Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 26th April
Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 26th April 2022
No doubt you’ll be surprised to hear that in England today we’re celebrating the solemnity of St George, transferred from Saturday because we cannot celebrate feast days during the Easter Octave, just as we don’t during Holy Week. Yesterday was the feast of St Mark and so today is the first free day to which it could be transferred. Not all Churches do this. St George wasn’t always the patron saint of England. In 1348, Edward III founded a new order of chivalry, the Knights of the Garter. Edward made St George the patron of the Order and also declared him Patron Saint of England. Previously our patron saint had been St Edmund, King and Martyr. St George is one of the most popular saints in the world and is venerated by Muslims as well as by Christians. He was born on this day in the year 303 of Greek Christian parents and was probably a soldier in the Roman army. He died a martyr for his faith and gradually his cult spread far and wide. Pope Gelasius I stated in 494 that George was among those saints "whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God." As for the dragon, well, as a soldier he was certainly called upon to slaughter his enemies in battle, but the dragon might have originated in the Book of Daniel or in the Apocalypse. What we do know is that he has always been regarded as a saint whose powerful intercession can be called upon when in serious trouble and when urgent help is needed, especially against sin and evil..
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The Gospel passage for today comes from John, (Jn 15: 18-21), a short passage in which Jesus compares the fate of his disciples with his own. If he is hated, rejected and killed, then we must expect the same, if not literally, at least spiritually.
“If the world hates you,
remember that it hated me before you.
If you belonged to the world,
the world would love you as its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
because my choice withdrew you from the world,
therefore, the world hates you.
Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too;
if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.
But it will be on my account that they will do all this,
because they do not know the one who sent me.”
The very first Christians, who produced the New Testament knew perfectly well from their own experience what it meant to suffer for the faith and what it meant to suffer with Jesus and like Jesus. They remembered the words of Jesus, “A servant is not greater than his master.” In every age, there have been Christian martyrs who have preferred imprisonment, torture and death rather than deny their faith and turn away from following the Lord Jesus. Even today there are men and women suffering in the flesh for their Christian faith and their discipleship of Jesus. Today, of course, there are also more subtle ways in which Christians are persecuted, by ridicule and insult, for example. This happens particularly with young people. How many young people give up their faith at college or university because their fellow students poke fun at them for going to church or saying their prayers. Let us remember to pray for them always and commend them to the prayers of St George.
