Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 4th August 2023

Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 4th August 2023

 I was sorry yesterday to have missed out on events taking place at World Youth Day, but I had arranged some time ago to visit my mother. As it turned out, the day went very well. The weather was just right for taking a long walk on the beach with Toby, overcast but neither windy nor cold. As a result, we practically had the beach to ourselves, save for a minimal number of other dog walkers. My mother was on good form and experimenting with her new “always pan” that friends had given her as a present. She prepared a roasted organic chicken with Jersey potatoes, fine beans and spinach, followed by homemade tiramisú. Toby also partook of the chicken, but with boiled carrots and celery, his favourite vegetables. I must confess to being really impressed with that “always pan”. Have you seen one? You might even have one. What do you think of it? Could it be the subject of a modern parable?

 Our Gospel reading today sees Jesus return to his native village, where he is invited to teach in the synagogue. We continue with Matthew, (Mt 13: 54-58). The name of the village isn’t given, but we presume it is Nazareth. “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?” His own people are amazed by his words, his teaching. Where does it all come from? I’ve just heard the first discourse of Pope Francis to the young people in Lisbon. Whenever I listen to him speaking in Spanish or Italian and close my eyes, I see Jesus talking with his disciples. He speaks of the love of God and of how our heavenly Father created us and called each one of us by name to be his beloved sons and daughters. But to go back to Nazareth that sabbath day. The congregation continues talking about Jesus. “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?” They think they know who he is, for they know his parents and siblings, but at this stage, they don’t know what we know, they don’t know the circumstances surrounding his birth, nor have they heard the testimony of John the Baptist, unlike the disciples. Who are these brothers and sisters of Jesus? The early tradition of the Church was that they were Joseph’s children by an earlier marriage. We meet James, the brother of the Lord, in the Acts of the Apostles, an early leader of the Church in Jerusalem. 

In the end, despite his teaching, “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.” The words of Jesus are clear: he feels despised and rejected. Their lack of faith is palpable. I wonder how he feels today, when so many openly reject him and often ridicule him and, of course, the Church he founded and the people he calls to be members of it. Lord, we pray, strengthen our faith in you today. Amen.