The Cloud of Unknowing

Some years ago I started a ‘Going Deeper’ monthly meeting in my parish.  My purpose was to encourage those members of the congregation who were ready to go deeper into their faith and prayer life and give them food and advice for the journey inwards.  The food and the advice were to come from the writings of our great Carmelite saints.  Our meetings - lasting ninety minutes - have been structured on the pattern of OCDS meetings with Evening Prayer said together, discussion of a Carmelite text, and silent prayer.  The thing is, the plan has not worked well and the meetings are on the brink of being discontinued.  In January we shall be down to three in number.  In such situations we cannot diagnose the problem with accuracy – it could be down to my poor leadership or mistakes about the choice of discussion material – but ultimately these things are a mystery.  Barring a sudden upswing, the experiment comes to an end.  What does one learn from this?  I really don’t know.  Could it have worked better with a different strategy?  I don’t know the answer to that either.  We live, as the famous book title says, in ‘the Cloud of Unknowing’.

Intercessions:

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

Illness: Roy Seymour, Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Sophia – blind infant

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 Richard Parker, Martin Gilham, Sue Burton, Wojtek, Joy Smith OCDS