Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 16th December 2023
Abbot Paul • December 16, 2023
So the Second Week of Advent comes to an end and we prepare to set out on the final eight days marked by the Great O Antiphons. Unusually, tomorrow Gaudete Sunday coincides with O Sapientia, so there will be a lot to think about and pray for. The horrific situation in Gaza surely can’t go on for much longer. Can there be anything left to bomb? How can we just stand by and see what is happening there? I just can’t get my head around the desire for war, destruction and death, but I realise that Hamas started this and have led Israel into a trap which seems to have no way out other than total destruction and revenge. In what is left of Advent, let us step up our prayers for peace and that somehow a solution might be found to bring about a just peace and lasting coexistence between Israel and Palestine.
It’s so late tonight, after my exhausting day in Lima, that I won’t write anymore. Please forgive me. I’ll add a few photographs of the church of Santo Domingo, including the tombs of St Rose of Lima and St Martin de Porres, where I prayed for all my readers.
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28th November at 6.45pm You are welcome to join an informal service for healing prayer on the last Friday of November. No need to book.
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Monday 1st to Thursday 4th December 2025. Our first Advent retreat in our newly opened guesthouse
Good Shepherd, Good Priest “I will seek the lost and bring back the strayed; I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” Those words, spoken by the Lord God through the prophet Ezekiel, describe the heart of God, the Good Shepherd — but they also describe the life and ministry of a good monk and priest. They could well be written of Fr Stephen’s years of service as a pastor in Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford, and Weobley. In each of those places, he shared in the Shepherd’s work: seeking out the lost, binding up the wounded, strengthening the weary, and leading God’s people with quiet faithfulness. And like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who came close to his people, Fr Stephen did not serve from a distance. He knew his people; he was among them. He shared their sorrows and their joys, their hopes and their disappointments. He bore their burdens with prayer and patience he brought the joy of the Gospel and the grace of the Sacraments. His mission amongst us is complete. He has served God’s good purpose. So today we ask Christ the Good Shepherd to take Stephen on his sacred shoulders and carry him home to the house of the Father. Bind up his wounds, give him eternal rest and lead him at last to the green pastures and still waters of eternal life.
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