Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 4th January 2023

You will have seen on television or on the Internet the vast crowds queuing in St Peter’s Square and filing through the vast basilica to pay their last respects and say a prayer before the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Although we are not physically present in Rome, in the silence of our hearts we can accompany the pilgrims as they wait and pray. Tomorrow, we can be spiritually present at his Requiem, praying for the repose of his soul, and we can make a spiritual communion. No matter how great and wonderful a man he was, he still needs our humble prayers to see him safely on his journey to heaven. If you have any difficulty seeing the funeral on Thursday morning, then the Vatican Channel on YouTube or Facebook will be live-streaming the Requiem Mass celebrated by Pope Francis.

 

​Our Gospel today continues our reading this week of John’s Gospel, (Jn 1: 35-42), in which some of John the Baptist’s disciples become the first disciples of Jesus. This is a fascinating passage as it offers a viable alternative to how Jesus came across his first disciples. John explains that they had first been followers of John the Baptist, as Jesus himself could well have been.

“As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour.

  One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ – which means the Christ – and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.”

 

We must not forget that it was the Baptist who pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, the one on whom the Spirit descended after his baptism, indeed the one who would baptise with the Holy Spirit, and not only with water as a sign of repentance. Again, John points to Jesus as the Lamb of God, only this time to two of his disciples, who, to begin with, are not mentioned by name. Soon we are told that the first to follow Jesus was Andrew, who the following day called his brother, Simon Peter, to go with him to see Jesus again, telling him, “We have found the Messiah, which means the Christ.” When Jesus sees Peter he says to him, “You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.” Andrew had been fascinated by Jesus, even accepting his invitation to go and see where he was living. How are we to evangelise today if not by following Andrew’s example and sharing with others what we have discovered ourselves. Would Peter have come to faith without Andrew? Faith is a living flame, that sets fire to people’s hearts. We must not be afraid to pass on this flame.