Message of Abbot Paul - Monday - 29th January 2024

​Yesterday was one of the happiest days I’ve ever known. I woke up around 3.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep, so the best solution was to get up and allow Toby to sleep on my bed. I read for a while, prayed and replied to messages before taking a shower and going out for a long walk in the dark with Toby, always our favourite walk of the day. After morning office and a quick breakfast and preparing Toby’s two meals for the day, I set out for Leominster and the first Mass of the day. After chatting for a while with parishioners, I drove on to Bromyard and the Parish Mass there. It was a full house with almost 20 children taking part in the offertory procession and children of the choir singing the most beautiful communion hymn in Malayalam. I had lunch and spent the afternoon with dear friends, something that filled me with the deepest joy and happiness. Then back to Leominster for the evening Mass, peaceful and prayerful, and so on to Belmont for supper with the brethren and Compline, then a final walk with Toby. As the Psalmist wrote, “How can I thank the Lord for his goodness to me?”

 

​Today’s Gospel passage from Mark, (Mk 5: 1-20), the healing of the Gerasene demoniac, is one of the longest stories in this short Gospel and much has been written about it. It is full of fascinating details, but unfortunately, it’s not possible to delve into all of them here, much as I would like to. This is the most detailed description we have of a demon-possessed man in the Bible. This episode takes place just as Jesus and the disciples land on the other side of the lake after the night crossing during which Jesus calms the storm. It’s the possessed man who seeks out Jesus and what a sight he is. He falls at the feet of Jesus, crying out for fear of what Jesus can do to him by his divine authority, but Jesus isn’t talking with the man directly: he is talking with the unclean spirits. Their name is Legion, as there are so many of them. They ask to be sent into a huge herd of pigs feeding on the mountainside and Jesus allows this. As a result, about 2,000 pigs rush headlong into the lake and drown.

 

The reaction is twofold. The townspeople are frightened when they see the man, who was formerly possessed, now healed and in his right senses. They plead with Jesus to leave. They cannot cope with God’s power of healing revealed in Jesus. On the other hand, the man whose life has been restored, begs Jesus to take him along with the disciples, but Jesus refuses, saying, “Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.” It is an invitation to thanksgiving, but also to the mission of evangelisation, of sharing the good news of Jesus and the coming of the kingdom of God. In fact, we read, “So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.” Now the story is protracted and laden with some gruesome detail. It’s a miracle that’s not reduced to a few short sentences. Please read it through and compare it with the version in Luke (Lk 8: 26-39.) A useful exercise would be to make a list of all the things the Lord has done for you and then to give thanks again for each one of them. It is rare for someone to be possessed as the man in the Gospel was, but we have our own minor possessions, you could say, our personal manias and obsessions, that probably need healing. Let us ask the Lord to put our house in order while there is time.