to the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Well, greetings to everyone. In this final address, we shall reflect upon the challenging of God and others, as we consider the story of the sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I'd like to share something of our unfolding story. I've already spoken at the beginning of our retreat about how the 12 Anglican sisters became Catholic nuns. Today, I'd like to share something about how our journey has continued, how our physical journey of trying to find a building to live in impacted upon our spiritual journey of building a spiritual home for a new community, and how the corporate journey has affected each sister's personal story. Finally, I shall seek to draw out of this all our experience of God's charitable grace and blessing through the charitable fellowship of others.

[01:05]

Shortly before we were received as Catholics, I warned to the whole community that each person wanting to be received as a Catholic had to be prepared to walk down this life with such what you can carry in a man's inner hand, leaving anything else behind, without any guarantee for the future, just going forward in blind faith in accordance with their conscience. Both those who want it, let's go for it, and we retreated into the Catholic Church on the 1st of January 2013. The morning after our reception, we made our reunion as Catholics for the first and last time till the convent became so dense as to be our spiritual home. After that, the twelve of us, with our essential personal possessions, ordered a coach and set off. We had no money, no home, we left with no financial settlement from our previous community, no diamonds, just the firm conviction that becoming Catholics was our response to our law school children's call to follow me. We arrived at 16 years as we arrived on the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight is a small island close to the mainland of England. It's part of England, but you have to go on a ferry, or what, with a hovercraft? We used a naval hovercraft to get there. So, we went on the ferry, and we arrived at 16 years. We were supposed to be there for six weeks, but it turned into eight months.

[02:10]

And basically, after we left, we were told we can't come back. So we were stuck there, because we were trying to go home. There were times when we wondered whether we were being forced to remain with those sisters. We loved them, and felt they were only love for us. And it's our corporate discernment for us that got us co-ordinated to continue our journey elsewhere. But where and how would it be possible? Despite the fact that we had no money with which to acquire digital technology, in faith, I and another sister held at stake agents' particulars and visited promising possibilities. We and others traced perfectly for homes. The answer to all our prayers came in the following way. An American Dominican sister from a national Dominican family in Tennessee was offered to go to the Institute in Birmingham, the first home of John Stanley Newman. She was studying there during her PhD, which was in the right-to-speech learning, and we'd come to know her and her community. So she came to give it up on the Isle of Wight for a couple of nights, staying outside the enclosure, because on the Isle of Wight they had paper enclosure, so even for other religions they couldn't come into the enclosure. Um, because she came to stay in their guesthouse in public life. As I raised her off, my mom's words took over. As soon as you get to Marydale, go into the chapel, get on your knees, and beg Letherjoy and Henry Newland to join us at home.

[03:15]

She begged and requested. That same night, she emailed me to say that as she left the chapel, she bumped into one of the supervisors, and he said, where have you been? And she said, well, I've been finishing the colony of farms on the Isle of Wight. And this, um, supervisor said, oh, we know. There's convicts allowed to be brought to jail up the road. So she gave me all the English details. I chatted down with Mr. Superior. This was Wednesday evening. And by Friday evening, I'd spoken to Mr. Superior on the phone. She told me that they had already moved into the Presbyterian Brothel Roads, because the community was growing smaller. So it was just three of them that were based there. The rest had gone back to their main convent in Ireland, because they were Irish nuns. Or they would sort it around the country, but it was just three of them there in the convent. So they'd moved into the Presbyterian Brothel Roads, and that's why they were able to sell the convent. But she probably said we didn't know who was the sedentary, and so I was about to remove all the furniture and fakes as items that they could not take with them. How soon do we need to leave, I asked, and she said, as soon as possible. So, the next morning, I removed the first holocraft that left the isle of Wight, accompanied by another sister, and we raced to Birmingham to see the convent. The priest of Tyria showed us around, and explained that the convent had been privately built for them fifty years before, but they now needed to sell it, because their sisters were too old to carry on there, and the elder sisters weren't cared for, so they didn't need it anyway.

