Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 17th October 2023

Yesterday was a very special day for the Belmont Community, as Bishop Mark celebrated his 90th birthday and we also gave thanks to God for the 70th anniversary of his Monastic Profession, which took place on 29th September 1953. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, a close friend of Bishop Mark, our own Archbishop Mark O’Toole, retired Archbishop George Stack, the successor to Bishop Mark at Menevia, Bishop Tom Burns, Abbot Nicholas Wetz, and a number of Bishop Mark’s friends came together with oblates and parishioners for the festal Mass of Thanksgiving. It was a wonderfully uplifting celebration, one to remember, and we thank God for the precious gift he has given our community and the Church in this land in the person of Bishop Mark.

 

Today we keep the feast of one of the most attractive saints in the Church’s calendar, St Ignatius of Antioch, the 2nd century bishop and martyr, who wrote a series of letters to various churches as he journeyed through Asia Minor towards Greece and Rome, where he was martyred for his faith. He is an important link between the age of the Apostles and the Early Church. The content of his letters cannot be underestimated nor his importance as a witness to subapostolic Church life and belief. He is also a saint that all Christians recognise and accept to be a Father of the Faith.

 

​Today’s short Gospel passage from Luke (Lk 11: 37-41) provides a good example of what needs to change radically in our world. “A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at the table. The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that he had not first washed before the meal.” Jesus did this on purpose for he knew how the Pharisee would react. It wasn’t hygiene that the Pharisee was interested in, but adherence to the Law, to custom or tradition, we might say. Jesus explains, “Oh, you Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness.” Appearances, hypocrisy and corruption are prevalent in our world, even in our own society. “Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too?” says Jesus. None of the world’s problems will be solved unless human beings experience a radical conversion and change of heart and mind, but you have to want that to start with, otherwise things will stay the same or get much worse. Humanity is at the crossroads of life and death. The Covid pandemic, climate change and the wars in Ukraine and in the Holy Land have made that dramatically clear. Will it really have any effect on the way we think or on the way we live? Pope Francis said of the pandemic, and his words are worth repeating, “The pain, uncertainty and fear, and the realisation of our own limitations, brought on by the pandemic have only made it all the more urgent that we rethink our styles of life, our relationships, the organisation of our societies, and, above all, the meaning of our existence.”