Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 2nd September
Abbot Paul • September 1, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 2nd September 2022
It’s already the second day of September and it strikes me that from tomorrow I shall have to wear my miner’s torch when taking Toby out first thing as I’ve been doing for the past ten days when going out in the evening. We take our evening stroll around nine o’clock and it lasts about half an hour. One of the great joys of early September are the blackberries, not so large this year for lack of rain, but with an intensity of flavour that makes grappling with the brambles well worth it.
We continue reading Luke, (Lk 5: 33-39), where Jesus has words with a group of scribes and Pharisees, who compare the behaviour of his disciples unfavourably with that of John the Baptist’s. “John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.” John had a particularly austere lifestyle and, no doubt, his followers did as well. Jesus, on the hand, did not. He spent a good deal of time in prayer and solitude, but was admired more for his preaching and his miracles than for any special penitential practices. He was an ordinary Jew, you could say, and so were his disciples. What was extraordinary was their faith and courage, not esoteric austerities and penances. The only fast his disciples will experience will be the absence of Jesus when he is taken prisoner, condemned and put to death, but even that fast will last no longer than three days.
All this teaches us that what Jesus asks of us is uncompromising faith, especially in the face of rejection and persecution, to be faithful in our discipleship and obedient to God’s commandments. May the Lord himself grant us this grace. Amen.
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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.