Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 2nd January 2023
Abbot Paul • January 2, 2023
As today is already 2nd January and a Bank Holiday in England, it’s a good moment to thank all those who sent Christmas and New Year cards to the monastery and to me and Toby. There was so much work before Christmas, that I have to apologise for not sending cards this year, added to which the constant postal strikes made it almost impossible. I can remember as a pupil at the local grammar school how each Christmas I would work at the Royal Mail sorting office or as a postman doing two deliveries and working from six in the morning until gone five in the afternoon. It was hard work, especially when it rained or was cold and frosty, but it did mean extra pocket money for the holidays.
​Today the Church keeps the feast of St Basil the Great and St Gregory of Nazianzen, monks, bishops and doctors of the Church, close friends, men of acute intellect and great theologians who defended the catholic and orthodox faith in the 4th century. They met as students in Athens and became as brothers, united above all in their pursuit of learning, Christian faith and love of Christ. St Gregory wrote of their friendship that, “We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. Though we cannot believe those who claim that everything is contained in everything, yet you must believe that in our case each of us was in the other and with the other. Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before we departed from it. With this end in view, we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the guidance of God’s law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong. Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.”
​We are still in Christmastide, so our Gospel passage today comes from John, (Jn 1: 19-28), and recounts the testimony of John the Baptist. There appears to be confusion as to who is the Christ, the Messiah, John or Jesus. “When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:
a voice that cries in the wilderness:
Make a straight way for the Lord.’”
Every year I suggest that you listen to Orlando Gibbons’ This is the Record of John. I can think of no better way of meditating on this text. I wish the whole of the Gospel were set to music like this passage is.
Pope Francis RIP Pope 2013-2025 Born 1936, Died 2025 We are deeply saddened at the passing of Pope Francis. As the successor of St Peter he has been a spiritual father and shepherd to the church in our day, challenging us, and calling as to reach out to those on the peripheries. He was the first Jesuit Pope, but took the name Francis after the Poor Man of Assisi who modelled for him a closeness to the poor, a concern for those on the margins of society and a care for all of creation In his preaching Pope Francis always spoke of the joy of the Gospel and encouraged us to reflect the joy of our faith in our lives. He showed the compassion of Jesus to everyone. He worked tirelessly for the unity of the church and travelled even to non-Christian countries promoting a message of peace. He has left a great legacy. With the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio with the community over Easter we were able to express our closeness to the Holy Father in his final suffering. There will be a special Mass at Belmont this Thursday 24th April at 11am to pray for Pope Francis as he makes his final journey to the house of the Father. On the day of his funeral, the Office of the Dead will be sung, and Mass that day will be a Requiem. May the angels lead him into paradise; may the martyrs receive him at his arrival and lead him to the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive him and with Lazarus, the poor man grant him eternal rest." (The In Paradisum, words from the Funeral Liturgy)
We were were honoured and delighted to be joined by the Apostolic Nuncio to celebrate Easter. His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía is the representative of the Holy See in Great Britain, and therefore of the Holy Father. His presence on Easter Sunday morning brought us more consciously in communion with Pope Francis, the successor of St Peter, as we heard the Gospel story of Peter running to the tomb. His patron saint is St Michael, so afterwards, at a festive lunch we were able to present him with some Belmont cufflinks with the monastery coat of arms - very similar to his as Archbishop. We were able to pray for him and his work in this country.
