Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 25th April
Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 25th April 2022
What a lovely, warm day it was yesterday. It was such a joy to walk around the field with Toby, twice in fact, though I wonder if he gets overtired, what with the long staircase up to my room as well. Yesterday we celebrated the Octave of Easter, the last day of Easter proper, and now we are in Eastertide, the forty days or, to be correct, the thirty-two days remaining that lead to Ascension Day. Being 25th April today, we keep the feast of St Mark, the Evangelist. He was not one of the Twelve, but a companion of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. His Gospel is the shortest of the four and probably the oldest. It would appear to contain the testimony of St Peter. The Gospel passage chosen for his feast consists of the final verses of the last chapter of the Gospel attributed to him, (Mk 16: 15-20).
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In these final few verses, a later addition to the text, Jesus orders his disciples, specifically the Eleven, to “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned.” The Gospel is for the whole world, for every race and nation, in fact, for the whole of creation. Just as God created all that exists, so Christ has redeemed all things. Wherever there is a disciple, the Gospel will be proclaimed. Wherever you or I happen to be, there the Gospel is proclaimed, not just by our words, but by the way we live our lives. The truth of the Gospel must be seen in our actions as well as in our words. God the Father will go with us in Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord and Saviour, and in the power, love and grace of the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel ends with the Ascension of Jesus: “And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.” The disciples are now God’s presence on earth. We take the place of the Lord Jesus, we are his vicars on earth, for his living presence is in each one of us. He is working in us, confirming the truth of his word by the very things we do. This is the vocation of all Christians, our common heritage and inheritance in Christ.
