Wednesday 24 December 2014

Christmas Blessings of love, joy & peace

Midnight Mass Christmas...


Newsletter - Christmas 2014


    Doesn't it feel that Christmas has come along quicker than it used to?  It's as if someone turned too many pages of the calendar and has left everyone confused.  It's beginning to look like a moveable feast.  Perhaps that's why so many of us are late with our Christmas mail.  It's strange that when we plan to do some work the time it takes works to a different, opposite, universal law.

Since last Christmas, as most of you will be aware, we have sold our guesthouse and some of the surrounding property.  The new owner, Linda Leith, has wasted no time with her plans to start renovating the buildings and to have the scrub cleared in the woodland area.

Our own plans to set up one of the wings of the abbey as a new place to house the guests will, we hope, begin in the summer of 2015.  Before that happens, we will be converting an area to provide proper infirmary rooms for some of the more needy members of the community. This work is scheduled to begin after Christmas.

We have not been idle in the last couple of years.  Our work staff have been busy doing needy repairs throughout the building to good effect.

With the first Sunday of Advent, we began the year dedicated to Consecrated Life in the Church.  Pope Francis wants to draw the attention of the whole people of God to those who have given their lives to seeking God as Religious sisters, brothers or priests.

God is to be found in any lifestyle, as we know.  However, as we seek God in our own lives, we are being asked throughout this year to take stock of the various Religious vocations within the Church

We are all meant to deepen our own commitment to what we have undertaken in our following of the gospel.  This implies that we keep ourselves always open to what God is asking of us in our present state of life, and even, perhaps, something entirely different.  We could, for example, be drawn to serve God in an active Congregation of sisters or brothers or to do that in a more enclosed community life such as at Nunraw.

Making such a change means taking a big, even a radical, step in another direction from what we have been used to.  What must be said, however, is that once it has been taken, the change may not be as hard or difficult as expected.  Most of the everyday realities we will meet there are the same.  However, the distinction lies in the vows and the structure of community life.  That's what makes all the difference.  If it is very difficult, it probably means this is not what God wants for us.  We then need to remain open in prayer and stillness for some further indication from God as to where we should continue our search as we seek to get closer to God.

Becoming a member of a Religious Congregation or Order won't make us totally different people. It should, however, give us a new or renewed perspective on life and of people.

As already mentioned in our last newsletter, our novice, Br Seamus, made his first profession in the summer.  Now, this Advent, we have another addition to our numbers with the entry of Michael, our new postulant.  We wish both of them well in these their early years in the community.


   

   
May this Christmas and coming year be a time of blessing and happiness in your lives and families.  We keep you and your intentions in our prayers

As a post note, we remind you that both our tearoom and shop are opened every day from 2.00 pm until 4.30.  You may be passing nearby or thinking of going for a drive and would like to stop for a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Our Community Mass on Sundays and Days of Obligation will be reverting to the later time of 11.00 am, beginning 1st January 2015.  That should make it more convenient for anyone who is travelling from a distance and would like to be here for the Mass.

With our kind regards and good wishes for a Happy Christmas,
       . . . Abbot and Community

  
    
Nunraw Abbey, Haddington, Scotland, EH41 4LW.    Email: nunraw.abbot@yahoo.co.uk



 
Nunraw Abbey view by H. Dittrich -'down through trees'.
  

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