Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 8th February 2023
Abbot Paul • February 7, 2023
It’s impossible to be about our daily work at the moment without thinking of the people affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and the extreme suffering and trauma they are confronting. It’s truly heart-breaking. And that continues to be true of the war in Ukraine, to which I can see no just or peaceful conclusion. Today I also received further news both in the media and personally from friends in Nicaragua of the persecution of the Church in that sad country. I tend not to fall into despair because of my faith in the Resurrection of Jesus and the hope of eternal life, but I do get very sad, very low. I often hear in my head that song that was so popular in the 60s, “Where have all the flowers gone?” and the line, “When will they ever learn?” The words haunted me then and they haunt me now.
Our Gospel passage carries on from yesterday’s: we’re reading Mark, (Mk 7: 14-23). Jesus wants to go deeper with the crowds into what he was saying to the scribes and Pharisees. “Jesus called the people to him and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’” Jesus points to what is truly unclean, our thoughts and actions, and asks us to think about the source of evil. The Pharisees would have us believe that the keeping of a ritualistic law guarantees purity and goodness, but Jesus says this can’t be so. It’s what goes on in our hearts and minds that cause us to be unclean and impure.
Later, at home, he explains to his disciples. “Do you not understand either? Can you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the sewer? It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.” We know full well that what Jesus says is true and we have experienced it for ourselves. The only remedy is repentance and conversion, baptism, faith and grace. Let us pray today that the Holy Spirit will keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts and, through faith, the presence of Christ in our lives. Lord, only you can purify my soul and cleanse my heart. Make me a temple of the Holy Spirit and a living member of your Body. Amen.
Br Meinrad and Br Gildas attend a special service with the Benedictine community of St Paul's Outside the Walls with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Honesty and Love Before God: Pharisee and Tax Collector; Pope and King - a homily by Abbot Brendan for the 30th Sunday of the Year.
We are sad to announce that Fr Stephen died on Monday 21st October 2055. He was 94. He died peacefully in hospital, having recently fractured his shoulder. He was a beloved member of the monastic community, who had settled back at Belmont after many years on Belmont parishes, including in Abergavenny, Swansea, Hereford and Weobley. He will be much missed. His Requiem Mass will be at Belmont on Wednesday, 5th November at 11.30am followed by burial in the monastic cemetery. The Reception of his Body into the Abbey Church will take place on Tuesday, 4th November, at 5.45pm.
With honoured guests we were delighted to open our doors again of our new guesthouse and conference centre: The Chapterhouse.
"A hymn to the human body." Abbot Brendan's Homily at the annual Mass celebrated at Rotherwas Chapel in Hereford that dates from the 1580s on the feast of the Assumption.
From Francis to Leo: A special event with Christopher Lamb of CNN in conversation with Austin Ivereigh who commentated for the BBC on the transition from Pope Francis to Pope Leo.
On 12th June an Ecumenical Service was held at Hereford Cathedral to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea.
