Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 3rd August 2023

Message from Fr Paul for Thursday, 3rd August 2023

I really enjoyed watching some of the World Youth Day events from Lisbon yesterday, including the arrival of the Holy Father from Rome and the first celebrations in which he has taken part. Most impressive, of course, are the young people themselves: the enthusiastic expression of their faith is contagious and brings tears to the eyes, reminding us oldies of what the faith meant to us when we were young. With this generation of young Catholics, there is much hope for the world. We thank God for them and pray that their faith be strengthened and nurtured by the love of Jesus in the experience of Lisbon.

 With today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, (Mt 13: 47-33), we come to the end of this section of parables with the Parable of the Dragnet, which we have already read and discussed in recent days. This year we’ve had a double dose, so to speak, because we have been reading Mathew both on Sundays as well as during the week. Jesus is not suggesting that fishermen use dragnets as a preferred method of fishing, far from it. It is merely an example of what will happen at the end of the world, when good and bad will be called before the Lord on Judgement Day and all are judged. Yet another interpretation of the parable could be that the fish and other forms of marine life that are of no use are thrown away. Is it possible that they are thrown back into the sea, where they are given another chance to become useful and good? There’s a thought for us: we all would like a second chance, even of this life. Sadly, at the end of time there won’t be a second chance, but I firmly believe in Purgatory, where there might well be flames and weeping, but only for the purpose of purification and expiation. If we can get but a toenail into Purgatory, we will have made it. God, in his mercy, will do the rest for us through the saving merits of the Cross of Jesus,

 At last, the disciples say they understand. Had they had enough of parables by this stage and took the easy way out to get Jesus to stop? We won’t ponder on that possibility. Jesus does express the hope that his disciples, and we with them, will be “like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old.”

Let us pray for the gift of being able to teach by way of parables taken from our own world and that of our hearers, as we share our faith with others today.