Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday - 25th May 2024
Abbot Paul • May 24, 2024
Dear friends, today we keep the feast of St Bede the Venerable, the great English saint, theologian, historian and Benedictine monk. He entered the monastery at Jarrow and Wearmouth at the age of seven and died on this day in the year 735. Although there are special readings selected for his feast, I will simply stick with the Gospel reading of the day. In the Orthodox Church his feast is kept on 27th May. As you know I’m in Greece at the moment visiting friends. Yesterday, with my friend Vasilis, we visited the old city of Thessaloniki and the old market, where we bought incense for our monks in Peru, olives and olive oil, baklava, Greek delight, fruit and cheese. We then had a lazy lunch, washed down with ample amounts of tsipourou, the Greek version of grappa or eau de vie.
Our Gospel passage comes from Mark, (Mk 10: 13-16), and sees Jesus welcoming little children and insisting that his disciples do the same. They are to be cherished and treated with respect. In fact, he recommends that we all become as little children if we wish to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Anyone who does not enter the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” These are powerful words and sum up the life of St Bede. May we follow his example.
Pope Francis RIP Pope 2013-2025 Born 1936, Died 2025 We are deeply saddened at the passing of Pope Francis. As the successor of St Peter he has been a spiritual father and shepherd to the church in our day, challenging us, and calling as to reach out to those on the peripheries. He was the first Jesuit Pope, but took the name Francis after the Poor Man of Assisi who modelled for him a closeness to the poor, a concern for those on the margins of society and a care for all of creation In his preaching Pope Francis always spoke of the joy of the Gospel and encouraged us to reflect the joy of our faith in our lives. He showed the compassion of Jesus to everyone. He worked tirelessly for the unity of the church and travelled even to non-Christian countries promoting a message of peace. He has left a great legacy. With the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio with the community over Easter we were able to express our closeness to the Holy Father in his final suffering. There will be a special Mass at Belmont this Thursday 24th April at 11am to pray for Pope Francis as he makes his final journey to the house of the Father. On the day of his funeral, the Office of the Dead will be sung, and Mass that day will be a Requiem. May the angels lead him into paradise; may the martyrs receive him at his arrival and lead him to the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive him and with Lazarus, the poor man grant him eternal rest." (The In Paradisum, words from the Funeral Liturgy)
We were were honoured and delighted to be joined by the Apostolic Nuncio to celebrate Easter. His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía is the representative of the Holy See in Great Britain, and therefore of the Holy Father. His presence on Easter Sunday morning brought us more consciously in communion with Pope Francis, the successor of St Peter, as we heard the Gospel story of Peter running to the tomb. His patron saint is St Michael, so afterwards, at a festive lunch we were able to present him with some Belmont cufflinks with the monastery coat of arms - very similar to his as Archbishop. We were able to pray for him and his work in this country.
