Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 11th June
Abbot Paul • June 10, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Saturday, 11th June 2022
The days of the month are creeping relentlessly towards the Summer Equinox and soon the days will shorten and the nights begin to draw in. As our organist, Jonathon, said to me yesterday, we’re on the road to Advent, only six months to Christmas. One can’t help but wonder what Summer, Autumn and Winter hold in store for us, what with the war in Ukraine showing no signs of coming to an end and prices continuing to rise, often to double, from day to day. I see that quite clearly as I help my mother to do her shopping online and we discuss price hikes in gas and electricity. I must put a word in here asking readers to support our local food banks, as more families feel the pinch and the breech between rich and poor grows ever wider, a sad indictment for a country like the UK.
Today, we keep the feast of St Barnabas, a native of Cyprus and a Levite, who became one of the leading members of the Christian community at Antioch, having been sent there from Jerusalem, and a companion of St Paul in his first missionary journeys. He is called an apostle, but was not one of the Twelve. He was at the Council of Jerusalem together with Paul, which took the far-reaching decision to allow Gentiles to become Christian without having to observe the entireJewish Law. I never cease to be amazed at the daring of the early Church in taking enormous and unexpected leaps in faith in order to preach the Gospel to non-Jews and bring all peoples to salvation in Christ. Barnabas was instrumental in this.
In our short Gospel passage from Matthew, (Mt 5: 33-37), Jesus emphasises to his disciples the importance of always telling the truth, so being people who can be trusted. There is no need to be making oaths all the time. If people know that you always speak the truth, then you will be trusted without recourse to oaths, swearing by this or by that. If you can’t keep an oath, or a promise for that matter, then don’t make one. That is the sensible, practical advice that Jesus gives us. Now it’s up to us to act on his word.
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