Thursday 22 November

It is been a very long time since my last post.  Its not that nothing of interest has been happening but rather too much.  Our community is quite small at this time and if one or two are away those at home have an additional load to carry.  In the big picture, though, we have many blessings, not least our new priory.

The new priory is a delight to live in.  Here below is a view down the corridor to the end of the building.  It gives a sense of the interior of the house. 

Priory Corridor

We had a group of third year teachers come on a retreat day which was organised by the Catholic Education Office of the Archdiocese of Sydney.  It was a wonderful group of young professional people. I was delighted that they were so attentive and interested in what I presented on St Teresa and our lives today.  They enjoyed the grounds during the breaks.

Teachers on retreat outside our priory

A quiet chat

A very pleasant surprise was a call from out of the blue from Noel Power, one of my classmates from my time as a student in Dublin.   He came out to Varroville on the first Tuesday in November.  I had not seen him for almost 40 years but picked him up at the train station and chatted while he helped me shop and unload.  Noel is now a psychoanalyst and an specialist in drug and alcohol addictions.  He was visiting his son who lives in Sydney.  Noel stayed long enough to enjoy the Melbourne Cup with us.  The longer we were together the more we remembered and the more we laughed, of course.  

As well we have been cheered and stimulated by the visit from Singapore of our Carmelite Fr Tom Curran.  Tom was a member of the community here at Varroville in the 1980's.  He still has many friends nearby and further afield.  Presently he is on retreat at Jamberoo Abbey.  He will return for a few days and also visit St Ives before heading back to Singapore via Perth.

Noel Power

I realised at some point that I had not updated the progress on the Prayer Room in the Retreat Centre.  Below is the beautiful Living Flame window by Cedar Prest.  Because the glass is three dimensional the window looks different from every angle.  It is a stunning image and creates a wonderful feeling in the room.

Living Flame window

The prayer room now has its tabernacle, two icons and today the chairs arrived.  I think it will be an inspiring and sacred place.  I will reserve the Blessed Sacrament in it tomorrow in time for the weekend retreat.

Tabernacle at the centre of the prayer room

The prayer room will eventually have eight icons of Carmelite saints.  First to arrive was St Teresa and then St John of the Cross 

Icon of St Teresa

Icon of St John of the Cross

Thinking of icons we had a wonderful retreat/workshop conducted by Anna Prifti, a master iconographer from Melbourne, for aspiring iconographers.  The results were astonishing.  Each student produced a beautiful icon to take home.  The craft of the iconographer is one that involves much prayer and attention.  The fruits speak for themselves.

Icon retreatants with their icons

Living in the new priory has some features I did not expect.  We are very close to nature.  Each window has a different view over the property.  One afternoon I heard a ruckus outside my room.  Looking out I saw a red fox on the hill opposite.  I then realised he was being dive-bombed by two crows.  When I saw he had something fairly large and black in his mouth I guessed what was happening.  He did not let go the young crow.  Then just the other day Fr Shane alerted me to a very large goanna slowly walking through one of the courtyard gardens and then past our dining room.

I took a photo of the goanna but have run out of my allotted space for images in this blog.  So that is one compelling reason why the blog in this present form has come as far as it can go.  It has told the story of the building of the priory.  I am grateful for the very positive comments I have received from very many people.  I do intend to begin a new blog next year.  In the meantime I will research how to best go about this.  However if you come back to this blog I will let you know what is happening.