Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 28th June
Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 28th June 2021
Today, vigil of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Church remembers one of the greatest saints of the Early Church, Bishop of Lyon and missionary in Gaul, Irenaeus. He was born in Smyrna, where he studied under St Polycarp, sometime between 120 and 140 and died in Gaul about the year 203. He was a gifted thinker and theologian. At the encouragement of a friend, Irenaeus wrote his reflections in a series of five books, which he titled The Refutation and Overthrowal of Knowledge Falsely So-Called (today known as Against Heresies), a project he continued for a number of years, between 175 and 189. Throughout Irenaeus’s writings, it’s clear that his doctrines are not sterile notions. He writes enthusiastically and passionately, communicating his excitement for the beauty of God’s person, truth, and works, which include the created world and the gospel. This excitement over who God is and what he has done in Christ stands, for Irenaeus, as the basis of the Christian’s way of life, a life that is marked by grateful obedience, love, and joy. Irenaeus saw martyrdom as the culmination of the Christian path and a chance to demonstrate what he considered the highest form of love: love for our enemies. In fact, he died a martyr in the persecution of the emperor Septimus Severus. His legacy, however, lives on. From a purely historical point of view, Against Heresies is still considered the best analysis of Gnosticism from an eyewitness. He is one of those key figures in the history of Christianity, whose work helped keep the faith of the Church aligned with the scriptures and tradition.
In our short Gospel passage today, we continue our reading of Matthew, (Mt 8: 18-22), with two interesting sayings of Jesus. “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.’”
There’s so much criss-crossing of the Sea of Tiberius, don’t you get confused? It seems that Jesus needs to get away from the crowds. Then, one of the scribes announces his desire to be a disciple, perhaps going a bit over the top as he declares his willingness to follow Jesus wherever he goes. Jesus reminds him that there’s a cost to discipleship and that he must be prepared to pay the price. Then a disciple comes forward, wanting to go and bury his father before following Jesus, whose reply sounds harsh and unfeeling. But we know that Jesus was compassionate and mourned for his friend Lazarus and raised the dead, so what Jesus is saying is that discipleship has to be taken seriously. The Gospel and the Kingdom take priority over everything else, even family and friends, above all our own will and desires.
Let us pray today that, like St Irenaeus, we will be given the grace, faith and courage to take our discipleship seriously and put nothing whatever before Christ and the Gospel. Amen.
