My dear Friends
Life at the moment is both radiant and difficult. This occupation sort of chose me; at the end of 1999 I lost my job as a carer, and told Fr Brendan, the priest who looked after my spiritual life at that time. It coincided with a feeling I was going to die, probably, as someone said at the time, a death to the self, and a more full expression of living in God and for God. Father Brendan said he was sorry, that sometimes mystics like St John live to a ripe old age, although they yearn to be with the Divine, and I just had to get on with it. And, he said, not to worry - God would find me a new work.
And what a work! Constantly at the 'coal face' trying to help all sorts of people in all sorts of different situations. And this often brings about confrontation, sometimes necessary in order to come to resolution. How I long for a quiet life! But I try to follow God's will and often there is a good result, and sometimes there is no need for confrontation at all. Much of this will only be known in the next life, and thus I am following in the steps of Jesus and am the seed that dies in the ground.
I couldn't do all this without the love of God and the love of my friends, a love, which according to C.S. Lewis, one of the great Anglican spiritual writers (and author of the Narnia Chronicles) is the highest love of all.
My dear friend Rita says she quite understnads how the heart leaps at the thought of Friendship. And it was my heart that leapt in the Jesuit monastery in North Wales in December 1987 when I discovered my greatest and my constant Friend of all.
Shalom deep in your heart
Sister Gila
Monday 28 July 2008
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Muslim connections
My dear Friends
I have found myself in a tiny little cafe with internet in the Chesterton area of town. I often go to the hairdresser here and this morning I popped in to see a friend. Last time I was here was ages ago; as I woke up feeling lousy and had no breakfast, I was delighted to see my friend's cafe was open.
At first he didn't recognise me, but as the conversation proceded he remembered. He is from Iran, always to me a people of gentle Muslims (there are still Jews there, Christians too and the country's oldest religion is Zoroastrianism.) We have had a lovely talk, commiseration about the lack of peace in the world, how much we share, and the fact we are both trying to learn Spanish. And I have had a good sandwich too!
My first friend in Cambridge was from Iran, and we worked together in a large department store . The main link with Iran for me is that Queen Esther in the Bible was an Iranian (Persian) and so the Jews and the Persians go back an extremely long way, thousands of years. Queen Esther was noble and beautiful and saved the Jewish people at what could have been great personal cost to herself, and is immortalised in the Feast of Purim, where a special scroll is read in the Synagogue and children dress up as characters from the story.
As life leading up to my trip to Canada has been too full, I believe I have found a nice little place to chill out.
Be well, prayers cover you all and go out to you
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
I have found myself in a tiny little cafe with internet in the Chesterton area of town. I often go to the hairdresser here and this morning I popped in to see a friend. Last time I was here was ages ago; as I woke up feeling lousy and had no breakfast, I was delighted to see my friend's cafe was open.
At first he didn't recognise me, but as the conversation proceded he remembered. He is from Iran, always to me a people of gentle Muslims (there are still Jews there, Christians too and the country's oldest religion is Zoroastrianism.) We have had a lovely talk, commiseration about the lack of peace in the world, how much we share, and the fact we are both trying to learn Spanish. And I have had a good sandwich too!
My first friend in Cambridge was from Iran, and we worked together in a large department store . The main link with Iran for me is that Queen Esther in the Bible was an Iranian (Persian) and so the Jews and the Persians go back an extremely long way, thousands of years. Queen Esther was noble and beautiful and saved the Jewish people at what could have been great personal cost to herself, and is immortalised in the Feast of Purim, where a special scroll is read in the Synagogue and children dress up as characters from the story.
As life leading up to my trip to Canada has been too full, I believe I have found a nice little place to chill out.
Be well, prayers cover you all and go out to you
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
Wednesday 16 July 2008
Lebanon and Egypt
My dear Friends
Something beautiful happened about a week ago, and again last night. I went to the Grad Pad, a University Centre, and one of my favourite places because of the superb view of the river from the 3rd floor. It was there that I spotted a young woman, with a concerned friend beside her, bending her head and saying she felt unwell. I asked if I could help and that is how I met my new Lebanese and Egyptian friends.
Of course we have so much in common: they were born in the Middle East, and my roots are there too. I know Hebrew well, and it is the sister language of Arabic, which I studied at Cambridge University during my Hebrew degree of 1988-1992, and on 2 summer programmes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
It is difficult to say how bonds between people are formed: the fact that they are Muslims and I am a Jewish Christian made no barrier between us, so it is really a case of the heart: our hearts resonated, all three of us, as soon as we met. Last night I sang a little in Hebrew for them and then danced a little too, and they said this is exactly how women dance in their countries.
