Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 24th February 2023
Abbot Paul • February 24, 2023
Yesterday I had to return to Belmont from visiting elderly parishioners, who live near Leominster by way of Hereford Crematorium, where I had to conduct a funeral service for a dear parishioner who died recently. As the traffic earlier on had been so bad on the A49, I decided to take a cross-country route via Ivington in order to join up with the A4110. I hadn’t taken this road before, so it was new to me. What a delightful journey it turned out to be: no traffic whatever and the most beautiful scenery on this early Spring afternoon with snowdrops everywhere. By the way, Fr Cenydd told me the other day that there are over 110 varieties of snowdrop in the UK. I didn’t realise there were so many. How wonderful God’s creation is, and how hard we should work to care for it and nurture it. I think my experience yesterday is a symbol of our Lenten journey, with the Lord inviting us to think about alternative ways of prayer and spiritual reading to give us new insights and bring us closer to him. We should never be afraid of taking a different path, particularly when we sense that God is leading us that way.
Our Gospel passage today is very short, a question to Jesus from John the Baptist’s disciples and Jesus’ reply, as found in Matthew, (Mt 9: 14-15). “John’s disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” To be near Jesus and to walk with him along the road of life’s journey surely means to have joy in our hearts and to live rejoicing even amid life’s difficulties, for we know that he will be with us always. As we come to the end of life, at whatever age, he will be with us in our passion and cross, death and resurrection to new life. We pray today for the grace never to lose Jesus from our sight but to walk with him always.
Abbot Brendan Reflects on Pope Leo's words to the Benedictines worldwide
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Monday 1st to Thursday 4th December 2025. Our first Advent retreat in our newly opened guesthouse
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.
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