Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 27th June
Abbot Paul • June 26, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 27th June 2022
It’s always a great joy to meet with people, known and unknown, who read my daily message or to receive letters, cards and emails. It’s encouraging to know that together we form a community of Jesus’ disciples, striving to live according to his word and guided by his Holy Spirit. It strengthens our experience of Church, the Body of Christ and Temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s good to know that we all pray for one another, remembering especially those who are sick or in sorrow for whatever reason. Life, at times, can be very difficult, but we know that, in whatever dilemma we find ourselves, the Lord is with us and he will never abandon us. Let us continue to pray for one another, even though many of us are strangers to each other, but remember that, in Christ, there are no strangers only sisters and brothers, all children of our heavenly Father.
It’s fascinating to see how the words and sayings of Jesus appear and are interpreted in the four Gospels. Today the task is easy and straightforward, as parts of yesterday’s Gospel from Luke reappear in today’s passage from Matthew, (Mt 8: 18-22). It’s also clear that Jesus must have used the same parables and sayings more than once and in different circumstances. Today we read:
“When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him, he gave orders to leave for the other side. One of the scribes then came up and said to him, ‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, ‘Sir, let me go and bury my father first.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.’”
Here Jesus is still in Galilee and it’s one of the scribes, who comes up to Jesus with the promise to follow him wherever he goes. What I find interesting is that one of those, who usually appear as enemies of Jesus, wants to be his disciple. The warning of Jesus on the difficulties of discipleship remains the same. Then it’s one of his disciples who asks to go off and bury his father before continuing his journey with Jesus. The answer here appears even more bleak than in Luke, yet the message is the same and it’s for all of us. There is nothing more important for a Christian than to follow Jesus and, in the words of St Benedict, “to prefer nothing whatever to Christ.” It is in putting God first and loving God before all others that we will love others better and as God wants us to love them that is best for them, Lord, help us to be faithful each day in following your teaching and example. Amen.
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Good Shepherd, Good Priest “I will seek the lost and bring back the strayed; I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” Those words, spoken by the Lord God through the prophet Ezekiel, describe the heart of God, the Good Shepherd — but they also describe the life and ministry of a good monk and priest. They could well be written of Fr Stephen’s years of service as a pastor in Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford, and Weobley. In each of those places, he shared in the Shepherd’s work: seeking out the lost, binding up the wounded, strengthening the weary, and leading God’s people with quiet faithfulness. And like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who came close to his people, Fr Stephen did not serve from a distance. He knew his people; he was among them. He shared their sorrows and their joys, their hopes and their disappointments. He bore their burdens with prayer and patience he brought the joy of the Gospel and the grace of the Sacraments. His mission amongst us is complete. He has served God’s good purpose. So today we ask Christ the Good Shepherd to take Stephen on his sacred shoulders and carry him home to the house of the Father. Bind up his wounds, give him eternal rest and lead him at last to the green pastures and still waters of eternal life.