Message of Abbot Paul - Monday - 4th March 2024
Abbot Paul • March 3, 2024
​Today’s message will be short indeed. Yesterday was a very busy day, and I arrived back at Belmont exhausted if emotionally and spiritually uplifted after an exhilarating weekend. It’s difficult to make head or tail of the weather at the moment. We seem to get all four seasons in one day and sometimes the mix is repeated several times in the course of one day. I wonder what our plants make of this and our feathered friends, too.
​Today’s Gospel from Luke, (Lk 4: 24-30), sees Jesus speaking in the synagogue at Nazareth. He says, “I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.” Needless to say, this infuriates his fellow townsmen. However, he has more to say and gives two examples from the Old Testament. “There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.” What Jesus says is perfectly true. During that long drought and famine, the only miracle Elijah worked was for a foreign, and therefore pagan, widow. In the same way, the only healing of a leper in the days of his successor, the prophet Elisha, was of a Syrian and a pagan, Naaman. Jesus compares himself with the two great prophets, not that they were rejected by Israel, but their teaching was usually ignored.
Luke goes on to tell us, “When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.” This first rejection of Jesus by his own townsmen is prophetic in that it begins a series of events that escalate and ultimately end with his arrest, trial, passion and crucifixion. On many occasions, Jesus manages to slip through the crowds and escape. Eventually he will let himself be taken, as for this he came into the world, to give his life for the forgiveness of sinners and their salvation. For that sacrifice we give thanks to God today with all our heart.
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.
