Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 1st February 2023

Many have asked for an update on Fr Alex in Peru. His operation was planned to take place at 7pm (midnight GMT) on Tuesday, so in the course of today there should be news of his progress. Br Mario, who is a doctor, will keep me informed of how Fr Alex is getting on. He is very grateful for your prayers and asks you to continue praying until he is out of danger.

 

​So we come to the beginning of a new month, the second of 2023, and the vigil of the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, the last of the Christmas/Epiphany feasts. Christmas trees and cribs should not come down until tomorrow night. Our short Gospel reading today from Mark, (Mk 6: 1-6), sees Jesus pay a visit to his home town of Nazareth. He went accompanied by his disciples. ”With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him.” As a matter of courtesy, Jesus would have been invited to address the congregation. By now he was so accustomed to preaching and teaching, that he always did so in any synagogue, and Nazareth was no exception. After all, wasn’t it here that he leant the art in the first place?

 

Nevertheless, the people were astounded by his eloquence and wisdom.

They asked one another, “Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?” They were amazed both at his wisdom and at the miracles we wrought. They just couldn’t make it out. They knew him to be a carpenter, but no more. Mary, his mother, is mentioned and four brothers by name and then his sisters. Joseph seems to have been a long time dead, as no mention is made of him. Could these brothers and sisters of Jesus have been children of Joseph’s by an earlier marriage? That’s what tradition tells us and it seems to most probable solution. One thing is certain: the people of Nazareth “would not accept him.” Jesus’ reaction was to say, “A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house.” This saying of Jesus has become proverbial. In Nazareth he only worked a few miracles, but Jesus “was amazed at their lack of faith.”

 

​If Jesus came to our town or village today, would he be amazed at our lack of faith? I often wonder. What do you think?