Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 17th June 2023
Abbot Paul • June 16, 2023
D Day has arrived and the Belmont Parish Summer Fete begins at 2.00pm today. Months of deliberation, planning, preparation and hard work will bear fruit when hundreds of people from all over the county and beyond arrive to take part and enjoy themselves. Let’s hope the good weather holds out and it proves to be a wonderful day for the whole family, their friends and their pets. One of the highlights in the programme and definitely one of my favourite attractions is Josh the Magician. There will be dancers, children’s races, falcons and other birds of prey, stalls and raffles of all kinds, stalls of cakes and biscuits, clothes, books, CDs and DVDs, plants, ornaments, jams and chutneys, teddy bears, strawberry teas, Joey the Juggler, face painting, hook a duck, bouncy castle, children’s craft stall and many more favourites. The more I think about it, the more I am looking forward to it.
The Saturday after the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we keep the Memoria of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for Mary always reflects her Divine Son and can never be separated from him. The Gospel today is the conclusion of Luke’s Infancy Narrative, (Lk 2: 41-51).
“Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.
Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’
‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.
He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart.”
By the age of twelve Jesus would already have been considered a young adult in his culture and religion, so the doctors of the Law were quite happy to dialogue with him, especially as he seemed so wise and intelligent for his age. However, Mary and Joseph take quite another view on the matter. Notice how it is Mary who scolds Jesus and yet it is also Mary who “stores these things up in her heart.” Mary scolds out of love and out of fear at the possibility of losing Jesus, her only Son and Son of God. Hers is a great responsibility, which she has taken seriously from the very moment of her FIAT (Let it be done unto me) and the Incarnation of the Word made flesh.
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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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