Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 17th November 2023

When you read this, I hope to be driving back to Belmont after our Benedictine superiors’ meeting at Ampleforth. It was an excellent meeting in so many ways and well worth the effort and hard work. The hospitality, too, afforded us by the Ampleforth community was second to none and concluded with a delightful supper taken with the community, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. It was also a great joy to meet up with Abbot Nicholas of Downside, who is a Belmont monk and was for many years Prior and Parish Priest of Belmont.

Our Gospel reading from Luke, (Lk 17: 26-37), carries on the theme of yesterday’s reading, the day of the Son of Man, the Second Coming and Judgement. Jesus compares it with Noah’s day, when the flood came and yet most people carried on as though nothing were happening and failed to read the signs of the times and were drowned. He then compares it with Lot’s day, when the same thing happened, and the people of Sodom were submerged in fire and brimstone. Jesus warns us to be alert, to be prepared, and to remember Lot’s wife. She stopped to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt! Vigilance is the word to live by and to focus on God, who alone can and will save us.