Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 22nd August

Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 22nd August 2022

 Today the Universal Church keeps the feast of the Queenship of Our Lady, originally the Octave of the Assumption, but in Herefordshire, and so at Belmont, we keep the feast of our much-loved local martyr, St John Kemble, who was put to death on this day in 1679 at the age of eighty, after serving as a missionary priest in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, where there were many recusant families. He was born at Sr Weonards and is buried at Welsh Newton. His cousin, St David Lewis, born at Abergavenny and a Jesuit, was put to death five days’ later and is buried at Usk. It is a tragic page in the history of our country that good, brave, holy and much-loved men should be put to death solely for being Catholic priests. We commend our nation and its peoples to their intercession today and pray for a portion of the faith that they shared and for which they were prepared to die.

 In our Gospel passage today, we continue to read Matthew, (Mt 23: 13-22), where Jesus attacks the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He begins, “Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who shut up the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to.” 

There is nothing that Jesus hates more than hypocrisy. He says that the scribes and Pharisees are “blind guides,” for they encourage people to swear oaths that are neither necessary nor part of the Law. People should simply be encouraged to tell the truth and to say what they really think and know. Jesus wants nothing to do with cluttered and complicated religion, made up of a thousand minor laws and regulations. He calls us, rather, to follow him in obedience and love, keeping our hearts and minds focussed on God and his will for us. Everything else is superfluous and to no avail. Let us pray today for the gift of loving and serving God in purity of heart after the example of our great martyrs, Saints John Kemble and David Lewis. Early next week, in Herefordshire, we will also be celebrating Blessed Roger Cadwallador. Why not look up your own local saints and martyrs? There is so much to be learned from their lives. They have left us an indelible example of Christian faith.