Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 1st July
Abbot Paul • June 30, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 1st July 2022
With 1st July we move into the second half of the year. If it goes as quickly as the first half, then before we know it, we’ll be celebrating New Year’s Day 2023. The first half of 2022 has been marked by the horrors of war in Ukraine. Let’s pray that the second half will see peace in that land, and the vast areas reduced to rubble, dust and ashes be restored to their rightful owners and the long process of rebuilding a ravaged country and its economy begin.
Do you sense the call of Jesus to be his disciple, for that is what we are, men and women called and chosen by Jesus to be his disciples and in that discipleship to find the gift of salvation and new life? Today’s Gospel from Matthew, (Mt 9: 9-13), is all about being called and what a wonderful Gospel story it is. Let’s read what Matthew writes.
“As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this, he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed, I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’”
It is, of course, the call of Matthew, perhaps the most famous of callings in the Gospels, for Matthew was a tax collector and so regarded as a sinner by the religious leaders of Israel, the scribes and Pharisees. When Jesus says to Matthew, “Follow me,” he doesn’t hesitate for a moment in obeying the call. He abandons his work and his place of work in order to follow Jesus, no questions asked. He doesn’t even stop to consider his unworthiness or lack of suitability. Jesus calls and he knows best. Later on, at dinner, the response of Jesus to the accusation that he allows tax collectors and sinners to sit at table and eat with him and his disciples is both clear and consoling, especially for those of us who know that we are still sinners. “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed, I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” Such is the loving mercy and forgiveness of God, which Jesus has come among us to bestow on those who open their hearts and their lives to him. Jesus has come to us as the Divine Physician to bring consolation and healing to our lives. For that let us thank and praise him. always
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Good Shepherd, Good Priest “I will seek the lost and bring back the strayed; I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” Those words, spoken by the Lord God through the prophet Ezekiel, describe the heart of God, the Good Shepherd — but they also describe the life and ministry of a good monk and priest. They could well be written of Fr Stephen’s years of service as a pastor in Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford, and Weobley. In each of those places, he shared in the Shepherd’s work: seeking out the lost, binding up the wounded, strengthening the weary, and leading God’s people with quiet faithfulness. And like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who came close to his people, Fr Stephen did not serve from a distance. He knew his people; he was among them. He shared their sorrows and their joys, their hopes and their disappointments. He bore their burdens with prayer and patience he brought the joy of the Gospel and the grace of the Sacraments. His mission amongst us is complete. He has served God’s good purpose. So today we ask Christ the Good Shepherd to take Stephen on his sacred shoulders and carry him home to the house of the Father. Bind up his wounds, give him eternal rest and lead him at last to the green pastures and still waters of eternal life.