Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday - 11th May 2024

​Yesterday I had the great joy of spending the day with my mother. The weather was glorious from start to finish with the most wonderful sunset to greet me when I arrived back at Belmont. It was only my third visit home since Toby’s death, so the pain of bereavement was still raw, especially for my mother, who always looked forward to much to our visits. It also meant that I didn’t take a walk on the beach or visit the marsh to see if my favourite orchids are on the way to blooming. However, a dear friend rang us from Brighton and we had a lovely hour’s conversation with him by videocall, which set us up for the weekend.

 

​Our Gospel today takes us back to John, (Jn 16: 23-28), and continues our reading of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples at the Last Supper. He asks them to pray, reminding them that whatever they ask for in his name, they will receive.

“Anything you ask for from the Father he will grant in my name.

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.

Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete”.

In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to say, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” so every prayer has to express the desire that God’s will, not ours, be done. Most surely then we will receive, and our joy will be complete.

 

​Jesus warns his disciples that the time is coming when he will no longer speak to them in metaphors but in plain words.

“I have been telling you all this in metaphors,

the hour is coming

when I shall no longer speak to you in metaphors;

but tell you about the Father in plain words.

When that day comes you will ask in my name;

and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you,

because the Father himself loves you for loving me

and believing that I came from God.

I came from the Father and have come into the world

and now I leave the world to go to the Father.”

Because we love Jesus, the Father loves us, for he loves us in his Son. Christ is the prism through which God sees us and we see God. Jesus then announces his departure, which the Synoptic Gospels describe as his Ascension. John describes this as, “now I leave the world to go to the Father.” But Jesus will not leave his disciples alone and undefended, no, he will send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit, he will continue to be with them and even more so, for he will live in them and they will live in him. Lord, how can we thank you enough for the gift of the Spirit?