ESBVM

The Canterbury Branch has, as usual, had an excellent series of meetings. On 18 Sept. Mrs Patty Baxter gave us a talk about Hope for people in need. She spoke about her work with orphans in Rumania and about other tragic situations. She used poetry to illustrate her points and her poem on hope sums up much of her thinking.

Hope is knowing that there is love
It is trust in tomorrow.
It is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises.
In the midst of a gale at sea
It is to see that someone understands you.
As long as there is still hope
There will also be prayer
And God will be holding you in his hands.

On 25 Sept. in the Upper Room at St Thomas’ Church, Miss Barbara Markham spoke about the Hidden Life of Our Lady. Tina Hamilton preceded the talk with a beautiful rendition of the Magnificat. Barbara reminded us that 25 Sept is the beginning of the Jewish New Year. She played a recording of the Shofar which is sounded on that day as a wake-up call to the Jewish People. Ten days later comes the Solemn Feast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and Barbara played the Kol Nidre which is familiar to all Jews and would have been so to Mary. Barbara then recited the Kaddish which is prayer for the dead. Mary would have learnt it and maybe still says it for all the souls in Purgatory. Barbara talked about other aspects of Mary’s upbringing, stressing that she would have spoken Aramaic as her mother tongue and would have learnt Hebrew as a second language. Her life would have been that of any wife and mother of the time, involving such tasks as fetching water from the well. The deepest and profoundest aspect of her life was, of course, her relationship with God as a woman totally possessed by the Holy Spirit. The meeting closed with the playing of a Hebrew passage from the prophet Isaiah, entitled Lem’an Tzion, Because I love Zion.

Visit to St Augustine’s Abbey, Ramsgate
This took place on Saturday, 12 August. The day was intended as a ‘day with Mary’ and was so well attended that there was standing room only for some poor souls. The day started with the Angelus and the crowning of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, placed on a portable float in preparation for a procession. It had been raining heavily but, fortunately, the rain largely held off once the procession, along an exposed cliff path, began. The sun soon came out and shone till we got back to the Abbey when we got another deluge. Back in the church, we sang the Litany of Our lady and mass followed, celebrated by Fr. John Seddon, OSB. After lunch, there was another outdoor procession, this time of the Blessed Sacrament. This was followed by exposition and a fascinating sermon on Mary form Fr George Roth, FI. After a short period of adoration, he led us in a meditation on the Passion.