...and so to Maryvale...

...where the Autumn term is now in full swing. I cannot adequately convey how hugely I enjoy my studies there.

On Sunday, with the weekend's lectures over, I lunched v. agreeably with the editor of the Ordinariate Portal and his family - based not far from Maryvale - and we finished the day by joining the October Devotions at the parish of Holy Cross and St Francis, Walmley. A mellow October day, and people quietly coming into church for the Rosary and Benediction. A peaceful reflective sense as we all prayed the Rosary together, and then a beautiful Benediction, heads bowed, the Blessed Sacrament raised over us....Why don't more parishes do this, and give everyone an opportunity to make October's Sundays really special?

Back at Maryvale, the kind Brigettine sisters let me in, and I settled in my room with some books from the library. It felt rather strange, as I was all alone in the main part of this great old house, with the creaking sense of the past centuries all around me. When it's all busy and all the rooms are occupied by students, and there is a sense of life and activity, it feels quite different. Now, as darkness fell, I was the only person in all those layers and layers of rooms and history, the hidden chapel from the days of persecution, Newman's room, the stairs that slope and slant, the rooms that have echoed to the voices of the children when the house was an orphanage, to the voices of students from around Britain in the years of study...

I dropped in to the chapel before I finally settled for the night. The lamp was glowing in the sanctuary. The Lord was keeping watch over the house...