Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 30th
Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 30th July 2021
Just like everyone else, monks also need a break from time to time. One of the fundamental aspects of monastic life is the routine of the daily timetable, to the extent that we could do most, if not all, of it with our eyes shut. There are times I’m so tired, that my life is literally like that! Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting up with a close friend for lunch and a chat deep in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside, not far from Burford. I find such outings refreshing and reinvigorating, even if they involve spending over three hours at the wheel of a car. It was too warm to take Toby along with me, so he remained holding the fort at Belmont with Fr Augustine.
Today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, (Mt 13: 54-58), sees Jesus visiting his hometown of Nazareth. It wasn’t a very happy visit. “Coming to his home town, Jesus taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”
It's a strange reaction. The townsfolk acknowledge his wisdom and his ability to work miracles. They have heard and seen him. What astonishes them is that they know his family and they must obviously remember him from when he was a child, a boy and a young adult. They just can’t work it out. ”Where did he get all this from?” they ask one another. Instead of accepting him for what they see now, they look back to their memories of the past. In the bleak words of Matthew, “They would not accept him.” Jesus’ response to their negative attitude has become proverbial. Yet, it repeats the experience of the prophets of old and of John the Baptist too, Matthew concludes by saying that their lack of faith thwarted his ministry of healing there.
In these daily messages, I have frequently written about the brothers and sisters of Jesus, of how they could be members of the wider family of Mary and Joseph, cousins and so on. Alternatively, they could well be the children of Joseph from an earlier marriage, as traditions suggest that he might well have been a widower when he was betrothed to Mary. This episode shouldn’t lead us to doubt the virginity of Our Lady or the unique relationship between Mary and her Divine Son.
Lord, may we accept you always and may you work your miracles in us today. Amen.
