The past year for St Brigid’s has been very quiet due to many commitments by everyone but I am very optimistic about the year ahead.

We have had a good beginning with out excellent Chapter meeting and celebration of the life of St Brigid  on the 3^rd February; and I was very humbled to be elected Prior and pleased to have Fr John as our new Warden.

I am much encouraged by everyone’s enthusiasm to have a retreat weekend in June at Hillfield Friary and we shall be hearing more about this from Father John. And I also feel that our commitment to meet every quarter at different members’ homes is good and will help us to get to know each other even better.

We may live many miles apart but we are certainly one community. We have always tried to practice the outrageous hospitality of St Brigid and we must earnestly strive to show that hospitality in whatever way we can, to others, even more in this coming year. I am sure our Lord will bless us in our endeavours and that the coming year, although it may be challenging, will bring us many riches.

Keep the flame burning.

Many Blessings

+Sheila SSB

Mother Prior

As warden, I am very keen for SSB to be getting out more into the community, being alongside God’s people. We do a fantastic amount of very good work, and it would be great to raise the profile of SSB, and gain more public recognition for what we do.

It is also amazing how God works, and what “comes around”. Recently I attended a Chinese New Year Lantern Festival. It was an amazing occasion and an opportunity to network, and of course wearing clerical dress, to provide a ministry of witness. I met someone there who I had had the opportunity to minister to over a year previously.

My vision for the future is that prejudice must go. Whether it is on grounds of colour or gender or sexuality, all prejudice must go- it is the most hurtful thing in the world.

In God’s Love,

Fr John SSB

Warden

Father of all, we give you thanks and praise that when we were still far off you met us in your son and called us home. Dying and living he declared your love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory. May we who share Christ body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the spirit lights give light to the world. Anchor us in this hope that you have set before us so we and all your children shall be free and the whole earth live to praise your name, through Christ our Lord Amen.

‘I would like the angels of heaven to be among us’. So prayed St Brigid and this is why, when the Society was established in 2001, it was put under the protection of Mary, Queen of Angels and St Michael the Archangel.

How do we bring angels among us? Angels are part of the great explosion of divine energy into the universe, the breaking open of the heart of God. They are the power lines that connect us to the divine. And they are everywhere. Kabbalists teach that there are angels that always have existed, such as the archangels, but that we also create angels by our thoughts. When we think loving, positive thoughts we send loving, positive angels into the world; but when we think negative, hateful thoughts we send negative angels out. In the end, angels we have created will form part of our judgement.

The ability to create angels is one of the ways in which human beings share in the image of God. It is an awesome responsibility and requires us to be fully conscious of our thoughts as well as our actions and to police them. We must learn not to indulge our bitter, nasty and negative thoughts. This must be part of our monastic vocation. But we also have the realisation of the wonder and power of being able to send angels into the world just on the power of thought. Why would we not use that power to heal the sick, comfort the dying, feed the hungry, visit those in prison etc? You change the world with every thought. Be careful what you think.

Mother Elizabeth SSB

Mother Founder