[04:27]

They had desperately not wanted it to be sold to togetherness, but could not imagine that any other religious community would come forward to buy it. Because of the kindness of the tide and the eye of light, if we were going to get back that night, we had just over an hour to view the convent and to set off on our return journey. When a minute of arriving, we knew it was the right place. It's perfect, we said to a clearly delighted Mrs. Superior. Very good, she said. She'd been in, but we had no money to pay for it with the next day after. I stood up, but was convinced that if the Lord wants us here, he will provide what we need. Her expression didn't change. This mighty woman of faith agreed, but it didn't change her at all. As this was just here, I was entertained and comfortable as much. Rags said things that literally said, oh, I'll get rid of all that before you come. I mean, like, stop. Leave everything. If you don't have anything, everything you don't need, just leave. I mean everything. Then we'll deal with it. And I think that they challenged their letter of fully furnished condoms, because they didn't need anything, and so we didn't have to worry about beds. anything, it was all there. This little courier explained that the property would soon go on the open market in two days' time, on a Monday, but I asked her to contact the estate agent and to tell him not to put it on the open market.

[05:38]

I said, just give us time to raise the purchase price. This wonderful faithful sister agreed to do just that. She told me subsequently, the night we spoke on the phone that Friday, I told the other sisters we were coming to view tomorrow morning, but I said to them, it's only Clare that says she's going to head out, but I'm going to keep an all-night prayer vigil, you're welcome to join me. But the other sisters were too exhausted, so Princess Piri stayed up most of the night, praying that we would agree to buy them some content. Eventually, after most of the night up, without sleep, when she felt too tired to carry on, she told the Lord, Jesus, I'm going now, sit up, she goes, and she went off to bed. And she now described the whole thing as a miracle of fate. The next day when we arrived, we were uncritical in our desire to purchase it, although we didn't have any money. But I told her the Lord's was the right, it was the Lord's will, and she agreed. But she cancelled the house for their company, stopped the estate agent, and we waited. Within a couple of days, we had confirmed that the benefactor, the Washington Manor Monument, had heard of our plight and decided to buy the convent, allowing us to live there, paying rent. And it did indeed in Maple, and that's the first example of charitable friendship.

[06:39]

We had told them to appreciate the meaning of charitable friendship, to God's grace and blessings, and they'd experienced it through their bride sisters, allowing us to come and live with them for eight months, but now it was time for us to depart. But our dead-wounded sisters take up the story of our departure from life. The reality of our departure gradually grew as did the pile of luggage that we had to carry at the bottom of the lake there. While the dates had formed, it was perhaps a good thing that the French arrived earlier than expected, as the practicalities of lodging, belongings and tickets, and rounding up sisters took charge of those very fine minutes. The coach driver was our old friend who was ported to the Isle of Wight from Wormswich all those months ago. Did you remember us? He certainly did. And he also had vivid memories of hitting a coach stuck and attempting to bring us up the Abbey Drive. Thankfully this time all was well, as the coach had been brought to the back entrance and loaded there. The two communities gathered together for the last time to face their well, aware as in God, who were now united forever by the bond of love and prayer that had been forged between us. Once again, we were off on a journey of faith across the water to what was to become Cumberland Poles." Seven or so hours after uploading the coach, we arrived at our student homes, and the first thing we did was to go to chapel, to a brief time of prayer and thanksgiving to God for his provision in bringing us to this place.

[07:49]

This school has been crazy for 15 years, and it seems the trouble level has never been empty. In recent years, it has been adapted for elderly religious. There were hand-held and walk-in showers suitable for the needs of our more elderly sisters already in faith. The sisters attested to bed, sheets and furniture so we had a fully functioning commode, and our kind sisters on the Isle of Wight had arranged for a delivering stood so that we would not need to worry about the first few meals. We truly felt God's goodness and charitable fellowship which was devastating once again. Over the next few months, we started the process of breaking down physical and spiritual groups. There were ten and twelve of us, and our only regular income was eight basic old age pensions that the Lords provided. Members... I'm going to stop there. When I say the Lords provided, it's a little more complicated than how we provided. What actually happened was, in England, if you pay your national insurance contributions, when you come to your old age, you're entitled to a paid pension. So, Her Majesty, since we've already done that, so the 8 Christians who were of that age were eligible for their pensions. So the idea was that we would spoil our pensions, and we thought we could start with our Ministry of Profit and Poverty, pay for debt, do it in retreat, etc., so we could earn our living.

