...visiting an elderly relative in Somerset, trundling by bus through enchanting villages, staying overnight in Taunton...at Minehead I dropped in to the local Catholic church to check times for Christmas Masses. A good number of people there for a weekday Mass, which was just finishing. The kind priest approached me after Mass, having seen that I had arrived late and missed it, and arranged for me to recieve Communion...it was extraordinarily moving to kneel there at the altar rail in the quiet church as he went to the Tabernacle and then led the prayers ending with the "Lord, I am not worthy...." Suddenly, overwhelmingly, I had a memory of my 1st Communion, years and years and years ago...
A day of family talk, some Christmas shopping and wrapping and labelling of gifts. Exmoor villages in December twilight, with glowing windows. A late, long journey back to London on a bus whizzing along the motorway in darkness. Sad thoughts about Britain...the tenacious nation now threatened with the tearing apart of its family and social bonds: latest statistics published this week show that half of households are not based on marriage, vast numbers of teenagers do not live with their parents, cohabitation increasingly regarded as the norm, cohabiting couples rarely stay together for life or even for half a lifetime. Christianity is still (just) the religion with which a (slim) majority of people identify, but there has been a steep and massive increase in people who affirm that they have no religious belief at all, and numbers of adherents to Islam growing swiftly and substantially.
Prayed, using the lovely prayers in Magnificat...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Do you know about Berry's coaches? A private coach company based in the West Country: berryscoaches.co.uk. Cheaper than National Express and they start at Hammersmith, which saves a lot of time. I used to use them all the time when my mother lived near Bridgwater. Only trouble is that the times from London are a bit late for a day trip.
Post a Comment