Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 20th January
Message from Fr Paul for Thursday, 20th January 2022
This year the material being used by all the Churches for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has been prepared by Christians in the Middle East, the few now left living and praying in that troubled part of the world. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, modern-day Turkey, Armenia and their neighbours form the very cradle of Christianity. It’s where it all began and flourished. That is something we must never forget and the debit we owe these ancient communities is incalculable. A tree cut off from its roots withers and dies.
Our Gospel reading for today comes from Mark, (Mk 3: 7-12), and recounts how crowds from all over the region would come to see Jesus in large numbers. Let’s read what Mark has to say: “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, and great crowds from Galilee followed him. From Judaea, Jerusalem, Idumaea, Transjordania and the region of Tyre and Sidon, great numbers who had heard of all he was doing came to him. And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed. For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he warned them strongly not to make him known.”
No matter where Jesus and his disciples went, the crowds would follow. They came not only from Galilee, but from much further afield. Even in those days, the word spread, although not at such speed as now with our multiple means of communication. Perhaps then the news was better filtered than it is now, when we are in danger of being submerged in news, non-news and fake news. In any case, it’s now the media that decides for us what is news and what isn’t. We can be easily manipulated! Getting into a boat would save him from being crushed by the crowds. There were times he would preach from a boat, so as to be seen and heard. He had healed so many that the crowds would press around him, if only to touch him. Remember the Beatles or St John Paul II? Of course, Jesus had no protection, neither from those who longed for his healing touch nor from his enemies. But it was the unclean spirits, who recognised him for who he was, for they trembled at his presence. “You are the Son of God!” However, this was not the way he wanted people to know him. Knowledge of Jesus and his friendship were to come from a personal encounter with him and not from mass hysteria. Lord, may we come to know you as you know us and may our friendship with you be personal, intimate and sincere. Amen.
