Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 24th September 2022

Today we celebrate Our Lady of Walsingham and Our Lady of Ransom in England and in Peru the same feast of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. We ask Our Lady’s protection on our families, communities and countries, wherever we might be.

On Thursday evening, Abbot Benito of Las Condes, Santiago, Chile, arrived to accompany me in the Canonical Visitation of our monastery in Peru. The traffic was so bad, it took us three hours to cover the 25 or so miles to the airport. Yesterday, we spent the day organising ourselves for the Visitation with the help of Br Mario, our archivist, and we begin this morning, so we all ask for your prayers that it will be a grace-filled opportunity for our brethren to grow in number and in holiness in the next stage in the life of the community at Lurin. The next four or five days are going to be hard work, but undoubtedly worthwhile.

Our Gospel passage for today comes from Luke, (Lk 9: 43-45), in which Jesus warns is his disciples that he will be taken, will suffer and be put to death, thus fulfilling his work as Messiah and Christ. This was at a time when Jesus was the cause of admiration for all the good he was doing, so it is little wonder that they failed to grasp the meaning of his words. Not only was this hidden from them, but they were afraid to ask. May this encourage us never to be afraid of questioning Jesus and asking him to explain and make clear his teaching. Jesus didn’t come into the world to keep us in the dark, but to shed his light on our lives and help us grow in faith.