Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 10th August

Message from Fr Paul for Wednesday, 10th August 2022

 The hot weather is back with a vengeance, at least in Herefordshire. Although I have often lived in hot climates, I am finding this particularly difficult to cope with and most uncomfortable. Of course, our homes were not built for hot weather, but for long, damp Winters. Yesterday I took Toby to his groomer to have his undercoat removed, as it grows so quickly with the heat. He now looks sleek and handsome and a good deal happier. I’ll make sure to attach a photograph.

 Today we celebrate the feast of St Lawrence, deacon and martyr, one of the seven deacons of Rome, who together with Pope St Sixtus II, were martyred under the Emperor Valerian between 7th and 10th August in the year 258. Lawrence was only 32 years’ old and was the Archdeacon, charged with the care of the treasury and alms of the Church of Rome. Even then the Church was truly international, the Pope being Greek and Lawrence coming from Spain. After the death of Sixtus, the Prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth. He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible, so as to prevent it being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church he presented the indigent, the crippled, the blind, and the suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church.

 Our Gospel reading for today comes from John, (Jn 12: 24-25), words spoken by Jesus to his disciples at the Last Supper.

“I tell you, most solemnly,

unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,

it remains only a single grain;

but if it dies,

it yields a rich harvest.

Anyone who loves his life loses it;

anyone who hates his life in this world

will keep it for the eternal life.

If a man serves me, he must follow me,

wherever I am, my servant will be there too.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.”

If ever the words of Jesus summed up the life of a saint, then this short passage perfectly describe the life, faith, ministry and martyrdom of St Lawrence. We think of the saying of Tertullian, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The martyrdom of St Lawrence and his companions certainly brought new life to the Church in the middle of the 3rd century. They “yielded a rich harvest,” and continue to do so. Lawrence, in particular, became a popular saint throughout the world and in the Middle Ages there were a number of churches dedicated to him in Herefordshire alone, one just down the road from Belmont at Preston on Wye. Lawrence was faithful to Christ, especially in his love of the poor and the sick, to his dying breath and followed Jesus through passion and death to the glory of the kingdom of heaven. May he pray for us today, that we might follow his example and so walk in the footsteps of our Lord.