Father

Peter

Fr. Peter CSWG is a monk of the Community of the Servants of the Will of God at Crawley Down in Sussex. He is active in RooT the network of Anglican religious concerned for the integrity of Christian faith.

Chichester Magazine: Have you always had a sense of God and his call?

Fr. Peter: Yes, I think so. The only time this was challenged was when I was 16; my best friend at school declared himself an atheist. I asked God to convince me He was real. Immediately, there came an overwhelming sense of His presence, and the words: 'Be still and know that I am God.' The first intimation of a call came later: at university in Sheffield. That was to the priesthood. However, God was still working something. I trained at Kelham, where the regular life of prayer rang true. It was also my introduction to things catholic: liturgical and theological. I served two curacies in South Yorkshire and Sevenoaks before coming to Crawley Down in 1981. Why monastic life? I had to learn 'Less is More'. When God seems to be taking everything from you, it is only so He can give you even more! Such a radical change took some getting used to, and it was only at the third attempt I finally settled. I think also the uncertainty I felt says something about how little contemplative life was understood then. There was no-one to encourage me.

CM: What is the significance of the religious life in our day?

FP: The Lord calls religious to a radical obedience: this helps keep us focussed on the essential. In our complex world, it is easy for us to 'lose the plot' so to speak: we can get sidetracked. There's a temptation to go for secondary issues and miss the primary one, which is to seek first the Kingdom of God. Religious life shows us that Christian life is essentially corporate, communal. It is about living with others at close quarters, and getting on together. That can be quite demanding - a constant call on faith. Yet in a world where relationship so often breaks down, this is perhaps an important witness. The praise of God is what human beings are made for: it is what we long for in the deepest parts of our being. To glorify God with all we are is the supreme meaning and purpose of humankind. Every monastery or convent should give a taste of this: it should draw people like bees to honey.

CM: How do you keep close to Christ as a monk?

FP: By being convinced that Christ will never abandon us. How could he? He came to give us back the fullness of life we had lost. When we have this conviction, then it bothers us less if things go awry. There's an encouraging story about St Antony of Egypt, the father of monks. He was in a spot of bother, tussling with the powers of darkness. Christ seemed to have abandoned him. When He eventually appeared before him, Antony complained: 'Where were you Lord? " The answer came: "I was always there. You could not have lasted a moment if I had not been with you.' The monastery's daily round helps our remembering of Christ - the Offices, Mass, the daily rhythm of work and meals, the common life, the Jesus Prayer: these are our tools.

CM: Could you tell us something of the mission of CSWG?

FP: The Lord wants His Church One, as in the beginning: the first thousand years. That is the thrust of the Community's vision, or 'mission' if you like. We know from the divine Messages of Vassula Ryden (True Life in God) that this is urgent: the Lord wants it now! So when Pope John Paul II talked about the Church 'breathing with both its lungs,' Eastern and Western, we warmed to that. When Benedict XVI speaks of 'unity (being) from the heart', it is like an echo of that vision. The flip side of this is that all of us (baptised) need to begin to learn how the Holy Spirit works in the Church. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to the Church to 'lead us into all truth'. It starts with the work of prayer. We need to know the Holy Spirit - Who is truly God - so we can work with Him.

CM: How do you see the reality of Jesus Christ in the world today?

FP: Jesus Christ is 'the same yesterday, today and forever', so His reality vis a vis the world does not change. Jesus said 'I have overcome the world.' That means there is nothing of this world that can defeat Him. He has taken the whole creation back to the Father through the Cross. That is an incredible hope for us all. Only God could do that: only He could make us into a new creation, the Kingdom of God. So what is happening in the world, what we each experience in our lives - and it can be very painful for all of us - I once heard described as 'like a mopping-up operation after a war'. We are all being 'sorted', so we may freely choose this new world.

CM: Have you got any insight about how we best to spread the Christian faith?

FP: The Church needs a new Pentecost. That was Pope John (XXIII) 's prayer. It's something we need to thirst and long for. The Christian Faith is not a moralising. That is a temptation to avoid. Christian life is a radically new life: an entirely fresh creation - of you, of me, of everything - in the heart. it comes to us directly from the Holy Trinity Himself. However, if we want to spread this life, we have first of all to receive it into every fibre of our being. The old life, centred in 'me' has to go, so we can rise with Christ to the new life, which cannot disintegrate because it is divine: it comes from God Himself. If we have His life - the real thing - there is no problem about spreading it. Pentecost does not need a special structure or mission. It spreads like the Fire it is.

CM: Fr. Peter, we are very grateful for what you have shared with our readers.