Immaculate Conception 2007 Morning Chapter

Immaculate Conception 2007 Morning Chapter
Image of Mary - Donald Nicholl

Fr. Mark had an interesting introduction to his Sermon for the Feast today. His reference to Donald Nicholl brought back welcome memories of a remarkable character whose spiritual outlook impressed us so deeply.

Donald’s Holy Land experience gave him new insight into his understanding of Mary.

Fr. Mark wrote:
Many people have a completely unreal image of Mary. It’s as if she never got her hands dirty, never made mistakes, never experienced doubt or fear, never had to struggle against evil. Because of this we find it hard to see how she could serve as a model for us. Donald Nicholl who has been described as “one of the most influential of modern Christian thinkers” would have included himself in this category until something happened to him.

Donald Nicholl, as most of us at Nunraw will remember, used to come to visit the McNeil family at Nunraw Barns in the early years of the community. Later I was fortunate to have attended one of the Novice Directors’ Meetings in Hexham where he was the main speaker. He remembered his visits here and spoke kindly of Nunraw. Other activities show the direction of interests. In addition to his academic pursuits Donald Nicholl taught church history to the Poor Clares in Aptos, California and to novices in the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa's order, in London. More informally he conducted a class in the "Penny University" at the Caffe Pergolesi in Santa Cruz, reading through Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Alongside his wife Dorothy Nicholl, he was active in the co-workers of Mother Teresa.

As a lecturer, Donald spent most of his life in universities. From 1981 to 1985 he was Rector of the Ecumenical Institute at Tantur, near Jerusalem. The experience of being in the Holy Land served as an eye-opener to him in many ways, but one in particular. It changed his image of Mary forever.

In his book, The Testing of Hearts, he tells us that prior to going to the Holy Land his image of Mary was derived from famous paintings, poetry and music. His saw her as some ‘dreamy, ethereal young lady, untouched by human toil’. But after meeting the peasant women of Galilee he formed a very different understanding of Mary. He wrote:

Knowing that here I am simply echoing the feelings expressed by Mary, the mother of Jesus, in her prophetic Magnificat, I am led to tell you that what my sojourn in this land has changed as much as anything else is my image of Mary. In previous years, that could hardly have been any other than what I have received through Piero della Francesca's paintings or Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems or Gounod's music - the image of some dreamy, ethereal young lady, untouched by everyday toil.

But since that time I have met the peasant women of Galilee. So now the image that comes spontaneously to my mind is of a woman with strong hands, sinewy through much work; and of a face whose skin is rough from exposure to the sun and the wind; of feet that are broad-spread through climbing the hills around Nazareth barefoot; but above all, of eyes that are steady and a mouth that is firm through enduring the sorrows of the refugee, the poor and the oppressed, (p.226).

1985 Eve of Departure from Tantur

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