St Peter and Paul

Fr Alex is currently in St Louis in the United States running an Icon Workshop. Read about it here . But he is coming back to Britain, to do another workshop in Devon in July. See below if you wish to join it.

Dom Brendan Thomas has been elected as the new Abbot of Belmont

The Prior and monks of Belmont Abbey are pleased to announce the election of Dom Brendan Thomas as the twelfth Abbot of Belmont. Please pray for him and all the community.

​It’s the last day of May, the feast of the Visitation of Our Lady, with which we round off the month dedicated to Mary, the Virgin Mother of God and our Mother too. We remember the visit that Mary made to her elderly relation Elizabeth, who was also expecting a child and was coming to the end of her pregnancy. Mary, who was much younger, hurried to the town where Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah lived, so that she could assist her cousin in the birth of her child. Our Gospel today comes from Luke, (Lk 1: 39-56), and includes that wonderful hymn of praise sung by Mary, the Magnificat. ​“Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’” This is no short journey that Mary sets out on and there is no mention of her taking along someone for company and security. She is young and pregnant. Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit the moment the Angel announced that she would conceive Jesus, the Son of God, in her womb, whereas Elizabeth is filled with the Spirit only when greets the Mother of God, bearing the child Jesus in her womb. The sign is John the Baptist leaping in her womb. Mary remains silent, it is Elizabeth who speaks. Praising God, she utters blessings on Mary, she who is most blessed among women, whose infant in her womb is also blessed. She proclaims Mary to be the Mother of her Lord, Theotokos, God Bearer or Mother of God. The scene is marked with joy, as John leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. Mary is the woman of faith, who believed in the promises of God, or rather put her whole trust in God on account of his promises to her. It is at this point that Mary breaks into song “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour; because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid. Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name, and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him. He has shown the power of his arm, he has routed the proud of heart. He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away. He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy – according to the promise he made to our ancestors – of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.” All the Churches sing this song with Mary each evening at Vespers or Evensong, as each one of us makes this song our own. Like Mary we sing of the Lord’s greatness and of the wonderful things he has done for us and in us. There are times when perhaps we have difficulty recognising God’s blessings. Mary never lost faith in God. As she stood at the foot of the cross, a silent witness to her divine Son’s Passion and Death, she did not give up singing this song in her heart. She sang at his Resurrection and Ascension and she sang with the disciples and the early Church as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Today she sings her song with all those who turn to her for protection, guidance and consolation. She sings her song with those who suffer and with those who rejoice. In any and in every circumstance of our life, Mary is with us as our mother and she sings her song in our hearts. Mary encourages us to turn to her Son and to follow him faithfully. As she hastened to Elizabeth’s house to help her in the hour of her need, so today she rushes to our side and to the side of all who need her. “Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.” Mary will never let us down. Mary our Mother, blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. ​This is my last daily message, let’s say for the time being. I feel the need to take a break, especially as I retire this evening as Abbot of Belmont and look forward to the election of the new Abbot early next week. Please pray for the Belmont community at this important moment in its history. I thank God for all he has done to bless our monastic community both here and in Peru, together with our oblates, parishioners, former pupils, friends, relatives and benefactors, and ask for his continued blessing in the years ahead. May the good Lord bless and keep us all in his love and tender mercy. Amen.

I’m sitting in the Aegean lounge at Thessaloniki Airport waiting for the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, where l will connect with another flight to Birmingham. Although feeling relaxed and rested after my brief visit here, I’m nevertheless filled with trepidation at the thought of clearing my old rooms at Belmont, storing things there and beginning a new life taking care of myself at Leominster and Bromyard. It will be a rather busy weekend to set out on that venture what with First Holy Communions in both parishes, but a clear mind and help from on high as well as from fantastic parishioners and friends will see me through, no doubt. I ended my stay in Thessaloniki by cooking lunch for my friends. I’m looking forward to cooking in my new home. Perhaps I should start taking orders! Our Gospel reading today comes from Mark, (Mk 10: 46-52), the account of the healing of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, who was sitting at the roadside on the way out of Jericho. When he hears that Jesus is passing by, he calls out for help. When scolded by people standing by, he shouts all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me.” He is so excited when Jesus calls him that he jumps for joy and casts off his cloak. When asked by Jesus, “What can I do for you?” He simply replies, “Rabbuni, Master, let me see again.” He only asks for what he needs, nothing more, nothing less. What a model for prayer this is, and Jesus grants his request, saying, “Go, your faith has saved you.” But he doesn’t go, he remains and follows Jesus, becoming a disciple, another example for us to follow.

