Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 7th February
Message from Fr Paul for Monday, 7th February 2022
I should apologise for the quality of the live-streaming we are sending out at the moment. Our system has been down for about two weeks, with our WiFi people and our Telephone people blaming each other and yet unwilling to confront or collaborate with each other to discover what is really wrong. To try and resolve the problem in the meantime, Fr Augustine has simply been using his mobile phone, but Herefordshire, like so much of the UK, is sadly lacking in an adequate mobile signal. My mobile provider is desperate to sell me the latest model with 5G, when all I want is a signal good enough to call my mother from my room at Belmont. I just hope that something can be done this week to sort out the problem, and it’s not only live-streaming that’s affected, but also our email system. If you’re expecting an email from me, it’s probably blocked somewhere from here to eternity.
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Forgive my frustration! Today’s short Gospel passage from Mark, (Mk 6: 53-56), sees Jesus cross over the sea of Galilee again. He is making for Capernaum, but comes to land about three miles south at Gennesaret for no apparent reason. Could he have been blown off course or did Jesus not want to draw attention himself at Capernaum? We don’t know, but what we do know is that wherever Jesus went the crowds were always there. Let us read what Mark has to say. “Having made the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up. No sooner had they stepped out of the boat than people recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.” The crowds knew that Jesus had great power to heal, bless, and deliver from Satan. They swarmed him. They always anticipated his next move. They dogged his steps. They brought their sick to him. It was enough just to touch his clothing. Jesus had the power, and they knew it. The real question for us today is whether we know it. Do we trust he has the power to help us in our time of need? Do we believe that his power is real, or is it just a figment of an overactive religious imagination? My experience, as well as my faith, suggests to me that his power and grace are real, alive and active and when we trust in him then nothing is impossible, for indeed “nothing is impossible for God.”
