Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 15th June

Message from Fr Paul for Wednesday, 15th June 2022

 Today, Toby will be going on a short holiday at Cosy Toes, our excellent kennels just two miles down the A465, so that I can be free to look after my mother as she undergoes surgery and takes a few days’ respite care. No doubt I will be given instructions on how to feed the hundreds of birds that use her garden as an all-day restaurant, as well as on how to fend off the squirrels with their magnificent tails and cheeky faces. Some dogs don’t like going into kennels, but Toby loves it and can’t wait to get in. He adores the ladies who look after him and enjoys the company of other dogs. I would like to thank you all for the prayers that are being offered up for my mum. I hope and pray that all goes well and that very soon pain will be a thing of the past. I am more than aware of becoming an old man, but I can’t honestly think of my mother as an old woman. Although physically frail, she has the will power and the mind of a much younger person.

 We continue our reading of the Sermon on the Mount with the Gospel passage we usually hear on Ash Wednesday, (Matthew 6: 1-6; 16-18), where Jesus speaks of almsgiving, prayer and fasting. All three follow the same pattern. Jesus wants his disciples to be generous and to give themselves fully to all three religious activities, that derive from Judaism but have become the very bedrock of Christian spirituality. However, he warns us that we will derive no spiritual reward unless we accomplish these religious practises with humility, faith and purity of heart and never in an ostentatious or proud way, showing off for the benefit of others. It’s sufficient to take just one as an example. Let’s take almsgiving, which comes first in the Gospel narrative.

 “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’”

 So then, we are not to parade our good deeds for others to see, nor should we try to attract their attention. Only God and our own conscience should know. Hypocrisy is a grave sin in Jesus’ book and to be avoided at all costs. True religion and the depth and quality of our faith are known to God alone. Not even we should be aware of it, lest we become filled with an exaggerated view of our own goodness, worth and self-importance. Almsgiving is not about me, but about alleviating the needs of those we help. In fact, Jesus wants his disciples to grow in humility, the mother of all virtues, so that we might thereby grow in faith, hope and love. In all things may God be glorified. Amen.