SUNDAY 2nd October – Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

We spent the afternoon in Durham; it’s always a delight to sit on Palace Green having a tea with the Castle on one side and the Cathedral on the other, then to walk down the hill to the river.

MONDAY 3rd October

I went to the Party Conference to speak at a Conservative fringe event –
Is Global Warming the New Religion?

I’m not sure it is, although some approach the topic with religious fervour.

TUESDAY 4th October – St Francis of Assisi

Francis writes thus:
“Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give”

Easy enough to say, difficult for most of us to act upon. That doesn’t deny its truth.

WEDNESDAY 5th October

There are long meetings this week but time to take refuge in Mass and listen to the readings.

At Downside I picked up a little paper about Lectio Divina.
Of course I have tried it many times but how often do I practice it? How often can I remember the Gospel even a few hours after?

Today we are first asked to meditate on the Lord’s Prayer.
Can we visualise it, ask again what it says, what it means for us?

THURSDAY 6th October – St Bruno

How do the Carthusians cope with solitude? I imagine very easily.
Reading, meditating, gardening. Attending the Divine Office.
Silence is the missing ingredient to do so much.

FRIDAY 7th October – Our Lady of the Rosary

I usually only say the Rosary in the middle of the night when I wake, but it is strangely soothing.
I seem to remember when I fell asleep the night before and I take it up from then.

More long meetings today, as all week in airless rooms.

The reading today is a difficult one from Luke 11:15-26
“… so to with Satan; if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand”

SATURDAY 8th October

I take Mary sailing. For once, everything goes right: the engine works, the wind is from the East. We sail to Buckler’s Hard in the Beaulieu River. I never thought we would get there when we started but we make it and have a pleasant, well-earned supper in the pub. It is magical to sail up a twilight river and to arrive in harbour near dark and, at last, relax.