This closeness is something I feel with young Muslim men I have met too, either here or in the Middle East. Doesn't it give us hope for the future, when the situation in Israel/Palestine seems to be reaching its worst? It is such a test of faith and hope and especially love, for God is a God of love and of the impossible; as an elderly Jewish bookseller told me once in his bookshop : God can bring peace very quickly, just like he brought the melted snow two hours after I struggled over it into my shop.
With some people you meet you just know that you will meet them again. WE can't predict where, or when or even how. But that we will , is for sure.
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Something beautiful happened about a week ago, and again last night. I went to the Grad Pad, a University Centre, and one of my favourite places because of the superb view of the river from the 3rd floor. It was there that I spotted a young woman, with a concerned friend beside her, bending her head and saying she felt unwell. I asked if I could help and that is how I met my new Lebanese and Egyptian friends.
Of course we have so much in common: they were born in the Middle East, and my roots are there too. I know Hebrew well, and it is the sister language of Arabic, which I studied at Cambridge University during my Hebrew degree of 1988-1992, and on 2 summer programmes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
It is difficult to say how bonds between people are formed: the fact that they are Muslims and I am a Jewish Christian made no barrier between us, so it is really a case of the heart: our hearts resonated, all three of us, as soon as we met. Last night I sang a little in Hebrew for them and then danced a little too, and they said this is exactly how women dance in their countries.
This closeness is something I feel with young Muslim men I have met too, either here or in the Middle East. Doesn't it give us hope for the future, when the situation in Israel/Palestine seems to be reaching its worst? It is such a test of faith and hope and especially love, for God is a God of love and of the impossible; as an elderly Jewish bookseller told me once in his bookshop : God can bring peace very quickly, just like he brought the melted snow two hours after I struggled over it into my shop.
With some people you meet you just know that you will meet them again. WE can't predict where, or when or even how. But that we will , is for sure.
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Sunday 13 July 2008
Getting ready
Mt dear Friends
Slowly, slowly, I am getting ready for the next trip to Canada. Naturally I hope this will be the last before immigration, but I must take each trip as it comes and enjoy its riches. this time a friend has suggested, as I am already quite tired from all my travels, that I plant myself in the Hostel and 'just see what happens.'
Great advice and already my dear Goddaughter, Eleanor, will arrive from the States to spend the first weekend with me. We met in the University library tearoom and I discovered she plays the clarinet. Benigna had many happy hours accompanying her on the piano. And, to my delight, Eleanor was received into the Catholic Church in the beautiful chapel in Grange road. It was there that I lived in the garden house with three other students, to test out my religious vocation in 1991.
It s wonderful to have a Goddaughter and we will have much to share, as it is quite a time since we have seen each other. And I already know my way around the hostel and the environment downtown, having stayed there last March for a month. I now have a map of all the International Hosteling places in North America, and plan to stay for a night or two in Chicago.
Why Chicago? Well, really I will be on my way to South Bend, Indiana, which houses the University of Notre Dame, a famous Catholic University where Elie Wiesel, the French Jewish writer and survivor of the Holcaust, spoke to a group of Catholic priests, telling them that 'we are all waiting for the same thing.'
Gives me hope and the University of Notre Dame apparently houses a replica of the Grotto in Lourdes, where the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette. I have never been to Lourdes, and feel it unlikely that I will go now, as I am leaving Europe, so this is the next best thing! And one should never be snobbish...while Lourdes has never been at the top of my personal pilgrimage lists, I would like to see the Grotto in Notre Dame and have even had a kind of 'deja vu' about it.
Lots to think about and lots to plan but its wonderful to have taken up youth hostelling again after 40 years or so...watch this space.
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
Slowly, slowly, I am getting ready for the next trip to Canada. Naturally I hope this will be the last before immigration, but I must take each trip as it comes and enjoy its riches. this time a friend has suggested, as I am already quite tired from all my travels, that I plant myself in the Hostel and 'just see what happens.'
Great advice and already my dear Goddaughter, Eleanor, will arrive from the States to spend the first weekend with me. We met in the University library tearoom and I discovered she plays the clarinet. Benigna had many happy hours accompanying her on the piano. And, to my delight, Eleanor was received into the Catholic Church in the beautiful chapel in Grange road. It was there that I lived in the garden house with three other students, to test out my religious vocation in 1991.
