Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 20th September 2022

Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 20th September 2022

I was overjoyed yesterday to be able to follow most of the service at Westminster Abbey between Vigils and Lauds, when the brethren were engaged in Lectio Divina. In fact, following that magnificent service was a wonderful form of lectio and I felt deeply blessed and rewarded. What an enormous privilege it was, even on the small screen of my mini iPad and wearing headphones! The picture and sound were as clear as a bell. I felt I was there in person. How I envied the young men carrying our beloved Queen’s coffin. Then after Mass, breakfast and Terce, and before the Baptism of an old friend’s grandson, I was privileged to join the procession arriving at Windsor and was able to be present at the burial service at St George’s. It was all profoundly moving and poignantly so, especially the returning of the symbols of regal office to God on the High Altar, from whom she had received them at her Coronation, and the snapping of the staff in two. I kept thinking of those words of Jesus from the Parable in Matthew’s Gospel, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.” Queen Elizabeth’s life and death have been a wonderful and outstanding lesson for us all.