Abbot Hugh Allan, O.Praem.

Apostolic Administrator of the Falkland Islands and Superior of the Ecclesiastical Mission to St. Helena, Tristan Da Cunha and Ascension Island

Pastoral Letter for the First Sunday of Advent 2020

 Dear friends in Christ, 

Over the last year, we have seen some amazing acts of kindness and generosity. I can easily tell of many examples in the life of the parishes my community looks after in the UK. Not just amongst parishioners, but also in our schools and hospitals. 

During April, May and June I attended the sick and dying every day on the covid 19 ward in our local hospital. It was an intense and dramatic time. It was a privilege to be able to comfort the dying and be with them, especially when their families could not. I saw so many acts of generosity and love on the part of the nursing staff. 

One of the most remarkable moments was a recent visit to a dying mother on the covid ward. Sadly, her two children are vulnerable to the virus and were not allowed on the hospital ward. The nurses arranged for her bed to be moved to a room with a window overlooking the car park. Her two children could see her from there and one of the nurses had them on the telephone whilst I said the prayers and gave their mother the last rites. It was a beautiful act of tender goodness on the part of the ward staff and I was so impressed by their generosity and thoughtfulness. 

I have seen so many acts of real kindness and heroism. However, as much as there has been so much good, I have also seen other incidents of cruelty and hate. This difficult year has seen a dramatic rise in domestic abuse in the UK and it has been heart-breaking to see people suffering and paralysed by fear. We know that a lot in the last year has been beyond our control, but not how we have responded to it. That is what makes the difference between kindness and selfishness. 

St Augustine told us that God made us to make the times, not the times to make us. We are the subjects of history, not its objects. Unless we make the times better with the light of Jesus Christ, then the times will make us worse with their darkness. To do this, we need to live the virtue of hope. 

Hope is perhaps the forgotten virtue of our time. Although we live in an era of considerable technological and scientific achievements, it is also an age of diminished hope or, more accurately, misdirected hope, as we constantly replace the virtue of hope with flimsy substitutes that cannot possibly give us what our souls ultimately need. 

Perhaps what threatens hope even more today are not the great tragedies and calamities we have seen this year, but the soft subtle despair that can creep into our lives and rob us of the exalted good God wants for us. The problem is not that we hope for too much, but that we have learned to settle for so little. We have caused the horizons of hope to shrink. We have lost sight of hope’s transcendent dimension because we have forgotten the incomparable promise to which hope always beckons us, the love of God manifest in His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Again, St Augustine (very wise man!) commented that, “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” What we do with that anger, though, determines whether it becomes a medicine or a poison. Do we allow it to make us courageous in seeking good for others, or do we allow it to destroy us and those we love? This is why hope is so important. 

Scripture tells us again and again to fear not. The first words of St. John Paul as pope – this, from a man who lived through a catastrophic world war and two brutally anti-human regimes – were “Be not afraid.” The temptations to fear, anxiety, depression, and fatigue are experiences we all share, especially in hard moments like today. Be not afraid. Treasure the gift of real hope, our true hope, that blessed hope, Jesus Christ, our saviour. 

As we begin Advent and prepare now for the joy and wonder of Christmas, remember that at the heart of this season and the feasts to come is the gift of hope. Hope comes into the world in the birth of a small baby. May we all learn to respond with hope and never with fear. That is the heart of Christmas joy. Let us pray that in 2021 we will, with the help of God, become kinder, wiser and holier. 

I was so blessed to be able to spend time on St Helena in February this year, but have been unable to visit anywhere else. I really look forward to catching up with everyone in 2021. 

Be assured of my daily prayers for you. Thank you for all you do to keep the faith alive. 

With prayers and every blessing to you and all those you love, 

Your brother, 

+ Hugh

Abbot Hugh Allan, o.praem.