There was distant thunder during the night but no rain fell. The door by my bed remained open, although curtained off, but there was no sense of freshness, although dew is shining on the grass as the whirring flight of pigeons touches down for their bread and seed. An immature herring gull, with mottled feathers and golden beak, looms over two gulls still wearing their black winter balaclavas, while the gentle sounds of ducks remind me of the pair waiting for their share of seed.

Some of the nuns are pale from lack of sleep. I wonder how we are going to cope with the hot drive to Neston tomorrow afternoon, and then the delights prepared for us, after we have sung a Latin Vespers of Our Lady.

Sister M. and I spent at least an hour looking for appropriate photographs for our next calendar.... in this heat seeing frost and snow was no balm - simply a mirage. Rain came later - after I had tried to revive some Japanese anemones with water from a hose-pipe, so they should be able to lift up their heads again. Perhaps I shall revive when a cool shower falls upon me?

Thursday 2nd July

The scent of the lime tree still pervades the garden with subtle perfume, while gentle shades of white and purple flowers blend with natural green stalks and leaves which are both the background and foreground of our garden. Here and there bright roses and lilies provide a contrast, while fallen petals from various bushes carpet the ground. The heat continues to be enervating but the early morning freshness makes it a delight to sit on a bench by the lavender patch, and pray.

Friday 3rd July

The hydrangea by the back door was drooping last night. The temperature indoors was some 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so in the sunshine outside it must have been far worse. We were driven in an air-conditioned Mercedes Benz to Neston on the Wirral. Some of the roads were arches of green, long, beautiful tunnels of light and shade. We passed green fields of shorn sheep - some gleaming white - with their lambs in their baby coats.

We arrived in Neston, close to the historic river crossing we did not see, used by merchants and pilgrims since the fifth century. There was a great desire to associate Saint Mungo with Neston, and thus the historic church, as he had founded Saint Asaph’s in Wales at that time. There are the remains of a Viking Cross and a space for the Falkland War Memorial Chapel, called the Saint Nicholas Chapel as Nicholas is the patron saint of mariners. The font is the one in which Lady Hamilton was baptised on 12th May 1796: she came from Neston.

Such a warm welcome on such a memorable day, singing Vespers in a Church long associated with Chester Cathedral from its Benedictine foundation by Saint Anselm. We could not have been welcomed more kindly.

Sunday 5th

The day began cool and fresh after rain, with the birds waiting for their food - including the remains of supper. Magpies appear only on the edge of the snail shell spiral I walk on the grass, and the herring gull departs after he has eaten a sufficient amount. The jackdaws with their grey hoods look like monk-birds, and occasionally we see the brightly coloured jays on the bird-table by the Chapel. The fresh garden is wonderful, with a cobweb on the crucifix collecting floating petals and dust, which the Crucified shelters beneath his arm. My face is now turned towards Reading and General Chapter.

Our journey out by train first took us through some lovely Cheshire countryside to Warrington, with banks of purple Willow Herb and edges of a prehistoric forest undulating in the distance for many miles. I think it is Delamere Forest. At Warrington it was a relief to sit on a seat where the air was moving before boarding the Virgin Pentolino, which swayed like a carriage going at high speed over cobbles, and made it impossible to read - at least for me. The carriages were all air-conditioned and cool, so the blast of heat at London Euston was quite something.... We then discovered that the Tube was not accepting any more passengers due to over-crowding. Friendly people helped us on our way: an African railway worker who told us about the 205 bus to Paddington: two ladies who told us how to get bus tickets from the machine prior to boarding, and changed two 50p coins for a £1 coin when the machine refused to accept them ....

We enjoyed seeing so many distinctive and attractive ethnic groups: small and delicate people from India - although the middle-age spread was not lacking - a variety of people from different parts of Africa, some with fascinating hair-styles - and a variety of Muslims and Hasidic Jews, as well as Oriental people with a ready smile. It was not the London I knew in 1964.

Then there were short conversations with other kindly people, including a young African mother with an eight-week old son fast asleep amid the noise and chaos of Paddington Station. By now it was very hot, we had missed our connection, and we were ‘soggy’ when we arrived at Reading. A taxi was the only answer but we had only £21 left for a £25 journey.... A kindly Indian driver agreed to that sum, and we eventually arrived at Douai Abbey.

The Douai monks are very hospitable, and welcomed us warmly. Some were in secular clothing when we arrived but by Vespers - sung in their wonderful Church, full of light and lofty space - all were in solemn monastic attire. There are two organs and several monks who play the organ - the strangest thing was that the organist changed from one organ to the next during the same service.

25th July

The last week has gone by in haze and I cannot even think of a connecting theme .... The gardeners have trimmed some of our flowering bushes, cut the grass and interesting seed-cases are forming in the flower beds. So much variety - some fluffy like soft feathers - some winged seeds from the acer which look like birds gliding silently - patterned and crowned poppy heads - delightful alien love-in-a-mist - softness among the thistles ..... so much delight in the adaptation to circumstances and need.

And that brings me back to a gift which one would think is natural and normal in the human mind and isn’t: the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and the changing needs. This reflection comes after we, as a community, thought about charism - a theme set for us by our Congregation.

Some Responses:

As far as I know, the word ‘charism’ is derived from chrism, the oil used for anointing, especially in sacred rites. So a charism is something given to us - most usually in a sacramental rite - not something which we already possess: but it becomes a permanent gift.

It was not always so. As far as I know, it was the Judges in O.T. times who were the first ‘charismatic leaders’, although not the first people on whom the power of the Spirit of God descended .... It was with the anointing of kings - beginning with Saul - that this rite was seen as something which could not be discarded or taken away

When a king or priest is anointed, and when we are baptised and confirmed, we are consecrated to the service of God and His people but we are not - necessarily ‘charismatic’ people. We are consecrated people, and our lives are understood to be dedicated to God. When we enter a monastery, our ‘charism’ - our gift of service to God and others - is manifested in a definite way.

‘Charism, from the Greek charisma ... is a gift of grace, a free gift, especially of extraordinary operations of the Spirit in the Apostolic Church, but including all spiritual graces and endowments. More specifically ‘Charisms are special gifts of the Holy Spirit which are bestowed on individuals for the good of others, the needs of the world, and for the building up of the Church’. (The catechism of the Catholic Church.) So the various Orders of the Church refer to the charism of their founder, the particular grace given to him ..... which becomes the charism of their Order, incarnated in the lives of the Order’s members..."

CHARISM: I think is best defined as a free gift of the spirit, a spiritual gift. It can be given to individuals or groups or families of people. Charismatic people have a magnetism, a spiritual power which shines through them in such a way as to attract others and inspire great devotion and trust.