Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday - 2nd January 2024
Abbot Paul • January 1, 2024
The New Year is well on its way and the days are lengthening fast. The weather is pretty miserable, a lot of rain, and fields flooded all over the county. The dawn chorus accompanied Toby and myself as we walk just before six o’clock each morning, a sign of hope that Spring and new life follow Winter. Our brave robins have begun stalking Toby again. So it is with hope on our hearts that we prepare to celebrate the Epiphany of Our Lord at the weekend. How wonderful that once more we can keep this great Solemnity on its proper date, or as close as possible, and that we can enjoy the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. Can you remember the words of the song and the meaning of what “my true Love” Jesus said to me on each of those days? What a great way to learn the catechism.
Today we celebrate the feast of the influential fourth century Cappadocian Fathers, St Basil the Great and St Gregory Nazianzen, also known as the Theologian. They were close friends, became monks and then bishops, Basil of the small diocese of Caesarea, Gregory of Constantinople. Their writings are still read with enthusiasm today and Basil also wrote a monastic rule, which St Benedict recommends us all to read at the end of his own “little rule for beginners.” It’s a good day on which to pray for the unity of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
Our Gospel passage today was also read during Advent. It comes from John, (Jn 1: 19-28), and recounts the witness or testimony of John the Baptist, when scribes and doctors of the law go out to Bethany from Jerusalem to cross examine him about his true identity. Is he the Messiah or not? When they persist in their questioning, he answers them saying, “I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord.” Not satisfied, they press ahead by asking why is he baptising people, if he is not the Messiah. He replies, “I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.” In fact, apart from a rather oblique mention in John’s Gospel, we know that Jesus did not baptise as John and others did. Their baptism was symbolic of repentance and conversion, whereas the baptism that Jesus came to bring unites us with God the Father, conforms us to Christ himself and fills us with the Holy Spirit, so that we become temples of the Spirit and members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Jesus would wait until after his Passion, Death and Resurrection before baptising through his apostles in the name of the Holy Trinity. Lord, we thank you for our baptism and for baptising us with the Holy Spirit. May we be true to our Christian vocation throughout the year that lies ahead. Amen.
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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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