Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 2nd March
Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 1st March 2022
On this feast of St David, we pray for the people of Wales, that through the intercession of their patron saint, they may discover anew their Christian roots and that the Lord will touch their hearts to see once more the beauty of the faith they once loved and cherished. Wales is a very different country now to the one I grew up in. Even the landscape has changed dramatically with the demise of industry, the building of so many new roads and the rebuilding of the derelict areas of our large towns and cities. If only the faith had not been cast aside by the great majority of its inhabitants! Were Dylan Thomas around to write Under Milk Wood today, I wonder what it would be like.
Today is also Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins and, in the popular mind, pancake day. It’s called Shrove Tuesday in English as it was the day when people went to church to be shriven, to confess their sins and be given the penance they would carry out throughout Lent in preparation for receiving Holy Communion at Easter. Pancakes were eaten in abundance on this day, many still are, in order to use up milk and eggs that couldn’t be consumed in Lent. Gone are the days, I fear, other than in traditional Orthodox countries.
Our short Gospel passage for today comes from Mark, (Mk 10: 28-31), and presents us with a question from Peter and the answer from Jesus. Peter, speaking for the other disciples too, asks Jesus, “And what’s in it for me?” What will be the reward for being a disciple? We have given up so much, now what do we get back in return? It’s a question people ask all the time. “At that time Peter began to tell Jesus, ‘What about us? We have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land – not without persecutions – now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life. ‘Many who are first will be last, and the last first.’” Peter is never afraid to stand up and ask uncomfortable questions. Jesus is patient and loving and always takes them in his stride. The disciples have left a good deal and made many sacrifices to follow Jesus, but will they get a special reward for what they have done? Peter only begins to tell Jesus, who, before Peter can begin to enumerate the long list of what they have given up, includes that list in his answer. Jesus is aware of the sacrifices made and those yet to come of which Peter might be unaware, and assures Peter that the rewards will be enormously greater. God alone knows the sacrifices made and he alone knows how he will reward us. But our sacrifices are not made with rewards in mind, they are made out of love: love of God, love of our neighbour, simply and unconditionally for love. God, in return, will give us the fulness of his love, he will give us himself. No more will be wanted or required. God will be all in all.
