Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 25th July

Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 25th July 2022

 Readers have been asking for news of my mother. Thank you for your kindness and prayers, that have surely helped work miracles. On Thursday last she visited her consultant, a month after the operation. He was amazed at her recovery and told her that she could now do anything she felt able to. Needless to say, she has been increasing her daily exercise and has gone back into the garden, at least for small jobs that need doing. Her gardener should take her on as his assistant! What she really wants is a visit from Toby, which will have to be arranged very soon.

 Today we keep the feast of St James, one of the sons of Zebedee and the brother of John, all of them fishermen from Galilee. In the Middle Ages the pilgrimage to his tomb at Compostela replaced in importance and popularity that to the Holy Land, made impossible by the invasion and presence of the Saracens. Even today, the Camino de Santiago, a spiritual exercise in itself, is as popular as ever. I have walked many parts of the route with a Spanish friend over the years and enjoyed every minute of it. Our Gospel comes from Matthew, (Mt 20: 20-28), which recounts a rather embarrassing episode in the lives of the Zebedee brothers. “The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’” It was their mother who made the request and we can’t imagine them putting her up to this. It was just a mother wanting what she thought best for her sons. Jesus replies in no uncertain terms: “‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’” The question he asks is not directed to the mother but to the apostles. Can they suffer the death he is going to suffer? He can promise them suffering and death, but not particular seats in the kingdom. That is for his Father alone to decide. We note that their answer is affirmative. They are prepared and willing to drink the chalice that he too has to drink, the sacrifice of his life for the salvation of the world. For this he came and for this he has called them.

 The others soon become aware of what has happened. Matthew says they heard the whole conversation. Their reaction is understandable, but probably coloured with a certain tinge of guilt. It could easily have been any one of them asking the same favour. “When the other ten heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Just as Jesus has come not to be served but to serve, they likewise have been called to serve and give their lives for the salvation of others. Their life is one of sacrifice and not of privilege. We ask St James to pray for us today, that we too might live lives of service and of sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom and for the salvation of others.