[08:50]

But the problem was, there was a hold-up between our pension and our pensions from our Anglican community. So, initially, we were literally left without any money. So, we actually borrowed from our Anglican family, and I said to them, when we left, they were actually going to leave us to leave without a penny. And I said, if I'm going to say goodbye, I don't actually have any money to pay for a coffin. Can we have a little lunch? I've got it now in time to pay our pensions. Anyway, so I paid them something like £3,000, between £12,000 and £1,000. So that was probably the cost of the coffin, etc. But we had £3,000 initially, that was eight months ago. But after that, for some reason, it couldn't seem to short out any of our money. It went on and on and on. So the amount we were living on was getting smaller and smaller. And I overheard some of the other sisters one day comparing how much weight they were losing, but we were saving our main food for the elderly sisters. At that point, I thought, I've got to do something. I turned the email to our elderly and said, dear father, the sisters were hungry. There was no reply. I got a reply three weeks later, saying, I'm sorry to hear the sisters are hungry. But right then, I took action. I'm going to the Carrish Street into the Playtory.

[09:51]

I'm here now to say something. Our money hasn't come through yet and I'm having a bit of problems looking after the teachers. What do you call the Carrish? What have they taught? very few people brought up food, and that coming up managed the first few weeks. So on Thursday, the Lord provided, that time provided, members of the parish brought a stick of food, and it only became a regular practice that after a lunch club on a Tuesday, they had a fresh club for the elderly on a Tuesday. They let those families come to us for our Tuesday supper, and they always brought us more than one red chopper, etc. And members of the parish 20 decided to provide us with a retreat coffee and sugar every week, and another one generously brought up the ingredients every week for our main Sunday dinner. And that's what happened, so we got our own money coming through, and the parish nakedly took care of us. In other words, the Lord looked after us through the local parish. My spiritual priority has been to determine how we might have a daily mass. Before we came, I discovered that although the parish church was only two doors long, the custom had been that not only to facilitate inclusive, but daily parish mass was held in our convent chapel. So I sent a message that we would be very glad to continue that custom.

[10:53]

The parish then continued to keep light and organized developing the parish church building during the week, and we would actually have a daily mass, so it worked out beautifully. And that has been a great blessing, but there were other challenges. But in two months of our arrival, two of the younger, physically fit citizens separately disowned a portion of our community. One of the citizens that we caught was calling her back to the community on the Isle of Wight, which only lasted for eight months. The other was the one who had originally come to a different Anglican community. Remember, it was a Catholic community, she wasn't coming to Lutonda, which she felt was drawn to a more active Catholic community. But we discerned that it was right to let both systems test their senses accordingly, but eventually there were serious implications. It meant that we were a community of ten sisters, including myself and another sister in those days, tension age. We didn't have the trust that God would somehow take care of the future. And confirmation for us, it only immediately came that, almost immediately, we heard from Rome that they were ready to erect us properly as a holy or communist monastery of benedictine spirituality within the Thessalonian area. The usual process takes years, but they've actually done it all in exactly one year.

[11:53]

One year on, from the day we were received into the church as Catholics, we were treating the electors, and we were the electors' community in the church. Brilliant. So, on the 1st of January, exactly one year after we were received, we were set up, and we reaffirmed our vows. Our vows had been ratified by those, but we re-pronounced those cognitively as Catholics, in very six-year formulary, so that everybody would be able to see us and hear us doing that, and that would be the next stage of our life. Now, Rosa's sister, Ariella, at that point was two and eighty-four, and she'd been with me for five to sixteen years, wrote an article to me at the time to explain how it had been for her, and this is what she said, and wrote, When I was in my mid-fifties, I visited a wise old sister in our infirmary, and I asked her what advice would she give someone of my age about preparing for death. She paused for a moment and then said, Practice letting go. In living Wabbitage, we've all had to let go of so much that belonged to our personal, as well as our shared craft. I certainly had to let go of things in work and many partial contacts. For all of us, the condoms that did our homes, for some of us, including myself, were more than physically geared.

