safe now in heaven, kindly say our name.
Your life has touched us, that is why we mourn you;
our lives without you cannot be the same.
Go, silent friend, we do not grudge you glory;
sing, sing with joy deep praises to your Lord.
You, who believed that Christ would come back for you,
now celebrate that Jesus keeps his word.