Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 29th August

Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 29th August 2022

 Yesterday, together with our postulants Br Craig and Br Alvidas and a large number of pilgrims, it was an enormous joy and privilege to take part in the annual pilgrimage to the tomb of the Jesuit martyr St David Lewis at Usk in Monmouthshire. We began with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the beautiful Catholic church, followed by Sung Vespers and Benediction. Then we processed with a relic of the saint while reciting litanies and the Rosary to the place of his execution. Here prayers were said, then we processed through the town centre to the graveyard surrounding the Anglican parish church of St Mary, from the 11th century until the dissolution of the monasteries a Benedictine nunnery, for it is here that our saint lies buried. Here further prayers were said and the relic venerated by the pilgrims. The whole celebration lasted two hours, after which I took the relic into St Mary’s to pray for the conversion of England and Wales. We must keep up the prayers and continue the work that St David Lewis left us to complete. We were all rewarded by an excellent tea.

 Today I shall be visiting my mother, hopefully with Toby, his first visit since last October. It is the feast of the Martyrdom or Beheading of St John the Baptist and, although we would normally be expecting to begin our daily reading from Luke, today’s Mass has a special Gospel reading from Mark, (Mk 6: 17-29), which describes in great detail the circumstances of his beheading. It’s a well-known, somewhat gruesome and sorry tale, in which we see our saint put to death because of the foolish promise of a proud and stupid man in his cups. It is like a parable in that this is a sad story that has repeated itself throughout history, rash decisions made whilst under the influence of drink or drugs, or enslaved to lust, anger and blind rage. Such decisions were frequently made at the time of the Reformation and go on unabated to this day. We pray for those nations still governed by tyrants, where people, especially Christians, live in fear of their lives. I think of the Church in Nicaragua at this moment and ask you to pray for the grave situation there.