[12:54]

It was only through letting go of the old life that a new life became possible for us. I knew that having to let go was an unavoidable aspect of getting old. I used to think that with the onset of old age, there would be a gradual progression from tooing to being. In fact, it was not gradual for me. There was a sudden and lasting loss of mobility, bringing with it the loss of independence. It was the occasion of one challenge after another, and of learning in ways not immediately clear to me, for I was just working in my life and asking me to trust Him. So I find myself thinking that if this image leads to a bit of God's predicted age of my life, I will also become And if it's not enough to accept it, I must learn to embrace it. And that, in itself, is the next challenge." Change is not the only system that has to embrace the challenges that face us in those months. Traumatised by Christmas that year, that 30th year, a sister in her 80s was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy, followed by a course of daily radiotherapy for weeks. Another sister spent three weeks in hospital over a reason of that year, the carp failure. Another sister was hospitalised for the broken hip. And these three sisters were all in their eighties, but they still all felt they were living in great old days.

[13:58]

As one of them exclaimed, I quote, I read recently about the founders of a religious community in the 19th century who were of a wonderfully strenuous and interesting life. Found herself in old age, a nobody, petrified and forgotten. She confided to her priest who visited her, I think that you are not everything you have in the world as I have. Such a wonderful new life comes into you. I think about her work, and admire, and hope, and expectation. We said all is patiently unknown, there is no guarantee for the future. Do we regret it? No. No sister has a greater perception than Tilton. We gave up as a youthful, patriotic convent with a 24-hour staff dictionary, and we have given it a purpose-built convent. We look on to each other with a genuine support from the National Health. We have to leave behind our anti-consistence. We have been given Catholic sisters and brothers who have, by their love and affection, shown us what it means to be part of a Catholic, worldwide family. We have truly come home in the Church. We are all God's friends. We deserve it, though our true friends really are. We have been shown the most extraordinary charity by God in Cornwall City's church, and by providing us with all our spiritual and sensual needs.

[15:04]

By the Vine Tent, providing us 12 strangers in the home for 8 months, by the Aulnery Fence Hector, who purchased our monastery and now just rents it, by the local parish providing us with food and donations to keep us going, But we are living in challenging times. Just before Crickliffe, last Crickliffe, we were told by our landlord that the scientists wanted to sell the land for joining our convent. But our landlord is not moving us out, but warned us that as the adjacent amnesty itself is to be leveraged for a small residential estate, it will come right up to the boundaries of our property, we're likely to be in for hundreds of years of annoyingly building work. Further, the very nature of property is worse against us, but tremendously and quietly hence, so far, we'll be no longer. We're almost right, except now is the time to move. That's why we haven't found the right property to move through, and there's a legal issue about land and funds, on what we're getting on with trying to find where we're supposed to be. But we feel that there is shelter or grace available for every challenge, and that even our challenges can bear upon us a shower of blessings. But sister, one of the two sisters who left, one did transfer to right, she transferred to the left, and she had a total game position, started on every game, but she came from Vowles, and she's very happy there.

[16:09]

The second sister has come from another community, she entered to a more active community, and started off with 10th, and then thought she'd made the biggest mistake of her life, and I'll come back. So she has come back, and we've welcomed her back with open arms, and she's fully one of us. again, etc. and life carries on. We do feel that God's plan is upon us. We feel that since John Henry has been looking after us. And I just think that this is an illustration of that. Which, little did I know, it would be all right. Shortly after we arrived, I mean, we hadn't got very much money, etc., and we were being very careful. I noticed this kid to me and said, Mother, we don't actually have enough bread to go to one of these lectures. I didn't quite know what we were going to do, so I thought we were just going to have to go out on the road and buy some bread. So I said to her, I'll pick up her, either you or I will go out and get her some bread. We'll be shocked if she doesn't open. During supper, the doorbell sounded. It was a parishioner, for we didn't know, who brought us a carrier bag for the shopping that she thought we might need. And in the bag, had two loaves of bread. And that one alerted us for, do you know what? The Lord has had upon us the attention we were right. When we need something, they will hand it. And we truly felt at that moment that we were experiencing, once again, heretic fellowship with this kind parishioner.

