Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 5th June 2023

It was good to celebrate Pentecost again yesterday and to do so both in Catholic and Orthodox churches in Thessaloniki. It made me realise how shortsighted it was to abolish the Octave of Pentecost, which really brought home the meaning and importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, culminating then in the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

Today we celebrate the feast of St Boniface, the 8th century English Benedictine monk, who led the Anglo-Saxon mission to German speaking lands, thus becoming the Apostle to Germany. He was martyred on this day in the year 754 at the age of 79. His body is venerated in the cathedral at Fulda.

Our Gospel passage today comes from Mark, (Mk 12: 1-12), in which Jesus tells the Parable of the Vineyard to the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, warning them that the vineyard that is Israel will pass to other leaders if they do not come to believe that the Messiah has come in himself, that they are no more than tenants and not landowners. Jesus ends by quoting Psalm 117 (118), “It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see.” Let us pray today for the Church in Germany and throughout the world and that the Lord will raise up apostles like St Boniface to preach the Gospel with conviction and joy.