Praising God in Devon

Dearest friends, Why do we deprive ourselves during Lent? Over the last few years, it has become quite popular to take something up for Lent, rather than giving something up. You can see the attraction. Giving something up makes us uncomfortable – why would you deprive yourself of small treats that make daily life that much easier? The Orthodox church seems to understand this better than we do. Lent gets progressively difficult over the coming weeks.  Instead of giving up…

Dearest friends, Last week we celebrated the feast or Our Lady of Lourdes – In 2018 I took my first pilgrimage to Lourdes. I was expecting – as many people had told me – the Disney Land of the Roman Catholic world.  A place rammed full of souvenir shops and tourist traps – not a place of prayer and healing. ‘Many people’ were entirely wrong (as they often are). From the moment Fr. Sam and I arrived in this tiny…

Dearest friends, I write to you from the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in North Norfolk. It’s a thin place that seems to wash away the detritus of the everyday and leave you feeling rather exposed in front of Jesus. Our Lady has a way of looking into your soul and telling you exactly what you need to take to the altar, what you need to put down, what you need to pick up. We’ve been very lucky to…