Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 14th May 2023
Abbot Paul • May 13, 2023
In John’s Gospel we frequently hear Jesus saying to his disciples. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Today’s Gospel passage, (Jn 14: 15-21), begins that way, but Jesus goes on to say something very important.
“I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever,
that Spirit of truth
whom the world can never receive
since it neither sees nor knows him;
but you know him,
because he is with you, he is in you.”
Jesus promises his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, who like himself will be an advocate, a paraclete (a helper, an intercessor, a consoler), but also the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot deceive or know. So complete will be the giving of the Spirit, that he will be in us to bring life to all we think, do or say. Because of the Spirit’s presence in our lives, Jesus can say:
“I will not leave you orphans;
I will come back to you.
In a short time the world will no longer see me;
but you will see me,
because I live and you will live.”
With the Spirit in our hearts, the presence of Jesus will be even more powerful than before his death and resurrection. The Spirit will make Jesus present to us, both in the Sacraments, in our prayer and at every moment of our lives. In the Spirit, Jesus will be with us for ever and will unite us with the Father. We will live in the embrace of the Holy Trinity. Jesus goes on to say:
“On that day you will understand that I am in my Father
and you in me and I in you.
Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them
will be one who loves me;
and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I shall love him and show myself to him.”
In Christ we are united to the Father and the Father to us, as we will be united to Christ himself in the Spirit. Jesus returns to where he began: with the keeping of his commandments being the wellspring of God’s love for us as it is of our love for God. We will be loved by God, whom Jesus always calls the Father, and by Christ, who will reveal himself to us in love, the Spirit being the source of love.
Br Meinrad and Br Gildas attend a special service with the Benedictine community of St Paul's Outside the Walls with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Honesty and Love Before God: Pharisee and Tax Collector; Pope and King - a homily by Abbot Brendan for the 30th Sunday of the Year.
We are sad to announce that Fr Stephen died on Monday 21st October 2055. He was 94. He died peacefully in hospital, having recently fractured his shoulder. He was a beloved member of the monastic community, who had settled back at Belmont after many years on Belmont parishes, including in Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford and Weobley. He will be much missed. His Requiem Mass will be at Belmont on Wednesday, 5th November at 11.30am followed by burial in the monastic cemetery. The Reception of his Body into the Abbey Church will take place on Tuesday, 4th November, at 5.45pm.
With honoured guests we were delighted to open our doors again of our new guesthouse and conference centre: The Chapterhouse.
"A hymn to the human body." Abbot Brendan's Homily at the annual Mass celebrated at Rotherwas Chapel in Hereford that dates from the 1580s on the feast of the Assumption.
From Francis to Leo: A special event with Christopher Lamb of CNN in conversation with Austin Ivereigh who commentated for the BBC on the transition from Pope Francis to Pope Leo.
On 12th June an Ecumenical Service was held at Hereford Cathedral to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea.
