8/01/2008

Washed In Him At Holy Walsingham. By Uncle Monty.

Washed In Him At Holy Walsingham
Story and Photos By Uncle Monty
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Holy Walsingham is one of England’s oldest shrines for faithful
Anglicans and devout Catholics alike. People of prayer come
from far and wide to spend a little time from their rushed daily
lives to visit and to experience periods of needed religious retreat
at The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, which is idyllically
set in the unmarred landscape of Norfolk’s old England.
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Here you won’t be abused by the trauma and stress of modern
secular life as the prevailing peace of spirit and quietness quickly
embaces and envelopes one’s presence at Holy Walsingham.
It is a spiritual refuge of a uniquely English kind.
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The blending of Historic Anglicanism and Traditonal
Catholicism sweeps many of the prayerful pilgrims right
off their wary feet. At least it did for Contessa Maria and
me at our three-day retreat at Holy Walsingham’s Stella
Maris House that housed and stepped us right
inside the stunning and shining shrine.
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Anglican Bishop Robert Ladds
Our first encountered was with Anglican Bishop Robert
Ladds, Vicar-General of the Society of Mary, within
moments of our first arrival at this beautiful parcel of land
set aside for us all to simply recognise the all-embracing love
and power of our Gracious God and His Son Jesus Christ.
And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England’s
green and pleasant land
,” asks our old hymn "Jerusalem."
Indeed, He surely did, at least I for one would like to think
so, at perhaps this God blessed spot of Holy Walsingham.
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Praying pilgrims at The Walsingham
Shrine's open air prayer services.
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No matter where you stand or sit at Holy Walsing-
ham, you will be comforted and cleansed by its quiet,
yet overwhelming, religiosity and shining light. Groups
of praying pilgrims, led either by Anglican and/or Catholic
priests, gather at intervals to walk around the parameter
of the shrine and to pay homage to their Christian faith.
From The Shrine to The Slipper Chapel is known as "The
Holy Mile" and many of the pilgrims walk silently to and
from such sacred spots at Holy Walsingham.
Maria and I most certainly and happily did.
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A lone country parson seen at
Holy Walsingham's High Street.
The tiny villages of Great Walsingham and Little
Walsingham, just five miles south of Norfolk's
coast-based Wells-next-the-Sea, is where the
National English Shine of Our Lady of Walsingham
and the famed Slipper Chapel can be easily visited.
Priests, religious sisters, church leaders, shrine work-
ers, annual pilgrims and parish groups, sightseers
and the curious can be seen at the packed High
Street during major religious festivals like Easter-
tide and Christmastide. Otherwise, at quiet times,
Holy Walsingham can be thin of crowds like when
Maria and I undertook our retreat there some
two years or more ago. Hence, the lone priest as
seen above and photographed by me as Maria and
I strolled peacefully in arms along the High Street at
where we browsed the local book and gift shops and
what have you. And from where we then
walked The Holy Mile, together.
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The Holy Mile at Holy Walsingham.
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Inside The Shrine of
Our Lady of Walsingham.
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The Slipper Chapel
At Holy Walsingham.
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It seems just like yesterday when we were
there. That's how impressive and persuasive
was Holy Walsingham to me, and I assume,
to Contessa Maria, too. We were first-timers,
but we chatted with a number of pilgrims who
had for years stayed annually at the shrine.
Gregory and Maragret I'Anson, devout Catholics,
have visited Holy Walsingham for more than a
quarter of a century and they still aren't tired of
it, but rather restored each time on their visits
of a week at a time. Without Holy Walsingham,
they would be spiritually dead they said ... They
come from Cannock Chase, I think they said.
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As Maria and I left, I felt we had been "Washed
In Him At Holy Walsingham." We had shared an
experience together that was a far cry from
the usual tourist traps and bland encounters of
the seaside and boring holiday spots of England
and Europe and elsewhere around the world.
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Instead, we had experienced as Anglicans the
fellowship and harmony of those who shared
similar feelings and needs to exercise and ex-
press their faith not solely in words but in action
and prayer and comradeship. That we most
certainly did. "Thank you, Holy Walsingham."
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Faithfully, Uncle Monty.
+Eve of Lammas Day, 2oo8.
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England's Convent of Our Lady of Mercy
in 1910 from my historical photo collection.

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And here's a far cry from Holy Walsingham ...

... Pathetic images of our modern Drunken Society.
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Annoucement in The
Church Times, August 1st, 2oo8:
The Federation of Catholic Priests
Priests' Pilgrimage to Walsingham
Monday 13 Oct. to Thursday 16 Oct, 2oo8.
Theme - "Immersed in Priesthood: Healing
and Reconcilliation in the Life of the Priest."
Speakers include: Chaplain to the Pilgrimage,
The Right Rev'd Robert Ladds; Fr. Eric Simmons,
CR., Betty Jarrett, and Fr. Graham Crook.
Enquiries: Fr. Brian Tubbs, The Vicarage,
Palace Place, Paignton TQ3 3AO. UK.
Tel: 011 (44) 01803 559059.
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I saw the new computer shop with a printed sign on its door
saying: "Closed 1:00-2:30pm for Prayers." It was Friday
afternoon at London's Old Kent Road. I could not imagine
seeing Currie Digital, PC World, Zenlogik or ABA, with such
a sign closing their doors for a few hours to observe Sunday
Morning Prayers for those of us who happen to be Christians.
Such companies seek only profits, not prayers. Nor do they
respect those folkz of faith. Money and business are their
only God. And, little else ... in England today.
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