The Year of the Word: The Gospel of Matthew
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has dedicated 2020 as a year of focus on the Bible and ‘The God Who Speaks’.
During the year, we will be celebrating, living and sharing God’s word through a series of monthly Study Days at Ampleforth Abbey, with different speakers helping us to reflect and celebrate God’s Word in a variety of ways.
The second of the monthly days devoted to the Bible in this Year of the Word was led by Fr Henry Wansbrough OSB (W53). As the Sunday gospel readings for this year are chosen from Matthew, he concentrated on the theology of the gospel, and especially on Matthew’s account of the Baptism of Jesus, which is significantly different from Mark’s account.
The story of the Testing of Jesus in the desert of Judaea is also significantly expanded. These accounts were brought to life by Fr Henry’s photographs of the two scenes, and also by the story of the occasion when he was mugged by bandits in that very desert of Judaea.
The group was small but lively, which gave plenty of opportunity for discussion. Afterwards, the whole group moved to attend the monastic Day Office in choir and then to an excellent soup-and-cheese lunch in the Tea Room.
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