Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 10th December 2022
Abbot Paul • December 9, 2022
Today, at Kylemore, we will celebrate the Requiem Mass and Burial of Dame Mary Groves, who died just after midnight on 8th December not far short of her hundredth birthday. She was English and originally a nun of Oulton Abbey in Staffordshire. She is the nun I visited in a nursing home and prayed with on my arrival in Ireland on Monday. I must confess it is a great honour and privilege to be asked to preside at her funeral. Yesterday evening, just before Vespers we received her body into the church. With subzero temperatures, I wonder how gravediggers manage to do their job. Seeing how quickly the Irish get on with things, I wonder why we have to wait so long back in the UK. It’s often over a month.
Our Gospel passage today comes from Matthew, (Mt 17: 10-13), where, as yesterday, Jesus speaks with his disciples about himself and John the Baptist. The disciples ask him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?” In fact, in general Jews believed at the time of Jesus, that Elijah would return to prepare the way for the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus replies, “I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased.” Matthew tells us that, “the disciples understood then that he had been speaking of John the Baptist.” However, Jesus has more to say, “The Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands.” And so it was to be. In Advent we await the birth of a Saviour, who will suffer and die for our salvation, a Saviour who invites us to share in his sufferings so as to share in his glory.
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.
