Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 17th June

I would very much like to thank all those who offered up prayers for my mother. Her operation appears to have been a great success. She is deeply grateful to each one of you. Thank you, too, for praying for me. I really appreciate it. It’s prayer that binds us together as the Body of Christ and unites us to God. Both my mother and I are also grateful to the surgeons, doctors, nursing and administrative staff at Sancta Maria Hospital, Swansea, for their friendly and professional care and attention. Today I’ll be taking my mum to a nursing home for a few days’ respite care.

I have mentioned the birds that feed in my mother’s garden. As I was having supper in the kitchen, I could see a woodpecker feeding its young. What a noise they made! I attach a photograph. After leaving the hospital I thought it would be good to visit Margam Abbey, one of the earliest Cistercian abbeys in Wales. Part of the nave is still used as a parish church and there is a fine collection of Celtic crosses. As a teenager, I used to run there and back every week, though cheated at times and came back on a local double decker bus!

Our Gospel passage for today from Matthew, (Mt 6: 19-23), is a well known text. Jesus asks us not to “store up treasures for yourselves on earth,” but “in heaven.” All on earth and all in this life passes away, nothing is permanent let alone eternal. He reminds us: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” This leads us to ask the question, perhaps several questions, on what is truly important to each one of us. What really matters to me, where am I storing up my treasure?

He then gives, as an example, the eye. “If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be.” We can replace the eye with the ear, tongue, mind, heart and so on. We pray to be sound and pure, and not to be overcome or enslaved by darkness, evil or sin. We ask the Lord to help and protect us and the Holy Spirit to guide us, that we might be all goodness and light. We ask that God and the love of God be our only treasure, that we might love and serve others, family, friends, strangers and enemies with the perfect love of God.