Light up the L-O-V-E!
Come, Lord. Delay no longer!
Mass Times
3rd Week of Advent
Light up the J-O-Y !
J-esus
O-thers
Y-ourself
Yes, in that order!
Action for today: share something nice with someone!
2nd Week of Advent
Father of Light,
take away the sadness that weighs on so many people and renew our confidence that you are our Saving God.
PEACE be with you as we continue our Advent journey!
1st Week of Advent
“Jesus is at once exalted and humbled in the mystery of the incarnation. Isn’t this the same for us too? Aren’t we at once exalted and humbled, since we have put on the Lord Jesus, the seal of Christ at our baptism?”
(Cty chapter for Advent 2024)
Wishing you a blessed spiritual journey in this Advent!
New weekend retreat: 1-3 November
We are pleased to announce a new retreat for the 1st weekend of November: Life is eternal and Love is immortal - Remembering our Loved Ones who have died.
Click here for more information.
27-29 September - Save the date!
We are pleased to announce a new weekend retreat on Friday 27-29 September, titled To hope and act with Creation - Learning from the animals.
Led by Sarah Gardner, this weekend is inspired by Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and this year’s ecumenical Season of Creation which takes the theme: To Hope and Act with Creation.
We will reflect on the words of Job who invited us to “ask the animals” what they can teach us about our faith (Job 12:7-10). In contemplating animals, we can learn to find hope and opportunities for action from the examples of small creatures (e.g. ants) that render significant change.
Click here for more information.
Echoes of our Open Day
On Saturday June 15th, we had the joy of welcoming around 40 visitors for our Open day.
Camilla Boon, from the Chalford Parish Local History Group gave a talk on the history of the house in the morning and in the afternoon. In fact, Camilla wrote a chapter on the early history of our building for the History Group’s latest book - Hilltop & Valley - Stories from Chalford Parish & Eastcombe published in 2023. Sr Mary Philippa also gave an introduction about our life as Bernardines. Both presentations were well appreciated.
Several sisters and friends had baked delicious oat cookies and muffins for the occasion. We had put together 2 displays about our life, our roots and our hospitality. We also gave little tours round the house, including our refectory.
A big thank you to our friends who helped out on the day and with all the preparations!
Programme for our Open Day - 15th June
The Programme for Our Open Day is now ready. We hope to see many of you there!
Community annual retreat
The Hyning and Brownshill communities together
Every year, the 2 Bernardines communities in England come together for our annual silent retreat either up at Hyning, in Lancashire or here, at Brownshill. This year, it was our turn to host the retreat and we had the joy of welcoming our Hyning Sisters in Mid-April.
Monsignor Kevin McGinell of the Northampton Diocese was the preacher for the retreat and gave excellent talks on the Eucharistic Prayers. We were also blessed with mostly good weather!
Community retreat - change of Mass times (15th-23rd April)
The sisters are in silent retreat from 15th-23rd April so there is a change of time for Mass during this week:
Mon 15th Mass integrated with Vespers @ 5.00
Tues 16th to Sat 20th Mass @10.00 (Terce @ 9.50)
Sun 21st Mass @ 9.30 (Terce at 9.20)
Mon 22nd-Tues 23rd Mass @ 10.00 (Terce @ 9.50)
Wed 24th-Fri 26th Mass @ 9.00 (Terce at 8.50)
Weekend back to normal with Mass @ 9.30 (Terce @ 9.20)
Happy Easter!
Easter Vigil
Before….
Stylus and the grains of incense that will be put on the Paschal candle during the Vigil
The water that will be blessed and sprinkled on those present
The stand where the Paschal candle will be placed
… and the Vigil itself
Gathered round the Easter Fire
Putting on the grains of incense
Incensing the Easter candle
Holy Saturday
The cross still stands on Calv’ry hill,
Tree of a new and blessed life;
And in a garden close at hand
The Lord of Life and Death lies still….
From a Hymn for Holy Saturday (Mount Saint Bernard Abbey)
Good Friday
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Maundy Thursday
The Altar of repose for the watching on Maundy Thursday
“Becoming a “man of sorrows”, Jesus established a new solidarity of God with human suffering. The Eternal Son of the Father, in communion with him in his eternal glory, in becoming man was careful not to claim privileges of earthly glory or at least exemption from pain. Instead, he entered on the way of the cross. He chose as his path both the physical and moral sufferings which accompanied him unto death. All this was for love of us, to give us the decisive proof of his love, to make reparation for our sins, and to lead into unity those who had been scattered abroad. All this was because Christ’s love reflects God’s love for humanity.
Pope St John Paul 2
Palm Sunday
“And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed cried out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!’’ (Mark 11)
Palms placed in front of the Altar after the procession
A blessed Holy Week to you all!
Holy Week and Easter 2024
Here are the times of masses and services for Holy Week and the Easter Octave:
Palm Sunday (24th March): 9.30 a.m. Mass
Maundy Thursday (28th March) :
8.00 p.m. Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
9.30 p.m. Holy Hour with watching until midnight
Good Friday (29th March) :
11.00 a.m. Stations of the Cross
3.00 p.m. Solemn Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion
Holy Saturday (30th March) : 8.00 p.m. Easter Vigil
(Please do not park around the back of the monastery - Easter fire!)
Easter Sunday and Monday (31st March & 1st April): 10.00 a.m. Mass (Terce 9.50 a.m.)
Tuesday to Friday (2nd- 5th April): 9.00 a.m. Mass (Terce 8.50 a.m.)
Saturday and Sunday (6th & 7th April): 9.30 a.m. Mass (Terce 9.20 a.m.)
A blessed and joyful Lent to all!
Today marks Ash Wednesday, as with the whole Church, we start the Holy season of Lent.
Let us “look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing!”
(Rule of Saint Benedict, chapter 49)
Praying for Christian Unity
This week is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Every year, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) provide resources to help us pray together. For 2024, materials were prepared by an ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community (CCN). The chosen theme is ‘You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbour as yourself’ (Lk 10:27). We pray in a particular way this week for the whole country and the church communities of Burkina Faso, as well as our own Bernardine community there, the Monastery of Our Lady of Bafor.
Closer to home, we had the joy, once again, to meet with our brothers and sisters of Mucknell, an Anglican Benedictine community of monks and nuns based in Worcestershire. Last Sunday, 4 members of the Mucknell community braved the elements and came to Brownshill for tea and Vespers.
