Message of Abbot Paul - Trinity Sunday - 26th May 2024
Abbot Paul • May 25, 2024
Yesterday I went to the local Saturday market in Thermi, twenty minutes away from Panorama, where my friends live, with Vasili, who bought vast quantities of fruit, vegetables and meat. I’m not quite sure who’s going to eat it all, but we’ve certainly made a start. As everyone knows him, whatever he buys is taken immediately to his car. No need to lock cars in Greece! As he’d forgotten his stick, we walked hand in hand through the open air market, crossing roads without looking out for traffic. Everything stops for Vasili, even now that he’s retired, just as it did when he was Greece’s top urologist/oncologist. It was he and his team who saved my life fifteen years’ ago when I had major surgery for cancer in Thessaloniki. Today I can say that I’ve never felt better in my life and I owe that in great part to him.
Today we keep the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, an unusual feast as it celebrates a theological truth rather than an event like Christmas, Epiphany, Easter or Pentecost. Our Gospel passage is taken from Matthew, (Mt 28: 16-20), where Jesus meets the Eleven in Galilee after his Resurrection. We see the uncertainty of the disciples, some clearly recognising him to be Jesus, their risen Lord and God, while others are unsure. He says to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commandments I gave you.” So they are to baptise and teach, not simply to baptise. It’s important to remember that catechesis and sacraments must go hand in hand. We cannot and should never have one without the other. Finally, he promises them, “Know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time.”
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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.