Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 2nd May
Abbot Paul • May 1, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 2nd May 2022
Is this what they call the Spring Bank Holiday? I still find the new system of these national holidays hard to follow and they always take me by surprise. A holiday with nothing to celebrate seems hollow to me.Yesterday I had the joy to go over to Broxwood Court, where in the old days I often celebrated Mass at the church of the Holy Family, now a private home. Fr Stephen and Fr Joseph came with me for the celebration of Fr Simon’s Golden Jubilee of Priesthood. It was magnificently arranged by parishioners of Weobley and Kington. The food and drink were superb and the company amenable. The actual date of the Jubilee is Wednesday, 4th May, when Fr Simon will celebrate the Conventual Mass at Belmont at 8am. You would be more than welcome to join us.
Our Gospel passage today comes from John, (Jn 6: 22-29), and links the Discourse of Jesus on the Bread of Life, given at Capernaum, with the feeding of the five thousand and his walking on water. It begins with a certain confusion among those he had fed as to his whereabouts. They go searching for him and eventually track him down in Capernaum. They don’t quite know what to ask him, so they begin with a fairly innocent question, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” His reply is not what they expect.
“I tell you most solemnly,
you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs
but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
Do not work for food that cannot last,
but work for food that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,
for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”
The crowds do not understand that the multiplication of the loaves and fish was a sign pointing to a deeper reality. All they could see, and now want repeated, was a miracle by which they were given food to eat without charge or labour. Jesus invites them to work for the food that lasts forever. He invites them as he invites us each day to move to a higher plane of living and of understanding. We are to work for the food that lasts forever, enduring into eternal life. Jesus offers us himself. Confused, they ask, “What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?” To this question, Jesus replies, “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.”
Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you were sent by the Father to reconcile us to himself and to one another. Let only love, God’s love, fill our hearts and move our lives. May we work constantly each day for this food that endures into eternal life. Amen.
Br Meinrad and Br Gildas attend a special service with the Benedictine community of St Paul's Outside the Walls with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Honesty and Love Before God: Pharisee and Tax Collector; Pope and King - a homily by Abbot Brendan for the 30th Sunday of the Year.
We are sad to announce that Fr Stephen died on Monday 21st October 2055. He was 94. He died peacefully in hospital, having recently fractured his shoulder. He was a beloved member of the monastic community, who had settled back at Belmont after many years on Belmont parishes, including in Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford and Weobley. He will be much missed. His Requiem Mass will be at Belmont on Wednesday, 5th November at 11.30am followed by burial in the monastic cemetery. The Reception of his Body into the Abbey Church will take place on Tuesday, 4th November, at 5.45pm.
With honoured guests we were delighted to open our doors again of our new guesthouse and conference centre: The Chapterhouse.
"A hymn to the human body." Abbot Brendan's Homily at the annual Mass celebrated at Rotherwas Chapel in Hereford that dates from the 1580s on the feast of the Assumption.
From Francis to Leo: A special event with Christopher Lamb of CNN in conversation with Austin Ivereigh who commentated for the BBC on the transition from Pope Francis to Pope Leo.
On 12th June an Ecumenical Service was held at Hereford Cathedral to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea.
