Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday - 2nd May 2024

​Today we keep the feast of St Athanasius of Alexandria, the great theologian and Doctor of the Church, who also wrote the life of St Antony of Egypt, the Father of Christian Monasticism. It was Athanasius who, while still a deacon, saved the Church from falling into generalised heresy by combatting and overcoming the Arians at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. It was also Athanasius who, on one of his several exiles in Rome, brought monks from Egypt to Rome. These were soon followed by monk refugees from Syria, whom St Benedict met as a young boy in Nursia. The Universal Church owes a great debt to St Athanasius and we should get to know him better and venerate him more.​

 

​One of the main differences between John and the three Synoptic Gospels is the number of long discourses given by Jesus, whether to his disciples, as after the feeding of the five thousand, or to the crowds in general. The only real parallel, in length at least, is the Sermon on the Mount, that we find in Matthew. The longest of the discourses in John is that of Jesus at the Last Supper, short sections of which we have been reading over the last ten days or so. Today we continue where we left off yesterday with the metaphor of the true vine. You will have noticed that in John the same words, phrases and ideas recur frequently. Jesus had been talking of the union that must exist between his disciples and himself and how this should reflect that union which exists between himself and the Father. As the branches are connected to the vine, so should we remain and make our home in him.

 

Jesus now moves on to the theme of love. If God is love, as we read in John’s First Letter, (1 Jn 4: 7), then any relationship or union with him must be a loving one. “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

In the discourse Jesus says to his disciples (Jn 15: 9-11),

“As the Father has loved me,

so I have loved you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments

you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept my Father’s commandments

and remain in his love.

I have told you this

so that my own joy may be in you

and your joy be complete.”

What powerful words these are. That the love with which the Father loves the Son should be reflected in the love with which the Son loves us is an amazing thought. God raises us to his level. Jesus calls his disciples friends and, in the Old Testament, Abraham was known as the friend of God. Friendship and love make people equals and, in Christ, God raises us up to be his beloved daughters and sons. He invites us to remain in his love, asking us to keep his commandments, which we long to keep because we know that we are loved and our only wish is to love God in return. What greater joy could there be than to remain in God’s love, to live knowing that we are loved by God. In that way, as Jesus says, not only his joy, but our joy too, will be complete. What more could we ask?