Going back to the source...

-

Uganda08 training 0208 - 52, originally uploaded by bro_james.

I love this chapel.... chapel? Well, actually, it's the size of some cathedrals. It is part of my congregation's Mother House in Ploërmel, Brittany. The tomb of our (co-) Founder, Fr. Jean-Marie De La Mennais has for some years now been situated to one side of this chapel.

I love going back to our Mother House (or Mother Ship as visiting groups of pupils that I have brought over for youth gatherings there from our Liverpool school regularly call it). It is a place of great history and resonance for us Brothers, but there is also a wonderful sense of calm and prayerfulness about the whole place.

I also love spending time with some of our retired (but still active) Brothers who live there, many of whom work each day in the extensive grounds of our property tending plants, trees, etc... Amongst them are many wonderful characters with tremendous stories to tell.

Comments

Holy Famoley said…
What a fabulous vaulted ceiling! I'm not surprised that you love going back there - it looks like a very inspirational place.
5:17 pm
Bro. Jim Hayes said…
It is indeed! I am there at our Mother House in Brittany this very moment having come over for a weekend of meetings to prepare for our Provincial Chapter in October.
10:09 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

District 9 - a sci-fi anti-apartheid allegory and the first handheld camera masterpiece?

-
Image
Following on from yesterday's post, here's an interesting article from The Guardian film blog . District 9: Where aliens come to Earth and handheld comes of age District 9, the shock blockbuster produced by Peter Jackson, isn't just notable for its box office dominance and viral marketing campaign. It's also the closest thing to a handheld masterpiece that's yet been made Handheld on handholding … A still from District 9 Lars, time to break out that cigar. When Dogme 95 was brewing, I wonder if von Trier seriously thought his cin-emetic had any chance of influencing pop culture. With the release of sci-fi blockbuster District 9 , we have the answer: the handheld style has finally come of age. The setup - filmed in to-camera interviews with its pencil-neck protagonist, Wikus Van de Merwe, and intrepid Unsteadicam as he enters the extra-terrestrial township - is jarring in the very best way. And traditional complaints of motion sickness, migraine and general inner-ea
Read more

God You don't need me, but somehow You want me - Tenth Avenue North, “Control”

-
Image
I sent the below message to my teaching colleagues in school this evening, braced as we are for the arrival of “those-who-shall-not-be-named” (i.e. OFSTED, national school inspectors) sometime between now and Easter. For those of you who live outside of Britain their job is to monitor and ensure high standards in all schools… the problem is that they keep moving the goalposts. Anyway, enough of that. Here’s what I said: I think that the attached video teaching is for us right now, to help us not lose sight of who we are and why we are here in a Catholic school. It's too late for the weekend just gone, but try to take on board its message of "wasting time for God" over the coming weeks, despite the pressures that we are all under. Even if you are not a believer yourself, give yourself some time alone with your thoughts, if you can… even just a few minutes.  The video teaching is by one of my favourite bands, Tenth Avenue North, and it accompanies a song of
Read more

Transcendent God

-
Over the past few months I have become much more aware of the beauty of the Grail translation of the Psalms that we use in Morning and Evening Prayer (Divine Office) - I will write more about this in the near future - and I am also finding that this has rubbed off on my attitude to the other prayers in the Office. For example, the following hymn that we prayed just over a week ago. The words struck me as if I was discovering them anew, and this after having prayed (or simply recited?) them at least once a month for about 25 years.  The optimism of the imagery struck me most forcefully and I love the idea of God hearing our prayer "before we call", i.e. as the paslmist says elsewhere "before ever a word was on my lips... you knew me through and through" (I paraphrase). See what you think yourselves... Morning Prayer of Sunday, week 3 Transcendent God in whom we live, The Resurrection and the Light, We sing for you a morning hymn To end the si
Read more