Message of Abbot Paul - 31st December 2021
Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 31st January 2021
Yesterday was a difficult day, as having expected Toby to return from the vet with a clean bill of health, it turned out that, in fact, he needed another operation to sort out the wound that just wouldn’t heal. It certainly looked healed to me and was causing him no anxiety, but as things turned out, it hadn’t healed. It’s in such a hidden place, just on the inside of the leg, that it’s impossible for the ordinary eye to see. As I write these words, I am waiting to go down to the surgery and collect him, seeing the vet at the same time. He is just coming out of the anaesthetic.
Today is the last day of the civil year in the Western world, New Year’s Eve. We celebrated the beginning of the Christian Year on the First Sunday in Advent, over a month ago. It’s also the seventh day of Christmas and on this day at Mass we return to read once more the Prologue to John’s Gospel, (Jn 1: 1-18), which we read at the Mass of the Day on 25th December, the first day of Christmas. It’s a meditation on the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, through whom all was made and all is now redeemed.
“The Word was made flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received –
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,
who has made him known.”
This is what Christmas is all about, the true meaning of the Incarnation and of the feasts we celebrate at this time, especially the Nativity of Our Lord and his Epiphany.
Through the Word made flesh we have received grace and truth. In him we have known the Father. We are truly children of God and for this we give thanks with all our heart.
Here is the update on Toby, not quite what we expected. Unfortunately, the visit to the vet yesrterday morning didn’t go too well. There was a nasty infection deep in the open wound, so they have had to operate again, digging wider and deeper, cleaning the wound thoroughly and stitching him up again. The wound is covered at the moment. He must wear the Elizabethan collar permanently until the wound heals and have complete rest, preferably in a cage. Tomorrow morning a borrowed one is arriving for him at the surgery. Only three or four minimal walks a day are allowed, just to do what he has to do, during the first two weeks. More antibiotics and painkillers must be taken. This is the last chance at healing. So it’s a crucial moment, a make or break moment. Were things to go wrong again, he would have to have the leg amputated. So, it’s a pretty grim scenario, a bad blow particularly as we thought things were looking up. I ask for your prayers more than ever now.
