lee abbey talk #3

Castle Rock here (in the spectacular glacial valley approaching Lee Abbey) is where the family Bridgewater spent the turn of the millennium.

Perched atop it at midnight, with our crackly radio tuned to Big Ben, we said a family prayer - and let off the biggest rocket I’d been able to find anywhere …

Later in that year 2000 I also have another vivid memory of a “mountain top experience”. This time the scene is Rome on a sunny autumn day, where Jebs & I had gone for my 40th Birthday treat - and we stumbled across a big open-air service outside St. Peter’s for the feast of All Saints (led by a very frail John Paul II)

I can readily picture the glorious sunshine & bright blue skies, with vast crowds assembling in their tens of thousands … but above all what sticks & shines in my memory is the grand procession as the service began …

Many, many huge white banners joined us as we sang, each gleaming bright in the sun, one for every saint officially recognised by the Church down through two millennia of history

I found myself completely overwhelmed by the vast numbers arriving in the procession, shining spotless banner after shining spotless banner, on and on and on …. and as we sang the gratitude just kept welling up inside me, with a lump in my throat & tears in my eyes at the sudden realisation & deep encouragement : so it really is possible to be holy!

All these people have made it!

… and these are just the ones the Church has technically noticed & canonised – I can think of dozens more holy people I have met myself & been inspired by!

… Saint after saint after saint, but to begin with, just ordinary person after ordinary person - which means it isn’t ridiculous after all, for you & I to sing and declare to the world & to the heavens :

“Oh when the saints go marching in, Oh Lord I want to be in that number!”

And that is Talk #3, basically - and that’s still the heartfelt prayer that gives me goosebumps : “Lord I want a spotless banner with my own name on it!”

Click to download Talk 3 : Kneel and adore Him, the Lord is his name

It is possible to be holy!

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1 v.2-4)

“Yes but how?” … two essential & complementary pathways to holiness are opened up by contemplative prayer (talk #4) and a rule of life (talk #5)

I introduced contemplative prayer from a key passage in 2 Corinthians : “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

We do the beholding, He does the transforming … but more of that next time …

For now here are some highlights from the rest of day three, and a quick spin out onto Exmoor to some favourite old haunts. First up was Malmsmead in the Doone Valley :

Then on to “Robber’s Bridge” at Oare … here my wallet fell out of my pocket as I took this shot - only (ironically & wonderfully) to be returned by a member of the public, who drove all the way to Lee Abbey just to return it! More evidence of “the idea of the holy” alive & well?

And for a final glimpse of heaven, here is Lee Abbey’s own tea cottage (which as experience proves, promises every bit as much blessing & “indulgence” as a pilgrimage to Rome) :