Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 9th May 2023

I’m so glad it was a bank holiday yesterday, as I was able to take advantage of it being a free day to have a rest and even enjoy a siesta. This message, too, will be short, so that I can close down the computer and head for bed after my last walk of the day with Toby. That, too, might well be short as it is raining heavily and neither he nor I want to go to bed soaked through.

 

​Our Gospel passage today comes from John, where we continue reading chapter 14, (Jn 14: 27-31). This is the Farewell Discourse of Jesus to the Twelve, as he prepares them for his Passion, Death and Resurrection and what lies beyond.

“Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you,

a peace the world cannot give,

this is my gift to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

You heard me say: I am going away, and shall return.

If you loved me, you would have been glad to know

that I am going to the Father,

for the Father is greater than I.

I have told you this now before it happens,

so that when it does happen you may believe.

I shall not talk with you any longer,

because the prince of this world is on his way.

He has no power over me,

but the world must be brought to know

that I love the Father

and that I am doing exactly what the Father told me.”

 

 

Has it struck you how often Jesus speaks of his Father in John’s Gospel? Even in this short passage we find Jesus referring to his Father four times. The peace of Christ is his presence in and among us, rather than the absence of discord, suffering or even persecution. Nevertheless, he tells us not to let our hearts be troubled or be afraid, for although, through death, he will leave us, he will rise again on the third day. He is going to the Father, from whence he will send his Holy Spirit upon the disciples, the sign of the Father’s love for them. What is to come will see the disciples confused and afraid, but they should know in advance that the Father loves them and that Christ’s peace will protect them and give them strength and courage. These words he addressed to the twelve at the Last Supper, he now addresses to us. We should never be troubled or afraid, for in Christ, God is with us and will always keep us safe.