Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 7th March 2023

Yesterday was a good day and just what I needed. The community here have a monthly retreat day on the first Monday of each month. It’s a day of complete silence apart from morning and evening prayer and Mass. Meals and mealtimes are optional and the short daytime offices said privately. There’s a short conference at 9am and a priest comes in from outside, so the monks can go to confession. It’s a peaceful and relaxed day when people can just rest in the Lord. I wish we had something similar at Belmont. I often long for more silence and the opportunity for extended periods of prayer.

Our Gospel passage today comes from Matthew, (Mt 23: 1-12), but not from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, addressing the people as well as his disciples, criticises the scribes and Pharisees for being unfaithful to their own strict teaching with which they burden ordinary folk. Jesus says, “Do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach.” He criticises their hypocrisy and unwillingness to reduce the unnecessary burden of the Law on ordinary, faithful Jews. He also comments on their pride and love of recognition and adulation. He tells his disciples not to affect titles and honours, but rather to act humbly and with integrity. We need to take these words to heart today, recognising God to be our only Father and Christ our only teacher and master.