Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 26th September 2023

​Today the Church remembers the twin 3rd century physician martyr saints of Syria, Cosmas and Damian, so popular in the early Church that they even appear in the Roman Canon. They are the patron saints of medicine and pharmacy and were renowned for attending to the sick without any charge. So many miracles were wrought through their intercession that their cult spread throughout Europe and the Middle East. One of the small medieval churches well worth visiting in Herefordshire is that of Saints Cosmas and Damian at Stretford, just a few miles south of Leominster off the A4110. You mustn’t miss it. May this day’s saints pray for doctors, surgeons, nurses and pharmacists and for the NHS.

 

​Our short Gospel reading from Luke, (Lk 8: 19-21), focusses on a visit made to Jesus by his mother and other family members. “The mother and the brothers of Jesus came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. He was told, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.’ But he said in answer, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.’” Jesus uses their visit to teach the crowds who follow him what it means to belong to God’s family, the family of the faithful. All can be the brothers and sisters of Jesus if they “hear the word of God and put it into practice.” We are not told by Luke why it is that his mother and brothers wish to see him, nor are we told whether he left the crowds in order to them. We know that his mother is Mary, the wife of Joseph the carpenter, but who are these brothers? Could they have been the sons of Joseph by an earlier marriage? Tradition points in that direction. Personally, being an only son, I’ve often wondered what it must be like to have brothers and sisters. One of the sorrows I’ve carried through life is that of not having a brother or sister. I envy those who do. Yet Jesus has chosen and called me to be one of his brothers and for that I’m truly grateful.