Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 5th December 2023
Abbot Paul • December 4, 2023
Yesterday and today the Belmont Community is holding its Annual Conventual Chapter, when together the monks review the year’s work and its daily life, whether at Belmont, in Peru or on our parishes. We also look at important aspects of our life such as safeguarding, pastoral outreach and finances. When you read this short message, we’ll probably be looking at last year’s accounts with our auditors or perhaps studying our investment policy to see whether it follows the Church’s teaching in the recent document to come from Rome, Mensuram Bonam. No doubt there will be a number of monks with headaches in the room after the morning’s session.
Today’s Gospel passage comes from Luke (Lk 10: 21-24). It begins with a prayer of thanksgiving that Jesus addresses to his heavenly Father. Luke tells us that Jesus is, “filled with joy by the Holy Spirit.” In this short phrase, we find two central themes of Luke’s Gospel, joy and the Holy Spirit, who is the source of our joy. “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.” Jesus always begins his prayers to the Father with blessing and thanksgiving, a model of prayer for us. The mysteries of the kingdom are revealed in Jesus to those who follow him and open their hearts to God’s grace. We are those “mere children” and in Jesus we can see and know the living God.
In private, Jesus says to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.” We, like the disciples, see and hear what the prophets and kings of Israel longed to see and hear. We can see this clearly in the Prophet Isaiah, whose writings we read in Advent. Today’s Mass is no exception. If you have a Daily Missal, then do read carefully Isaiah 11: 1-10. You will recognise the text, it’s so beautiful and well-known. It begins, “A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, we thank you for revealing yourself to us in your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. May we come to know and love you more deeply and more surely this Advent. Amen
On the Commemoration of All Souls, Abbot Brendan reflects on the experience of death within a monastic community, the meaning of Purgatory, and St Benedict’s invitation never to lose hope in the mercy of God.
The Belmont community visit Dowlais, and remember the Benedictine Mission to South Wales as the country remembers the Aberfan disaster.
We welcomed the Knights and Dames from the Midlands and South Wales and thanked God for their mission and service.
A double celebration on the feast of St Michael and All Angels
A School of Love by the Wye: Abbot Brendan on the Cistercians on the Feast of the Holy Cross.
The Blessing of new Icons for the Churches in Stratford-upon-Avon, with inspiring talks by the Abbot Primate and Dr Rowan Williams.
“O Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory abides.”
