Homily of Bishop Paul Hinder: Mass in remembrance of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said

A Mass of Remembrance was held at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Ruwi, Muscat for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said on 22 January 2020. Ahmed Khamis Masood Al Bahri, Director, Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman was present at the Mass.

Below is the homily given by Bishop Paul during the Eucharistic Celebration. 

Homily of Bishop Paul Hinder during the Mass of Remembrance

St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans asks  insistently, that the community should always pray for those in authority, independently of whether they share the same faith and the same culture as ourselves or not. That is the reason also why, here in Oman and in other countries, we are used to praying  for the rulers in our prayers and liturgies, because we know the authority given to them has its root in God. 

It would also be nice to make a connection to today's first reading, looking at the situation of Oman which seems to be, within the powers in the Middle East and in the World, a little bit like the little David who had to come up and to keep the situation as good as possible. And I think it was the masterpiece of the policy of His Majesty the late Sultan  Qaboos to maintain this balance, within the struggles in this part of the world and to keep the country out of the big conflicts, thus giving us a chance to live truly in peace and harmony. 

And that was not a political tactic; I think it was a deep conviction of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. I had the chance to meet him personally in December 2005 together with the Anglican Bishop at the time, in a long audience which was extremely inspiring, also for me. I still remember the story he told us at that moment. 

He told us, ”Sometimes I was criticized by my own people, who asked me why I give the possibility to the Christians to worship and to have churches. You know, it was my own experience when I was a student in Great Britain, that the family where I was accommodated reserved a room for me as my personal mosque. There, Christians treated me as a guest, giving me the possibility amidst the Christian culture to practise my religion. Now, I am here as the Sultan, and I am receiving guests from all over the world - workers of course - however I feel obliged that they too must have the possibility to exercise their religion.”

Dear brothers and sisters, and now this you can see is the result: that we can practice our religion as Catholics, here in this church of Ss. Peter and Paul and in other churches, and so can other Christian denominations in their places of worship. So we are extremely grateful to God for this person, who has shaped the country in the region and given also a model, or an example, how others could do, and maybe should do. So I have a really great respect for His Majesty and I am here in gratitude. 

Of course, there is another reason, another experience with His Majesty. Almost three years back, when we had this calamity in Yemen, the sisters were killed and one of our priests was kidnapped, I know that His Majesty played a key role in getting back Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil to freedom. It was one of the most joyful days in my life as a Bishop, after so many years, after 18 months of suffering, to finally have the possibility of seeing Fr. Tom free - , as a miracle at that time, also produced by His Majesty.

So my dear friends, looking into the Bible, there are stories where we see that people who did not belong to the Jews - and we could apply - people who do not belong to our religion, were seen as sons of God, doing the work of God. King Cyrus, for example, who made it possible that people could go back from the exile to their own country. And what is happening now is similar; far from being blind and narrow minded, we have to open our horizon and to see that what is important is that we have rulers who are inspired by God, and listen to Him, even if they don’t follow our own belief, but they believe in the One who is truly God, the Ruler of the world. 

So let us be at this moment grateful, and pray for the peace and the rest of the soul of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. Let us pray for the whole people here in Oman. Let us in a particular way also pray for the new ruler, His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al Said . Let us pray for him as he has to take over the legacy of a great man which is not easy to follow. But we are confident that he will do so and that Oman will continue to play such a providential role here in the Middle East and help various crises to be overcome - with prayer, but also with the wisdom of rulers who know how to do it. 

My dear friends, now that we are ready to celebrate our mystery of faith, we have the right to place, here at this altar, all our concerns and also to pray for all who have been endowed with various responsibilities, or have had it in the past, and will have it again over us. 

Amen.