Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 16th March

Abbot Paul • March 15, 2022

Message from Fr Paul for Wednesday, 16th March 2022 

 It was a tremendous privilege to receive the body of our dear friend and neighbour, Dame Catherine Wybourne, just before Vespers last night. Sr Catherine, as many of you will know, was a Benedictine nun who reached out to hundreds of thousands online with her deep faith, penetrating wisdom, sharp wit and practical common sense. We will miss her, but her writings will still be out there for us to read over and over again. She will be buried together with the monks, an honour and a joy for us all, May her great soul rest in peace. Amen.

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 Our Gospel today comes from Matthew, (Mt 20: 17-28), and is about humility, the mother of all virtues, as without humility, nothing else matters. It is intimately related to trust in God, charity and moderation, the forgotten virtue and the one that needs to be remembered most in our modern world. Jesus is going up to Jerusalem for the last time and on the way, he takes his disciples aside to speak with them. He says, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.” This is not the first time that he has spoken with them like this. Jesus is quite clear in what he says and graphically describes what will soon happen, so it comes as quite a shock when we see the reaction of two of this disciples in the next paragraph. 

“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’” The first thing we might find odd is that Zebedee’s wife’s name is not mentioned and that she’s simply known as the wife of someone. Not only does she ask that her sons sit at the right and left hands of Jesus in his kingdom, but also wants him to promise her as much. She is as insistent as a mother can be. Did her sons put her up to it or were they embarrassed by an over-eager mother anxious for her sons to get on in life? What did she understand by the word kingdom, an earthly realm? I should imagine so, which is why he tells her that she doesn’t know what she’s asking for. Her sons are with her, so Jesus turns to them and asks them if they are prepared to die with him, which is what to drink his cup means. They say they are ready to do so, but they probably don’t understand either. Jesus is kind and gentle with his disciples, telling them they can certainly drink of his cup, but that the places in the kingdom will be allotted by his Father.

 Next, we read of the indignation of the remaining ten. “When the other ten heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Jesus’ aim is to keep the disciples together as a community of brothers, healing on any sign of disunity or dissention. They are not to behave like men in civil society who hanker after worldly power and position. Their behaviour is to be the exact opposite. They must be servants to one another. The word Jesus uses is slaves. They must serve one another and treat each other as equals, for that is what God’s children are. Jesus reminds them of his own behaviour. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” If this is what Jesus does, should a disciple, should we act differently? We, too, are called to serve and to give our lives that others may have life, God’s life of grace, to the full.


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Bishop Mark Jabalé OSB RIP Given at his funeral by Dom Alexander Kenyon Baby Jean Pierre (Mark) Jabale was born on October 16th, 1933, in Alexandria, Egypt. As he said, himself, his background could be considered “cosmopolitan”: his father was Lebanese / French and his Mother, British / Greek / French. He also reminded people that he wasn’t Egyptian. Through his mother, Arlette, he was related to St. Jean Vianney, so it was, perhaps, no surprise that he followed in his priestly footsteps. His father, Jean, was MD of Fiat and Simca cars Europe and, maybe surprisingly or not, he did love a car – not, however, Italian cars, but German; he loved his Audis. Perhaps we should begin today by remembering his mother and father, his brothers Christian and Paul and his nieces, here today, Aline and Nathalie and Isabelle and their families – they were so dear to him and he to them and I know they miss him enormously. Young Jean wanted to join the Navy and came to England, to Belmont Abbey school but the Lord had other ideas – he ended up joining the rather land locked monastery, our dear, late Fr. Raymund opining that he wouldn’t last a month. After a rather uninspiring course of priestly studies (his words, not mine) he studied for a Licentiate in French literature in Fribourg, then a Dip Ed at Strawberry Hill and played Rugby there – the Papist Witch Doctor as he was affectionately known. Teaching followed, at Belmont, Housemaster, acting Headmaster, then to Alderwasley, our prep school in Derbyshire as Headmaster, and then back to Belmont soon after as Headmaster. In 1983 he went to Peru to build our first monastery there only to realise there was little money. So, he returned to the UK to put in a stint of fundraising with his usual zeal and determination. With his mission accomplished he was asked by Abbot Alan to return to Belmont as his prior in 1986 – Peru remained close to his heart. In 1993 he was elected Abbot. In his time as Abbot, he had to preside over the closure of the school, necessary but no less painful for him. In 2000 he was appointed coadjutor Bishop of Menevia and succeeded Bishop Mullins in 2001. He retired as Ordinary in 2008 and “retired” to Chipping Norton as parish priest, then Hendon, saying Mass for the nuns and helping with confirmations. After a spell at Archbishop’s House, Westminster, living with his great friend Cardinal Nichols, he came home to Belmont – it was as though he had never been away and he loved being back in the monastery, particularly praying the Office with the community. That’s the list, of sorts, but it doesn’t really say “who” he was. I haven’t mentioned his outstanding contribution to rowing – the 1979 coxless, lightweight four gold medal at the world championships in Bled, which almost didn’t happen as, at the last minute, he was told there was no money to send the crew. He begged, cajoled and got them there – the video footage of the final is compelling. He transformed Henley Royal Regatta, writing a computer programme for the race results – he was well ahead of his time. He coached the Oxford Boat, ran the Heads of the River Schools Regatta, and more. What an achievement from someone who had never sat in a boat but learned on the job, as he said, “from books, mainly”. It was his determination, his commitment, his love of people and his drive to share what he had that is, perhaps, one of the key things to celebrate about him. And it was underpinned by his rock-solid faith – nothing overly pious, nothing showy, but a faith and a love of the Lord built on granite. Even his occasional lack of patience (sorry Mark) extended to that faith; ‘why won’t God call me?”. At the risk of being irreverent my response was always “would you want you?”. But God did want him, and he knew it. God had a purpose for his Apostle during his life and he now rests with Him in eternity. His purpose was, simply, to bring the joy of the Lord into the lives of others, in many and varied ways. A few weeks before Mark died, Pope Francis died. When the late Pope was seriously ill the son of friends of mine who entertained Mark and I to lunch regularly, was distraught at overhearing mum and dad say the Pope may die. He couldn’t stop crying. “But darling”, they said, “you don’t know the Pope, why so very sad?”. “We do know him” came the reply, “it’s Mark”. “No, Mark isn’t the Pope”. “Oh, so when the Pope does die will Mark be Pope then?”. Mark loved that one. When Mark himself did die said son would only be pacified by picking flowers from the garden and bringing them to church for him. He wanted to show how much Mark meant to him and wanted to give a little something back. That is the real biography – a man loved, respected, a man who shared what he had, above all his faith, a man who touched so many lives and made them better.  Rest in peace our dear friend.
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