Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 18th November 2022

You might remember that, just over a week ago, we kept the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the cathedral church of Rome. Well today we remember the dedication of two other Roman basilicas, that of St Peter in the Vatican and St Paul outside the Walls. Together with St Mary Major and the Lateran, the Church of Christ the Saviour, these four churches are known as Papal Basilicas. Thinking of Saints Peter and Paul, this concept of two major churches in a city, dedicated to these two apostles, was repeated all over Europe as the Christian faith spread over the continent. Look at London, where the cathedral was dedicated to St Paul and the great Benedictine abbey at Westminster to St Peter. Today, then, we pray for all church buildings, whether they are cathedrals or not, large or small, that they will remain sacred spaces where people, often with no faith, can come in contact with the living God.

 

​Interestingly enough, our Gospel passage comes from Luke, (Lk 19: 45-48), and describes the Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem by Jesus.

“Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’

  He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.”