Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 13th July
Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 13th July 2021
Today the Church remembers in its calendar St Henry, who was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014 until his death on this day in 1024 and is renowned for his holiness and devotion to the monastic life. As he was a Benedictine oblate, he is the patron saint of Benedictine oblates. There is a vast amount of information about him in books and on the internet. Our thoughts and prayers today are with all our oblates, that as lay people living and working in the world, they will remain faithful to their Benedictine spirituality and affiliation and may derive many graces and blessings from their following the Rule of St Benedict.
At Belmont we have another reason to rejoice and give thanks to our heavenly Father, for Bishop Mark celebrates the 63rd anniversary of his ordination to the sacred priesthood. We pray for him and offer him our congratulations.
In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, (Mk 11: 20-24), Jesus reproaches the towns in which most of his miracles took place, because they have refused to repent. “Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.” Jesus laments the fact that the populations of these three towns, in which he has healed and forgiven most, are the very people who have not repented of their sins and returned to God. They have rejected Jesus and the Good News he has come to preach. He compares them to towns with pagan populations he has visited on his travels and a well-known historic example, Sodom, famous for its sinful ways. These people would have listened and repented, but those he has favoured, sadly no. We hear Jesus express sorrow and disbelief at the lack of response to his mission and call to salvation. You can sense his frustration at their lack of acceptance, not only of himself, but of his teaching and of God’s loving mercy shown in his miracles. Perhaps we too feel the same today at the Church’s apparent lack of success in touching the hearts of the majority of men and women. We should not lose heart, for Jesus didn’t stop there or give up, no, he persevered to the end, to his passion, death and resurrection. Today he invites us to follow his example and to persevere in the mission he has given each one of us to proclaim our faith, thus leading others to conversion and redemption, through the example of our lives and the integrity of our commitment to Christ and to his Gospel of salvation.
