Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 8th November 2022

Today I hope to visit my mother together with Toby. We both hope the weather brightens up a little, as it’s grim walking with Toby and attempting to play games in the rain and wind. Yesterday I was blessed at long last to see a physiotherapist, who worked wonders on my neck and shoulder, tendons and right arm. I’ve been in agony, no exaggeration, for the past few months and, although I began treatment in Peru, this is not available in the U.K., at least not locally. Constant pain tends to get one down, so it’s a relief, as I write this, to say that this evening I feel cautiously optimistic!

 

​Our prayers intensify for all those taking part in COP27, asking the Lord, in his goodness, to guide the hearts and minds of the leaders of the nations, rich and poor, as well as those with economic power and activists alike, to come to decisions that are truly achievable and effective.

 

​Our Gospel passage today continues on from yesterday’s reading, so we are in Luke, (Lk 17: 7-10). Jesus is talking with his disciples: “Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, ‘Come and have your meal immediately?’ Would he not be more likely to say, ‘Get my supper laid; make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink yourself afterwards?’ Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So, with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, ’We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.’” This parable is about a master and his servant. The danger for the disciples, especially as they share in the work of Jesus and will eventually be at the heart of the Church to represent him, is that they will begin to look upon themselves not as servants but as masters. Jesus, the true Master and Son of God, Lord of all creation, has always behaved like a servant, doing the Father’s will, and will continue to serve even after his Resurrection. He, the Suffering Servant, who will do his duty by the Father in offering his life as a sacrifice for the salvation of the world, expects his disciples to act in the same way, and to say with him what the servants of the parable say, “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.”