Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 13th September 2022

Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 13th September 2022

 I’ll be brief today as I wasn’t feeling too good yesterday and tried to have an early night. This coming Thursday I’ll be travelling out to Peru, so I hope to be in good shape for that long journey. It’s almost three years since I was last there and this visit includes the Canonical Visitation of the monastery, which I’ll conduct with the help of an abbot from Chile.

 Our Gospel reading today is that of the Raising of the Widow of Nain’s Son, in which Luke shows us vividly the compassion of Jesus both for the living and the dead, (Lk 7: 11-17). This is the only occasion that Nain is mentioned in the Bible. “Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her.” We don’t know why Jesus was there nor why such a large crowd of people was following him. Rather like the confluence of two vast rivers, these large crowds of Jesus’ followers and those accompanying the burial of the young man meet. We are told that the dead man was the only son of a widowed mother. Jesus himself was the only son both of God and of Mary and his mother might well have been a widow by now. This miracle is prophetic of the passion and death of Jesus.

 “When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up.’ And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.’ And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.” Not only is Jesus compassionate, but he can heal the sick and raise the dead. In raising the young man to life and restoring him to his mother, he is saving the woman from certain destitution, as the young man was the only one to care for his mother. On the cross, Jesus will commend his mother to the loving care of the Beloved Disciple.

 Lord God, in Christ Jesus you have visited your people. Have compassion on us today, heal our infirmities and raise our fallen spirits. Amen.