Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 30th September 2023

So it is that we come to the end of the month of September and the feast of St Jerome, the great biblical scholar, who translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into Latin. He also wrote extensive commentaries on the books of the Bible and wonderful homilies. He was born in Dalmatia in about 347 and died in Bethlehem in 420, so it is over 1600 years since his death. We also come to the end of the third quarter of the year. How quickly today becomes yesterday.

 

We have the briefest of Gospel passages today, a continuation of yesterday’s, from Luke, (Lk 9: 43-45). “At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.”’ But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said.” Whilst the crowds are full of admiration for the things he is doing, Jesus feels obliged to insist on what he has started telling the disciples, that he is destined to be handed over into the hands of his opponents and those who do not accept his mission to reconcile all peoples with God. Sadly, for the moment, neither do his disciples understand what he is talking about. They cannot envisage a suffering Messiah or one who falls under the power of evil men. Not only that, but they are afraid to ask, but why be afraid of Jesus? Were they fearful of the truth? Was the truth too hard to take? What do you think? Of course, we read the Gospels with the hindsight of 2.000 years’ development of study in Scripture and Theology. What must it have been like to be one of the disciples or even an evangelist? This gives us much to think and pray about as followers of Jesus.