A week in Derry

I spent last week in the delightful Monastery called Termonbacca which houses the Carmelite friars in Derry.  Although in the past I frequently used to visit Belfast because it was where my late wife came from, I have never been to Derry.  The monastery overlooks the river Foyle and the views are splendid.  The week was devoted to a Symposium on ‘Carmel and human and Christian development’, a topic to which many of our discussions in our OCDS groups are devoted, since we talk a great deal about how to apply the principles and the spirit of Carmel in our daily lives.  I was very pleased to make some new friends in the course of the week.  I would very much like to see more liaison between the Seculars in England and Wales and the friars in both the North and the South of Ireland: one thing I learned in Derry was that I am wholly ignorant of the situation there.  One abiding memory I am cherishing from the event is a short conversation I had with one of the helpers who made tea and coffee for us.  We had been told that most of the helpers were volunteers, and when I thanked her for this service, she told me ‘The friars were there for me thirty years ago when I needed them, and this is the least I can do.’  Such spontaneous testimonies are rare and precious indeed.

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Theresa K, Fr Jon B, Catherine

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David OCDS – housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – seriously ill

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Lucia – Overwhelmed by weariness

 Mark – brain infection

 Defence of the unborn and the elderly

 RIP Martin Gilham, Sue Burton, little Matthew (six years old, died of cancer)