Patronal Evensong - 5 July 2026

Sermon by The Right Reverend Luke Irvine-Capel

Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.

First, may I thank the Dean for his gracious invitation to preach here today and to share in the offering of our praise and thanksgiving as we celebrate this Patronal feast.

This Cathedral is a holy place, set apart for the glory of God in which we share, even now, in the worship of the saints in heaven, the Church triumphant: those who have gone before us in the Faith of the incarnate, crucified, risen and ascended Lord and who now see him face to face. We share in their eternal gladness and joy, rehearsing and anticipating the fullness of the glory of heaven, our home and destiny.

As citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we rejoice in our communion with all those who have been tested, helped and delivered from the hands of our adversaries. St Bernandine of Sienna writes of this poetically to St Francis, “Love has thrust me in the furnace, Love has thrust me in the furnace; he has plunged me in the furnace of love.”

Thomas, in his martyrdom, his confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, in the shedding of his blood, was plunged into the furnace of love.

Each of us, the company of the baptised, the holy people of God, were plunged into the furnace of love when we rejected the devil and all rebellion against God; renounced the deceit and corruption of evil; repented of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour; turned to Christ as Saviour; submitted to Christ as Lord; and came to Christ, the way, the truth and the life. Immersed in the paschal mystery of Christ’s saving death in the resurrection in the waters of the font, buried with Christ and raised with him to new and eternal life, we live day by day in the glorious liberty of the children of God.

It was that glorious liberty that gave Thomas the grace to be united with Christ in his Passion and to share in the victory of the martyrs: delivered from the hands of our adversaries.

To confess that Jesus Christ is Lord is to receive this extraordinary gift of God himself – a gift of superabundant, even reckless, love – and in receiving him to then give yourself completely to him. In naming Jesus as Lord, we say that he has dominion over our lives.

We bend the knee, that is joyfully and lovingly submit to him, who will work in us the good purposes of his perfect will knowing that his will is that we should have life in all its fullness, and is always good and true and beautiful.

In this way, it is true that every Christian is called to be a martyr: that is, to confess Jesus as Lord by the total gift of self, saying with St Paul that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” It is the daily living out of the paschal mystery, our ongoing conversion of life, dying with Christ, and being raised with him to new life: rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.

The twentieth century Anglican mystic and priest, Gilbert Shaw, expanded on this, writing that: The martyrdom of blood is not the only witness to Christ and to union with his suffering. There is the white martyrdom of endurance in prayer.

In all the crisis periods of history it has been through the witness of the suffering saints that the Church has been purified and new patterns of order have been brought into the disordered world. The flame of utter givenness – that is world-saving.

There is a disorientating cacophony of powerful voices seeking to dominate our lives, claiming that if we would but listen to them, even worship them, the world will be saved.

As we commemorate the martyrdom of Thomas of Canterbury today we recall the age old struggle of power and sovereignty in each of our lives. We can be so full of ourselves that there is no room left for God. And that means there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger. The more we love God the more we love others.

The insatiable appetites of this passing world will never fill or satisfy us which is why we keep pursuing more and more. The fulfilment for which we all long is found in the child, laid in a manger – a feeding trough – who is the bread of heaven given for the life of the world.

Thomas recalls us, through the total gift of himself -world-saving utter givenness - to an insistence upon the primacy of prayer and worship, re-ordering the distorted and disordered world. Fan the flame of utter givenness: unbar the doors of your heart to the One who has called you, given himself completely to you, and has consecrated his mystical body, the Church, to sing his praises: be caught up through him in love of things invisible.

Thomas was martyred during Vespers in 1170, and we have sung psalm 110 this evening which was being sung that evening. He insisted upon the primacy of prayer and worship even as his murderers clamoured at the door. In the daily offering of ourselves in joyful trust and hope - the life of prayer, animated by the Spirit - we are formed as God works His purposes out.

As we unite our voices with the noble army of martyrs we are taken beyond the limits of our own world and are caught up into the life of eternity, earth is taken up into heaven, and we and all creation are returned to our rightful place – with God.

All else flows from and through this gift of communion with God and all creation, as the Lord continues his loving and patient work of sanctification, bringing those who have not received mercy to  mercy, calling this world out from darkness to light.

The light of Christ shines and the darkness cannot overcome it. Thomas, and the martyrs across the ages, strengthen us in the Faith by showing us the glory of love that gives itself away.

May St Thomas pray for us and as we offer our thanks and praise this evening may we pray that the Lord will fulfil his promise that where there is conflict he will give birth to peace; that where there is hatred, he will make love spring up; and that where darkness prevails, the light of Christ will shine and that he will make us heralds of his peace. Amen.