LETTER FROM THE RECTOR

Dear Friends,

I have been very blessed with a beautiful retreat this June, when I went to the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales and stayed at Aberdaron. I went with other Third Order Franciscans, some staying in guest houses and some of us camped on the hills above Aberdaron with its little church of St Hywyn. The Vicar there is Jim Cotter, who by chance was at my priesting 10 years ago this Petertide to support a fellow candidate, at Wimborne Minster in Dorset. Jim is a prolific well known author of prayers and spiritual writings and he led us in some meditations, reflections and worship. A previous vicar of the parish was the poet R S Thomas.

The theme of the retreat was pilgrimage because Bardsey Island, nearby, has been a place of pilgrimage from the fifth century until the Reformation. Bardsey and the Llyn Peninsula are havens of wildlife, they were on spring watch recently, and also of churches associated with Celtic Christian saints and pilgrims. We made our own pilgrimage, by small boat, to Bardsey and the ruins of St Mary's abbey church there. The weather was hot and I climbed to the top of the ' Mountain' (only a few hundred feet, but hard work!) and I looked back to Snowdon and the really huge Welsh mountains. The wonder of creation was before us in the sea, the gulls, seals, puffins, guillemot's and of course sheep (everywhere!). On the following, overcast and damp, day I ventured to St Mary's Well, at the far tip of the peninsular, from where pilgrims set sail for Bardsey Island in ancient times.

Sailing from St Mary's well, off the rocks, was very dangerous and the boats were very frail all those years ago and the sea currents remain powerful and dangerous. Pilgrims literally risked their lives, but were assured of heaven if they died within sight of the holy Island. I wondered if the old dismembered sheep I saw, lying alone among the rocks, had been taken straight to heaven as she expired on her own in that exposed place?

My reading got much needed time on the retreat. I finished a life of William of Glasshampton, the founder of our own local monastery, not far from Kingswinford, which is now a Franciscan house. I also continued with a life of St Francis and began a compelling story of the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa and William of Glasshampton lived saintly lives in the middle to later part of the 20th century, whereas Francis was in the 12th and 13th centuries, but they shared many ideals. They all saw a great value in absolute poverty of material possessions and this allowed them to empty themselves of pride, avarice and covetousness.

They were all completely focused on Jesus and their only object in life was to serve Him as unworthy slaves. They lived with simplicity, being humble yet full of joy for what God was doing in each of their lives. They truly had holy gratitude to God for their vocations and they trusted God completely, attempting what they believed was being asked of them even if they could see no practical way ahead. Theirs was a pilgrimage from a safe and comfortable life to a place where they became completely vulnerable and all for the sake of journeying deeper into Jesus' heart.

What an example for us in our own parish with all the challenges which lie ahead! Less clergy, we are getting older and so many people are disinterested in church-based religion or in any religion at all. These saintly people had so many setbacks and obstacles. William never got the companions at Glasshampton that he fervently desired. He began the monastery and built it up from a ruined stable but he remained a solitary hermit until he died. It was after his death that a religious community was planted there and remains today. God's Will was done, but in God's time and that is very hard for us to bear perhaps?

William, Francis and Teresa all faced uncertainty and doubts as they worked hard for God in sacrificially serving others, in praying for others and in trying to be totally open to God. Their lives became less and less about themselves and their personal wants. Instead they were more and more about God's desires and Will. These people were always conscious of their own failings and shortcomings but they knew in their hearts that God forgave and loved them.

If we can catch even a little of this way of life then we need fear nothing, for God will order everything for His purposes. Whenever they tried to work in the direction they wanted to go, things failed. When they let go and patiently waited for God to open the way for them He did so. Their courage was shown in how they grew to be able to trust Him and allow God to be God. Mother Julian of Norwich had the insight that "All will be well and all manner of things will be well." , for she saw that God holds all things in His hand and He will see that His good intentions will ultimately be fulfilled.

With love

Giles