Fr Alex Swain

Beloved in Christ,

Growing up, it seemed that life would take a rather linear path. I would finish high school, go to college, get my degree, and work in a field related to said degree.

One day I would retire.

One day I would enter eternal retirement (so to speak).

Alas, life was not that simple. There have been many twists and turns (including not doing anything related to my college degree!).

It was not a linear approach, but rather a path with many ups, downs, and side-to-sides.

This is good for us, I think, and good for our development. We are provided with a plethora of experiences from which we can draw from within professional, personal, and even spiritual encounters.

God doesn’t let anything go to waste, of that I am certain!

And today we remember Hugh of Lincoln.

He was born in Burgundy France in the 1100s, and entered a Benedictine monastic order around the age of 15.

Over the span of his life, he transferred to the Carthusians—and then was asked by King Henry II to come to England to support a new monastic community.

Eventually, Hugh became the Bishop of Lincoln.

As Bishop, he held the King accountable for his treatment of the people, cared deeply for the poor and oppressed, and strove to protect the Jewish peoples of his diocese from persecution.

This was not the simple life he had imagined for himself, but it was a life which God used for the betterment of people under Hugh’s auspices.

It is certainly one we ought to emulate, in whatever circles we find ourselves, and in whatever twists and turns we are presented with.

I think, too, on our continued reading from St. John’s Revelation today.

In it the book of life is opened and “the dead were judged according to their works.”

We are reminded that our behavior, our works, how we behave and support those in need in our communities is of profound—even eternal—importance. Bishop Hugh, in the late 1100s did this for his community, and though we may not be bishops, we too are called to do good by and within the communities we find ourselves!

Hugh of Lincoln, pray for us!

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Alex