Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 20th July 2023
Abbot Paul • July 20, 2023
As I mentioned yesterday, I was in Abergavenny to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Our Lady and St Michael School. It was a joyful and invigorating celebration and it was wonderful to see so many guests present as well as pupils and staff, the entire school. Everything was magnificently organised and the singing and participation by the children truly heart-warming. There was a substantial Catholic population in Abergavenny throughout penal times, served until 1873 by the English Franciscans, at which time the parish became an English Benedictine mission. Throughout the Middle Ages there had been a Benedictine Priory in Abergavenny, a cell of the Abbey of St Vincent, Le Mans, France. Today St Mary’s is the Anglican parish church. Although Our Lady and St Michael’s School opened in 1873, the Franciscans had also provided rudimentary education to catholic children throughout penal times. I attach a painting given to the school of the Parable of the Mustard Seed. It provided the frontispiece for the celebration booklet.
Our Gospel passage today continues from yesterday’s and is one of the most famous sayings of Jesus to be found in Matthew, (Mt 11: 28-30). “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” I seem to remember that it was the Sunday before last’s Gospel, so I commented on it then. This teaching of Jesus is unparalleled in the other gospel accounts. Jesus gives a personal and astonishing invitation to those to whom the Father has revealed his Son and the Son, his Father (Mt 11:25). “Come to me”, he offers to “all you who labour and are overburdened.” To be weary is to be tired not just in your body, but in your soul. It describes not just exhaustion, but exhaustion plus exasperation. It is a state of mental and emotional fatigue. It can be dull or acute and, when it is felt, it increases the temptation to give up and succumb to apathy or depression. Overburdened means to be carrying a heavy load, possibly for some time. Overburdened is a cause for people to be weary. This could include anxiety and hopelessness. The rest that Jesus promises is what weary people seek. Rest restores the vigour and strength necessary to carry on and live a full life in God’s grace. Jesus invites all people, with no exceptions, to enjoy the rest that only he can can give us.
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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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