Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 16th March 2023

Well, tonight I’m writing this message not in my cell at the monastery, but in a comfortable, air-conditioned lounge at Lima airport. Because several roads were closed due to flooding, Fr Alex brought me by a way we’d not tried before, and amazingly it took half the time we usually take. Sadly, many homes have been flooded and crops and animals lost here around Lima, Lurin and Pachacamac. Yet, this pales into insignificance when compared with northern Peru and such towns as Piura, Chiclayo, Sullana and Tambogrande. Apart from the rains and the intense heat that accompanies them, it’s been a wonderfully fulfilling visit in many ways and I’ve been very impressed again by my Peruvian brethren. Some will be glad to hear that Fr Alex will be at Belmont in September to lead two icon courses: details in due course. I’ll be adding a few photographs of the community as also of the novices painting paschal candles with Fr Alex.

I won’t say much about the Gospel today as I don’t have it before me. It’s from Luke 11 and is about the power by which Jesus casts out devils, as some were complaining that he did so by the power of Satan himself (herself?). But Jesus reminds them that a house divided within itself is bound to fall, so would Satan cast out his own? This is a call for unity in the Church and for unity among Christians against evil of all kinds. Let us join with Jesus in ridding the world of sin and evil, harbouring in the reign of God and his kingdom among us