'The harvest of righteousness shall be sown in peace by those who make peace.' (St James)
FRIENDS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF JOY
An ecumenical foundation of prayer, peace and reconciliation
My dear Friends
Finally the long cold winter is over and everything has yielded to spring, with leaves and trees budding. The last 6 months has been a mixed time for me, after my return from that radiant trip to Ireland; my health has not been good and I have been suffering from nervous tension.
On the bright side though, there have been a few key events in the life of The Little Sisters of Joy. In January on Tu Bishvat, the Jewish New year for Trees, we held our annual celebration, this time to commemorate the 11th anniversary of The Little Sisters of Joy. It was held in the beautiful home of Kitty Stidworthy, one of our Associates and about 10 people were present. We all brought food and drink to share.After a little while, I gave an overview of the Foundation and its progress to date and then we all chatted happily. At the end, Kitty read out her translations from the Rusian poems of Tarkovsky, son of the filmaker and this was reallly moving. Kitty is a fine poet in her own right.
February/March saw the move into Lent, culminating in Holy Week. On the Monday of that week I co-hosted a Passover Seder at Sawston Parish Church, singing the Hebrew music of my childhood. About 45 people were ther from different churches, including the Anglicans and the people from the Free Church. Fr Dick Healy, from the large Catholic Church in Cambridge, was the co-celebrant and the 'Father' for the evening. while I was the 'Mother.' The ritual foods looked lovely on the table and the kosher wine was delicious.
The Seder dish with places for the Bitter Herbs, the shankbone of the lamb, the roasted egg, the haroseth and the green vegetables.
Last week I made a trip to Ware in Hertfordshire to see the Carmelite Sisters. Where is Ware? I can hear you say. Ware is halfway between Cambridge and London on the A10. The Carmel foundation dates back to Elijah the prophet and Mount Carmel in Israel. a A grouup of hermits gathered round the mountain and many years later the Carmelite Order was founded, being reformed later by St Teresa of Avila.
The monastery is on a hill, which is very Gospel based. I attended a lovely Mass, with a good priest, preaching a fine sermon about our vocation in life. This took place in the beautiful little chapel adjacent to the monastery. Afterwards I chatted at lenght with one of the Sisters who is my special friend and who entered in 1951, the year of my birth. We covered all aspects of my current life and then I had a lovely lunch, provided by the Sisters. A short walk followed, along the road which leads to a farm, before I returned to chat to my friend. Then I left to go back to Cambridge.
This week I was due to give a talk on my religious journey to a group of Anglicans, but adverse circumstances made it not possible to do so. Here are the first few lines of the talk:
'I was born in London in 1951 into an Orthodox Jewish family. My father took me to the Synagogue at a very early age and I loved it. I also loved the Sabbath and the Festivals. I went to a Jewish primary school until age 11 we moved to Glasgow.'
I have had a long and interesting journey and am now taking a bit of a Sabbatical. I hope to go to Provence in the summer and I wish you all happy journeys.
Shalom from
Sister Gila
1 comment:
Thanks for your letter, enjoy your holiday. B
Post a Comment