Homily for the Silver Jubilee of Monastic Profession of Br Daneil Morphy OSB

Today we thank the Lord and Br Daniel for his 25 years of monastic profession. 25 years is a third of a life, normally speaking; not a small amount. Br Daniel, led by the Holy Spirit, made his way, years back, into the household of the faith, becoming a Catholic, and travelling on came to this house of God, here in Moray. This is “beyond weird”, said one of his friends! He came from an unusual upbringing and schooling and with unusual gifts, his family always supportive, and in his faith and monastic life he has found a good place to be. What a steady and dependable member of the community he has become! Always true to himself, a man of integrity, growing over the years in the affection, trust and respect of his brethren. He has become what St Benedict calls a “useful brother”, part of the fabric, the Lord working with him, a treasured part of God’s dwelling place in the Spirit. Br Daniel is a “brick” in every sense. It’s good to have him as a brother.

The Gospel of John delights to trace the journey towards faith in Jesus. So it is with the first disciples called in ch. 1 near the River Jordan. “Lord, where do you live?” “Come and see”. And the Beloved Disciple, Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathaniel do. They come, they see, they believe. And so with other characters in the story: Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, Martha and Mary when their brother dies, Mary Magdalene in the garden. Many refuse to believe, but others do. And perhaps of all these accounts, that of the Apostle Thomas is the most vivid. Where was he that first Easter Sunday evening? Closed up in shock and grief perhaps, wounded by the wounds of Christ. But a week later, when he does meet the Lord, when he experiences Jesus’ intimate knowledge of him, he “reacts with the most splendid profession of faith in the whole of the New Testament” (Benedict XVI). He sees, he touches the wounds, and exclaims, “My Lord and my God.” It’s the finest goal anyone in the Gospel scores. It’s a bull’s eye. “My Lord and my God.”  Faith and love in one: “my” Lord, “my” God, he says. The Evangelist wants every hearer of his Gospel to echo that same profession and so find life. It is beautiful that in Ireland this is used as an acclamation at the eucharistic elevation.

What is the monastic life if not love of Christ? The life, we can say, “befits those who count nothing dearer to themselves than Christ” (RB 5). And how can there be, how can Christ claim, such a paramount, preferential love, how can he be so dear, unless he be our Lord and our God, wounded and risen? How else can we say, with heart and life, “Suscipe me, Domine”, “Receive me, O Lord”? The profession of vows is a profession of love and the profession of love rests on the profession of faith.

“Blessed are those”, the Lord goes on, “who have not seen and yet believe”. And so history opens up, the history of the Church, of the saints, of so many men and women who have made the Johannine journey of faith.

It so fell out that Br Daniel made his first profession in the year 2000. This was the year of the great Jubilee, the year that Pope St John Paul II wanted to be a profession of faith and love in the Incarnation, a profession by the whole Church for the whole of humanity, a hymn to the foundational truth of God so loving us that in the person of his Son born of Mary he became one of us, and in him has adopted us as his children. And, to say it again, the monastic life is founded on this, flows from this, flowers from this, turns it into a humble way of life. It’s born from the divinity of Christ. And there 25 years ago – here’s a pardonable exaggeration – was Br Daniel Morphy leading the whole Church into the third millennium with his Suscipe. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”.

Glory to God, here he is in another Jubilee year, 25 years on. And this year happens to be the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. This is the Council that, in May 325, through its 318 Fathers, echoed St Thomas’ profession of faith in its own words, proclaiming Jesus: light from light, true God from true God, begotten not created, consubstantial with the Father.

The Nicene Creed was and is an act of faith and love – like the monastic life. It was and is praise of the Trinity – like the monastic life (the Gloria crowns the Suscipe). It’s an affirmation of our sonship in Christ – like the monastic life. No coincidence that St Athanasius, its champion, was the biographer of the pioneer monk St Anthony. No coincidence the Council’s appearance coincided with that of the monastic life. Who can name a single Arian monastery?

How proclaim – really proclaim – St Thomas’ faith, the Nicene faith, today? It’s a question being asked. St Thomas, it’s credibly believed, went to India and founded a Christian community still alive today. St Athanasius, as we know, suffered and wrote. Both illustrate faith working through love. Br Daniell headed north and has rooted himself in a quiet Scottish glen. Singing Psalms, reading Scripture and much else, painting and carving, cooking and gardening, putting up with himself and his brethren, offering counsel, monking around under a flower-pot hat. It’s faith and love too. It’s praise. It’s proclaiming the Nicene faith. It’s Christ among us.

Good on you, Br Daniel. You’re the real thing. Keep going. Keep holding Christ dearer. And how beautiful it would be if, this year on, the monastic life would flower again, here and everywhere. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”. Let them come forward!

Pluscarden Abbey, 3 July 2025

     

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