[17:14]

We have confidence in the future, because we have confidence in our loving God, whose charity towards his children disarms us. The focus of this retreat has been the quest for the benefiting understanding of peace. To do this, we have looked attentively at five specific areas, using the rule of St Benedict as a framework, the life and writing retreats John Hebbie Newman's have outlined. And those areas were, rhymes from energy, at the beginning, Spirits of Tranquillity, Hunger, Harks of Liberty, Prayer, Love of Forms, the Love of God, and Love for Vagabond, and Charity Associates, the Charity Corps, and others. He's used women, but no one has yet found help as a saint, and that's precisely why we can relate to him, because he was ordinary. He struggled with life's challenges as we do. He's having to on these very sainthoods he has followed. I have nothing of the saints about me, as anyone knows, and it is a severe and solitary mortification to be brought next door to one. I may have a high view of many things, but it is the consequence of education and what was a few years past with the internet,

[18:16]

But this is a very different thing from being what I admire. I have no tendency to be a saint. It is a sad thing to say. Saints are not literary men. They do not like the Catholics. They do not like tales. I may be well enough in my own way, but it is not for high lives. It is enough for me to wrap the saint's shoes if St. Philip is a patron saint. Use his writing in heaven. The aim of our first journey appears to be to approach it to God, so that we invite you for the last time to hear your Lord speaking to you, and in a way these words sum up the whole retreat. Put yourself then, my dear child, into the hands of your loving Father and Redeemer, who knows and loves you better than you know or love yourself. He has appointed every action of your life. He created you, has forged you, and has marked down the going way and hour that He will take you to Himself. He learns all your thoughts. and feels for you in all your sadness more than any creature can feel, and accepts and makes note of your prayers, even before you make them.

[19:20]

He will never fail you, and he will give you what is best for you, and will rejoice you, and please to rejoice himself from you, and affix you Still trust in Him, for at length you will see how good and gracious He is, and how well He will provide for you. Be courageous and generous, and give Him your heart, and you will never repent of the sacrifice. Amen. Thank you. Any final comments or thoughts? Maybe we all die in the last life. We die in the last life, and so on and so forth. That's it. That's it, you know. That's it? Yes. Yes. Yes. And then we all die. And then it becomes very hard to make a purpose. Oh, good. What's that other thing I'll do? I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. Yes. Yes.

[20:21]

Once we build it, it's a very long process. Yes. Yes. And then you have to think. It's a very long thing, lots of opinions. I first found this here, hanging by a nook, with this. I wanted a better word. Not a problem, I liked. Hadn't moved on from each word, so I gave her a next word. Come, what do you think of this? What do you mean, the game is letting go? What do you think about my school days? Listen, you can't listen unless you let go. I was thinking, I hope I'm not telling this whole story again. Letting go. I gave her a story of me, not letting go, by the way. The other thing I was wondering, I don't know if this is enough in person, but there's a lot in Shower. Ah, right. No, so, basically, the Shower, it's actually tucked away in the house. You pull the door open, and you just walk into it. There's no step or anything. Oh. Sort of, um, it's brilliant for, um, people to come and put their things or whatever. They don't have to struggle or anything. You just, um, just walk in, and then you can pull the door.

[21:23]

Something? I never described something, did you not? What did you just describe? Nothing. No, I don't. And it's up to where it is. You first talk to me soon. I gave her a handful of knowledge on the scripture. I'm afraid I have to be reading a book. It was Peter. It's called where it goes into itself. It's because you say, Master, you know, the confessional. I haven't caught anything. And I have to speak to a lot of people. So it's certainly another way. And it's a similar thing going out, but not fishing. I'm fishing. I've been doing this for years. We're going out. At noon, the horse is home to go. But, you know what, anyway, it's pretty deep, but it helps a lot. And, in fact, one good step towards that, well, there's available for people to learn, to read it, and that would be amazing.

[22:23]

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