Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday - 15th February 2024
Abbot Paul • February 15, 2024
Yesterday was my mother’s 97th birthday, but as it was Ash Wednesday and I had three Masses to celebrate, at Belmont, Bromyard and Leominster, it was impossible to be with her at home. Fortunately, she had many cards, visitors, flowers and presents, so my presence, and that of Toby, wasn’t missed. All things being equal, we hope to visit her on Monday, when we can have a joint celebration for both our birthdays. When I was a boy, it was always my mother who decided on my Lenten penance. 70 years’ ago, when I was 7, I was told to give up sugar in my tea and coffee, and I’ve been faithful ever since. Later on, it was other things I was ordered to give up: swearing, smoking, staying out late and then, girls! I think that in the case of the latter, her jealousy for her only son came into play: all happy memories now that we can laugh over, but it was no laughing matter then.
Up until Shrove Tuesday, we were reading each day from the Gospel of Mark. During Lent, the daily Gospel passages come from all four Gospels, chosen on a thematic basis. Today’s reading comes from Luke, (Lk 9: 22-25). These two short sayings of Jesus, the first directed towards his disciples, the second rather more general, come just after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter replies, “You are the Messiah, the Christ of God.” Jesus warns his disciples that he might well not be the kind of Messiah they’re hoping for. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’” He speaks to them of his Passion, Death and Resurrection. He will repeat these same words shortly, after his Transfiguration. For the moment, it is more than they can understand, more than they can accept, but he goes on to say that to be a disciple this is the only way to do it. “Then to all he said: ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’” These are powerful, thought-provoking words, not easily understood or put into practice. What can he mean, his hearers must be thinking?
Today, the second day of Lent, Jesus is indicating the path we have to take if we wish to be his disciples and find our salvation in his Passion, Death and Resurrection. Our life, like his, must be the way of the cross, for we cannot follow him unless we are willing to renounce ourselves, take up our own cross every day and walk with him. That’s an interesting phrase, to renounce ourselves, to give up our own will or, better still, to conform our will to God’s will, so that “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That is what Jesus means when he says that I have to lose my life for his sake in order to find it: renunciation of my own will and submission to God’s will. It sounds difficult, even uninviting, but in truth, obedience leads to freedom and freedom to peace of mind. Lord, help me to accept your will this Lent and to take up my cross every day and follow you. Amen.
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