Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 20th September 2022
Abbot Paul • September 20, 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.
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Monday 1st to Thursday 4th December 2025. Our first Advent retreat in our newly opened guesthouse
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.
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