Our Lady's Well

Finally we saw our Lady’s well. In a previous post (8 May) I wrote about the Shrine of Our Lady of Greatness that was destroyed in the Reformation. Through the kindness of the owners of the site, yesterday Carol, Marigold and I where able to visit, take some pictures and pause for prayer. It was a joy to stand in a place that was the destination of so many pilgrims, a place where people encountered God and sought and found the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was a privilege to be able to pray in this holy spot and to touch the stone which covers the Holy Well. Information about the origins of the devotion and the life of the shrine is very scarce and difficult to come by; if any of the readers of this blog can shed some light or point us in the right direction it will be much appreciated.

Since Sunday I have met some couple who are getting ready to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage. It is always a joy to explore with them the Catholic teaching about married life and to see their engagement and interest in the Faith.

Yesterday Fr Mark and I went to the SSC Synod for London and the South. It is always good to be with the brothers of the Society. The large church of St Alban the Martyr in Holborn was packed with priest brothers of the society and five priest where admitted in the Society. Fr Kit the Provincial Master led the celebration of Mass and the Bishop of Ebbsfleet preached a very good sermon, we look forward to welcome him here at St John in January for the closure of our Year of Grace. During the meeting there was plenty of talk about the implications for us of decisions that may be taken in the next General Synod of the Church of England and the situation can be described as bleak. It is painful to see the Church of England departing from the Faith Catholic to which it bore witness since the times of Augustine of Canterbury. But as brothers of the society we are called to go to the place of the cross and lift it high as we are assured that in this sign we shall conquer.