Yesterday was my last whole day in Greece and most of it was spent talking with my friends, discussing care options for the future as both become frailer and in greater need of help. Fortunately they have two lovely carers who come in on alternate days to help them, but soon this may not be enough. I thank God that, for the time being, I am well enough and enthusiastic enough to contemplate a new ministry in the parishes of Bromyard and Leominster, obviously with the help of many lay volunteers among parishioners. As you know, May 31st will be my last day as Abbot of Belmont and over the weekend I will move to the parish house at Leominster. I also feel that this would be a good time to stop writing this daily message for the time being until I see how to consider something similar in the future. I began writing this daily message in March 2020 as a result of Covid and the first lockdown. With just one or two exceptions, I’ve written a message every day since then. I thank my readers for your encouragement and prayers and assure you of my prayers and remembrance in my daily Mass. This evening I will be travelling back to England via Frankfurt and look forward to being welcomed home by a dear friend at the airport. Today the Church remembers Pope St Paul VI, who died on the feast of the Transfiguration, 6th August 1978, at the age of 80. I remember that day so well, as Fr Dyfrig and I were on holiday in Italy and staying at the Abbey of St Paul outside the Walls. We were taking a stroll in the gardens after supper when the news came that this great pope had passed to his eternal reward. Today’s Gospel passage comes from Mark, (Mk 10: 32-45), in which Jesus gives his disciples a lesson on humility after they have been quarrelling amongst themselves as to who is the greatest among them. “Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to become first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That is how we should all behave. We can find no better example than in Pope St Paul VI.

Yesterday was a wonderful day in so many ways. It was a particularly happy day spent with my dear friends Sandra and Vasili. We have been close friends since our student days in Thessaloniki in the mid sixties. In the morning Vasili and I drove down into the city to visit the excavations of the Roman agora, a couple of Byzantine churches, of which Thessaloniki has many, and a number of Ottoman buildings being restored at present. There is just so much to see in this amazing city, greatly loved by St Paul and his companions. On our return, I celebrated Mass for Sandra, who is a Catholic, and her delightful Filipino carer, Cheryl. It was powerfully prayerful: we felt the touch of God as we walked with Jesus. And so the day continued in God’s presence in the most extraordinary way, sitting in the garden and reminiscing over old photographs. As always, I also chatted with my mother, who enjoyed speaking with Sandra and Vasili. My mother loves chatting with my friends: she seems to be energised by them. Our Gospel reading today comes from Mark, (Mk 10: 28-31), in which Peter questions Jesus on the reward he and his companions will receive for leaving everything that was dear to them in order to follow Jesus. He assures them that they will be repaid a hundred times over in this world, though not without persecutions, and, in the world to come, eternal life. Jesus caps this promise by saying, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” This is a warning we all need to heed, that we shouldn’t take things for granted, but truly dedicate our lives to the Lord.

Today in England we keep the Solemnity of St Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent to England by Pope St Gregory the Great at the end of the Sixth Century to convert or reconvert the English people to the Christian faith. He was a monk who lived according to the Rule of St Benedict and arrived in Kent with forty companions not only to evangelise the English but also to bring monastic life following the Benedictine tradition. May he intercede for us today. Yesterday I was so busy that I didn’t get the opportunity to write a message for today. I do apologise. I share a few photographs of flowers taken during a ride in the countryside to the north of Salonica. Be assured of my prayers.

Yesterday I went to the local Saturday market in Thermi, twenty minutes away from Panorama, where my friends live, with Vasili, who bought vast quantities of fruit, vegetables and meat. I’m not quite sure who’s going to eat it all, but we’ve certainly made a start. As everyone knows him, whatever he buys is taken immediately to his car. No need to lock cars in Greece! As he’d forgotten his stick, we walked hand in hand through the open air market, crossing roads without looking out for traffic. Everything stops for Vasili, even now that he’s retired, just as it did when he was Greece’s top urologist/oncologist. It was he and his team who saved my life fifteen years’ ago when I had major surgery for cancer in Thessaloniki. Today I can say that I’ve never felt better in my life and I owe that in great part to him. Today we keep the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, an unusual feast as it celebrates a theological truth rather than an event like Christmas, Epiphany, Easter or Pentecost. Our Gospel passage is taken from Matthew, (Mt 28: 16-20), where Jesus meets the Eleven in Galilee after his Resurrection. We see the uncertainty of the disciples, some clearly recognising him to be Jesus, their risen Lord and God, while others are unsure. He says to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commandments I gave you.” So they are to baptise and teach, not simply to baptise. It’s important to remember that catechesis and sacraments must go hand in hand. We cannot and should never have one without the other. Finally, he promises them, “Know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time.”