Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 18th September 2022
Abbot Paul • September 18, 2022
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First of all, apologies for possibly confusing you by writing about the wrong Gospel passage yesterday. Blame it on jet lag, but it was entirely my fault. Yesterday after Terce, the short office that’s followed by a long morning’s work, we sorted out and priced for sale the many things I’d brought out for the shop here, paid for from their own funds: medals, crucifixes and statues of St Benedict of all shapes and sizes, and vast amounts of perfumed Greek and Ethiopian incense, which has become very popular in Peru. These will be added to the many items they sell, which are produced by the monks, panettone, bread, smoothies, jams, fruit vinegars, altar wine and even olive oil. I find their hard work and enterprise quite overwhelming. Our photographs show some of the things for sale in the monastery shop.
Our Gospel today comes from Luke, (Lk 16: 1-13), and is the Parable of the Cunning Steward. Some people might say he was wise, others dishonest; he was all three perhaps. Jesus calls him wasteful, and later on dishonest in his astuteness. Jesus wants his disciples to behave justly and honestly and to put God first rather than the wealth of this world, to store up treasure in heaven, as he says elsewhere. (Mt 6: 19-21). In fact, “no servant can be the slave of two masters, God and money,” and yet as money has to be used, let it be used for good and especially for the needs of the poor. There’s is, of course, another way of reading that parable, as essentially the parables are about Jesus and the coming of God’s reign among us. Jesus is that steward who readjusts our debts before the Father by his Death and Resurrection, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And for that, let us give praise and thanksgiving. Amen.
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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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