Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 30th August 2023

Yesterday afternoon I visited Canon Paul Millar at Leominster. He was appointed parish priest there, together with the parish of Bromyard, following the death of dear Fr Aidan. He very kindly shared his experiences with me and gave me valuable advice as to the current state of the parishes of northern Herefordshire. Of course, I have visited these parishes many times and said Mass there, as well as appointing monks are parish priests. But now, the boot is on the other foot, so to speak, for it will be my turn to have pastoral care for these wonderful parishes.

 

Today, at Belmont, we keep the feast of the martyr Blessed Roger Cadwallador, who was martyred for his Catholic faith at Leominster on 27th August 1610. He was born at Stretton Sugwas in 1568. He was highly intelligent and well educated, a Greek scholar, and studied for the priesthood at Rheims and Valladolid. After ordination he served in Herefordshire for sixteen years until arrested and gaoled for being a priest. There are detailed accounts of his trial and execution, which was truly horrid. It beggars belief that Christians could do such things to each other, but tragically they did. He was beatified by Pope St John Paul II in 1987. At Belmont we venerate a relic of his cheekbone and teeth. May he pray for his country and for the whole Church and may we follow his example of fidelity to Christ and to his conscience illumined by the Holy Spirit.

 

​Our Gospel passage today carries on from yesterday’s, (Mt 23: 27-32), and contains two further criticisms of the scribes and Pharisees. I think they are sometimes called woes. Each one begins with the refrain, “Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Jesus compares them with the tombs of the dead, clean and white on the outside, but full of bones and putrefied bodies within, for they are men who mislead others by their noble appearance, yet their hearts and minds are full of evil., or as Jesus says, “inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Jesus goes further by accusing them of treating the prophets of today exactly as their fathers treated the prophets of old by shedding their blood and silencing them. They are no more than the sons of murderers. He invites them to carry on the work of their fathers. By this stage in his life and ministry, Jesus can see clearly that he will be taken prisoner, as John the Baptist was, for proclaiming the truth and presenting himself as the Messiah. Let us pray that we do not fall into the evil ways of the scribes and Pharisees, but rather follow in the footsteps of our own martyrs, who were willing to lay down their lives for Christ, his Church and the truth they firmly believed in.