Shalom by David Lord

I had the use of a car over the weekend, as I said in the last Blog entry. As it was the Feast of the Visitation, the meeting of Mary and Elisabeth while pregnant with Jesus and John the Baptist, I decided to get away from Cambridge, and go to mass on the Saturday somewhere further afield. This Feast is particularly important for the joy and reconciliation we hope to achieve in The Little Sisters of Joy. And, for a meeting of the Old and the New.

Having phoned the priest the night before, I jumped in the car at 7.45 am on Saturday morning and drove down to Swaffham in Norfolk, on the road to Walsingham.
Feeling the need for a little rest and a coffee in Brandon, I came to a hotel I had not noticed before. Tea and toast was only a couple of pounds and inside I met the handyman, David Lord, known as 'Lordie.'

Not young, but still handsome, I discovered he was Jewish like me. And sensitive, with a keen talent for writing words to express our human condition. His lyrics, for that is what they are, have not been set to music, so I hope to do that, or get my friend Sue, who writes wonderful peace songs, to set it so that it can be accompanied on the guitar. But in the meantime I wanted to share with you his words, which I find very moving.

Never mind, my sons,

They'll write your names in stone,

They'll remember you once a year

While your mother stands there

with a crown of thorns.

I see your night fighters

flying over the Beirut sky;

I know this night

some innocent child will die.

Some people make love in the night,

And some people make war,

But let my children go free,

Let them climb their ladder to the stars

And be in paradise with me.

Shalom by David Lord

And Shalom from

Sister Gila