Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 28th August
Abbot Paul • August 27, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Sunday, 28th August 2022
I am looking forward to taking part in the Pilgrimage for St David Lewis at Usk today. I last went in the late 1970s, not long before I went out to Peru. I wonder what it will be like, starting up again after the Pandemic. St David Lewis was put to death on 27th August 1679, just five days after his close relative St John Kemble, both victims of the priest hunt that took place as a result of the Titus Oates plot. They were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered only for the crime of being Catholic priests who celebrated Mass for their congregations. It’s interesting to note that Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, together with the town of Brecon, had a sizeable Catholic population throughout penal times, a fact that is often forgotten or ignored. May our martyrs pray for us today, that we might bear witness to our faith in Christ and in the Church that brought the faith to these Isles and has nourished that faith to the present day.
Our Gospel reading today, being Sunday, comes from Luke, (Lk 14: 1, 7-14), an interesting passage, as we see Jesus invited to a meal at the house of one of the leading Pharisees. However, there would appear to be an ulterior motive for the invitation: “they watched him carefully.” Yet, it was Jesus who did the careful watching, “because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour,” as a result of which, “he then told the guests a parable.” Jesus elevates the gathering into a wedding feast and warns people not to go straight for the best places in case someone more important should arrive resulting in their being asked to go down the table to the lowest places. All this to emphasise the importance of humility, “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.” But why the importance of humility? Because God himself is humble, for he took upon himself the very human nature he created, that as a man, Jesus Christ, he could save his people from sin and death and reconcile them to himself in Christ. As St Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” I still enjoy reading John MacQuarrie’s excellent little book, The Humility of God, published in 1978. You should try it.
Jesus goes on to say more, no longer in the form of a parable, this time to his host, as he had seen the quality of the guests invited. “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.” This is sound advice and needs no commentary. As dear Abbot Jerome always used to say, “If only Christians would put into effect what Jesus taught, what a different world it would be.” Amen to that!
On the Commemoration of All Souls, Abbot Brendan reflects on the experience of death within a monastic community, the meaning of Purgatory, and St Benedict’s invitation never to lose hope in the mercy of God.
The Belmont community visit Dowlais, and remember the Benedictine Mission to South Wales as the country remembers the Aberfan disaster.
We welcomed the Knights and Dames from the Midlands and South Wales and thanked God for their mission and service.
A double celebration on the feast of St Michael and All Angels
A School of Love by the Wye: Abbot Brendan on the Cistercians on the Feast of the Holy Cross.
The Blessing of new Icons for the Churches in Stratford-upon-Avon, with inspiring talks by the Abbot Primate and Dr Rowan Williams.
“O Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory abides.”
