Blessing of Malcolm Vernone's Motorbike

7 September 2003

From Fr. Bill:

During the summer Malcolm let me know he was taking his lessons to obtain his motorbike licence. We prayed for him at the daily Mass when he went off for his test and of course he passed it I am sure through a combination of his skill and ability and our prayers. Malcolm had bought a very nice motorbike and had shown it to me one day. I think it was probably me who suggested that he might like his bike blessed at some stage after he had passed his test. I know it was me who had the idea of doing it in St Wilfrid's after the Mass on Sunday.

It was great fun to see peoples reactions to the bike being in church!

In America as many as 200,000 bikers can attend bike blessing services and it is a wonderful thing to see. It shows that there is nothing that is outside of God's love or blessing, no part of our lives that can be separated from God in any way. God is with us and blessing us when we work and play and not only when we are in church.

Here in this country there are services held at roadside cafes and gathering places all over where bikers gather to praise God and ask his blessing. They don't attract quite the same numbers as in America but they can reach into the thousands. Many priests are involved not only in arranging the services and giving the blessings but in being keen bikers themselves.

God is in everything that we do, and we do everything in his name. Malcolm carries the gospel with him wherever he travels and that is a very precious cargo.

For those who are interested here is the prayer of blessing over Malcolm's bike. You won't find it in any book, but my thanks to those many sites dedicated to bike blessings for the inspiration.

Prayer of Bike Blessing

May God bless you and keep you safe on this machine.

May you meet encounter the risen Lord in your travels, in the freedom of the open road, the fellowship of other bikers and in each person you meet.

May the Lord be with you at home and on the road.

May He accompany you when you start on your many journeys:

May He fill your life abundantly with his many blessings;

May He keep all your riding safe. 

May His mercy, grace and love shine upon your every road.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

From Malcolm Vernone:

MID-LIFE CRISIS or has the madness of youth 3 decades late?  It’s amazing how other people’s actions have an affect on your own.  Earlier this year a workmate bought a scooter and this rekindled a long held interest in motorbikes; absolutely adore watching Byrne, Biaggi, Rossi and Reynolds (no, no connection with work, though there is someone up-country who can do a funeral with a motorbike hearse!) et al slide their bikes around corners at amazing speeds!  At first it was just talk, and then ideas and leg-pulls were thrown about.  The more I thought about it, the more I realised that this was a challenge put in my path, if I didn’t do it now I never would.

So, as I turned 47 I set about learning how to ride a ‘bike’ all over again!  And what a difference it is today from my teens. Then the examiner just stood on a couple of street corners and watched a biker perform the various manoeuvres; today it’s a day’s basic training course before you can even get on a bike to learn, then a two part theory text followed by a pursuit exam.  That is the examiner follows you around the streets for nearly an hour.  Coupled with my poor hands and feet coordination as often all 4 limbs are doing something different at the same time (I take my hat off to keyboard players), manual cancelling indicators and ‘lifesavers’ (forget one on the test it’s a fail), it was certainly a challenge.  Finally after about 25 hours of intensive training, a huge spending spree, ouch and loosing ½ a stone in weight (an upside); well it was the beginning of July, hot and humid! I surprised myself by passing first time!

A little before July I had seen the bike I wanted but as it is a 250cc Yamaha Dragstar cruiser (with a V-twin engine and loads of chrome), I couldn’t even ride it until I had passed.  When I was talking to Fr. Bill about what I was up to, I asked in passing whether it was possible to have the bike blessed and he agreed it was a good idea.  The roads are dangerous enough so a little help from Him upstairs and His watch over me is always handy.  Unfortunately with holidays and other commitments it had to be delayed until Sunday 7^th September, so my first venturing out on the open road happened beforehand.  You can see why so many ride; the feeling of the rushing wind and the exhilaration of speed is additive, though riding back from the Bournemouth area, in the middle of the afternoon, on the hottest day on record, in a full suit was, just a little wet but much cheaper than a sauna!  What it has taught me is that you must be much more aware of your surroundings (I thought I was and I drive everyday professionally), consider and be more tolerant of other road users

When I show these pictures of Fr. Bill with me and my bike to others I will feel proud and privileged to testify that I take the lord with me as my pillion passenger, I suspect sometimes He will wish He wasn’t.  A big thank you to Fr. Bill for finding such a suitable prayer and blessing for the occasion, not so much a Hell’s Angel but rather one of Heaven’s Devils so to speak!

 Malcolm