In Medio Ecclesiae: Truth, Authority, and the Courage to Speak
MASS In médio Ecclésiæ
LESSON 2 Timothy 4: 1-8
GOSPEL St Matthew 5: 13-19
HOMILIST Mt Revd Jerome Lloyd OSJV
Beloved in Christ,
Beloved brethren, still bathed in the glory of Paschaltide, when the Church sings her Alleluia with unwearied joy, she places before us today St Anselm of Canterbury, and declares of him: “In medio Ecclesiae aperuit os eius.” In the midst of the Church the Lord opened his mouth. Not in the courts of princes, though he stood before them; not in the schools of men, though he surpassed them; but in the midst of the Church—there God opened his mouth, and truth was spoken without fear.
He was born around the year 1033 in Aosta, among the mountains of Piedmont, into a noble household, yet marked from the beginning by tension and trial. His early desire for the religious life was opposed, his path delayed, his youth unsettled. He wandered, as many do, between grace and distraction. But grace does not abandon the soul so easily. Crossing into Normandy, he entered the abbey of Bec, drawn by the fame of Lanfranc, and there he found not only a master, but a way: the discipline of prayer, the order of monastic life, the quiet but relentless pursuit of truth.
It was there that Anselm learned what the modern world has forgotten—that faith is not the enemy of reason, but its light. Fides quaerens intellectum—faith seeking understanding. Not faith reduced to feeling, nor reason exalted into pride, but reason kneeling before revelation and rising to contemplate it. Truth is not constructed by the mind; it is received by it.
And from that cloistered silence he was called into conflict.
As Archbishop of Canterbury, he stood before kings—William II of England and Henry I of England—not as a courtier, but as a shepherd. The dispute was not trivial. It was not a matter of personality or preference. It was this: who gives authority in the Church? God, or the State? The kings claimed the right to invest bishops, to confer the symbols of spiritual authority, to shape the Church according to the needs of the realm. Anselm refused. Not because he was obstinate, but because he was clear. What comes from God cannot be given by man.
For this clarity, he was exiled. Twice driven from his see, deprived of his homeland, he suffered the cost of fidelity. Yet he did not resist all things. And here lies a subtlety the world rarely understands. Anselm was capable of compromise—but only where principle was not at stake. He would yield in matters temporal, but never in matters eternal. In the end, a settlement was reached: the king renounced the sacred act of investiture, while the bishops rendered homage for their temporal possessions. The principle was preserved, though the application bore the marks of prudence.
Brethren, this distinction is not antiquarian. It is urgent. There are matters in which flexibility is wisdom, and there are matters in which flexibility is betrayal. To confuse the two is to lose the Faith.
Thus the Apostle warns us: “There shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine… but will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” That time is not merely foretold; it is visible. Men no longer deny truth outright; they evade it. They do not always contradict doctrine; they soften it, qualify it, obscure it. And in that obscurity, error advances under the appearance of compassion.
Against this stands the Gospel: “You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the world.” Salt that loses its savour is cast out. Light that is hidden fails its purpose. There is no place in the Christian life for ambiguity in what must be clear.
Anselm understood this not only in governance, but in theology. In contemplating the mystery of our redemption, he asked the question that pierces to the heart of Easter itself: why did God become man? And he answered with a clarity that has endured through the centuries. The sin of man is not trivial; it is an offence against the infinite majesty of God. Therefore, satisfaction must be made—but no finite being can render it. Only God can satisfy, yet only man ought to satisfy. Therefore, God became man. The Cross is not a symbol of sentiment; it is the necessity of justice fulfilled in mercy.
And if the Cross is necessary, then the Resurrection is its vindication. Truth may be crucified—but it does not remain in the tomb.
This is why Anselm stands before us in the light of Paschaltide. His life mirrors the pattern of Christ: fidelity under pressure, truth under attack, exile endured, and vindication granted in the end.
Yet there is more. He was not merely a defender of principles; he was a discerner of souls. When others sought to erase the memory of the English martyr St Alphege of Canterbury, Anselm intervened. He argued that though Alphege died for justice, he died also for truth—for truth and justice are not opposed. Truth, he said, is justice in discourse; justice is truth in action. And thus the martyr was restored to honour.
Brethren, this is the wisdom we lack. We separate what God has joined. We speak of truth without justice, or justice without truth—and in both cases, we distort both.
What then must we do?
We must become again a people formed by truth. Not vaguely, not sentimentally, but concretely. The Scriptures must be read. The Catechism must be known. The perennial teaching of the Church must be studied and loved. For a faith that is not understood will not be defended, and a faith that is not defended will not endure.
We must learn also the discipline of discernment. Not every voice that speaks within the Church speaks with clarity. Not every teacher transmits what has been received. There are voices that confuse, voices that accommodate, voices that echo the spirit of the age more readily than the voice of the Shepherd. And where the shepherd’s voice is obscured, the flock scatters—not in rebellion, but in confusion.
Therefore, you must become, in your measure, what Anselm was in his: a voice that speaks clearly. In your homes, in your families, in your communities, let your speech be ordered by truth, your actions by justice, your lives by fidelity. Do not wait for clarity to descend from above; live it where you stand.
For the Communion antiphon sets before us the final image: “The faithful and wise servant… to give them their measure of wheat in due season.” Each of us is entrusted with something of the truth. The question is not whether we possess it, but whether we will give it faithfully.
Anselm did not reshape the truth to suit his age. He held it fast—and by holding it fast, he helped to restore his age.
So must we.
For the crown of justice is not given to those who adapt the Faith to the times, but to those who remain faithful when the times demand adaptation. Not to those who speak what is pleasing, but to those who speak what is true.
May St Anselm of Canterbury, who spoke in the midst of the Church and now intercedes in heaven, obtain for us minds illumined by faith, hearts strengthened by grace, and voices unafraid to proclaim the truth in season and out of season.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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