It s wonderful to have a Goddaughter and we will have much to share, as it is quite a time since we have seen each other. And I already know my way around the hostel and the environment downtown, having stayed there last March for a month. I now have a map of all the International Hosteling places in North America, and plan to stay for a night or two in Chicago.
Why Chicago? Well, really I will be on my way to South Bend, Indiana, which houses the University of Notre Dame, a famous Catholic University where Elie Wiesel, the French Jewish writer and survivor of the Holcaust, spoke to a group of Catholic priests, telling them that 'we are all waiting for the same thing.'
Gives me hope and the University of Notre Dame apparently houses a replica of the Grotto in Lourdes, where the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette. I have never been to Lourdes, and feel it unlikely that I will go now, as I am leaving Europe, so this is the next best thing! And one should never be snobbish...while Lourdes has never been at the top of my personal pilgrimage lists, I would like to see the Grotto in Notre Dame and have even had a kind of 'deja vu' about it.
Lots to think about and lots to plan but its wonderful to have taken up youth hostelling again after 40 years or so...watch this space.
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
Monday 7 July 2008
The North of Scotland
My dear Friends
I arrived home safely from the North of Scotland late on Thursday night. Stunning scenery all the way, mountains, lochs, rivers and sunshine, but for the first time I was glad to cross the border and return to England.
I am fortunate in that when I make a major move, I don't look back: perhaps it was all that training in the Bible when I was a child and the story of Lot's wife, which is embedded in my psyche. For those of you who don't know the tale, when the land was divided between Abraham and Lot, his nephew, Lot, is running away from Sodon and Gomorrah and all the fire and brimstone. God tells Lot and his wife not to look back, but Lot's wife caves in, looks over her shoulder, and becomes a pillar of salt. Very different to the pillar of fire, which followed the Children of Israel through all their ways and days, as a guide.
There is a similar episode or injunction in the new Testament: Jesus warns us to put our hand on the plough and not look back, as in this way we are moving forward and looking towards the Kingdom. Very hard to do, but as I have experienced a massive sense of loss with the death of my mother in the last 2 years, and she died around the time of my father and brother in different years, I know how it works, I humbly say-only massive loss can lead to growth, and there has been loss in other areas of my life as well. But the growth has been even more.
On a more mundane level, it was a good holiday, my friend showered me with hospitality and I lazed by rivers and watched the trout leaping. Staying in an independent Youth Hostel in Inverness, I had the chance to meet some wonderful young people, especially a young man called Stephen on the morning I left Inverness, and another young man called Stephen who looked after me as I stepped off the train in Peterborough. If you are out there-thank you!
Plenty to do here and Toronto, Toledo, Ohio and South Bend Indiana to look forward to in about 6 weeks' time. Hooray! Hope you have all been well.
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
I arrived home safely from the North of Scotland late on Thursday night. Stunning scenery all the way, mountains, lochs, rivers and sunshine, but for the first time I was glad to cross the border and return to England.
I am fortunate in that when I make a major move, I don't look back: perhaps it was all that training in the Bible when I was a child and the story of Lot's wife, which is embedded in my psyche. For those of you who don't know the tale, when the land was divided between Abraham and Lot, his nephew, Lot, is running away from Sodon and Gomorrah and all the fire and brimstone. God tells Lot and his wife not to look back, but Lot's wife caves in, looks over her shoulder, and becomes a pillar of salt. Very different to the pillar of fire, which followed the Children of Israel through all their ways and days, as a guide.
There is a similar episode or injunction in the new Testament: Jesus warns us to put our hand on the plough and not look back, as in this way we are moving forward and looking towards the Kingdom. Very hard to do, but as I have experienced a massive sense of loss with the death of my mother in the last 2 years, and she died around the time of my father and brother in different years, I know how it works, I humbly say-only massive loss can lead to growth, and there has been loss in other areas of my life as well. But the growth has been even more.
On a more mundane level, it was a good holiday, my friend showered me with hospitality and I lazed by rivers and watched the trout leaping. Staying in an independent Youth Hostel in Inverness, I had the chance to meet some wonderful young people, especially a young man called Stephen on the morning I left Inverness, and another young man called Stephen who looked after me as I stepped off the train in Peterborough. If you are out there-thank you!
Plenty to do here and Toronto, Toledo, Ohio and South Bend Indiana to look forward to in about 6 weeks' time. Hooray! Hope you have all been well.
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
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