Walsingham
I took myself off to The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham for a few days recently. The intention had been to make it a retreat-cum-pilgrimage; however, it didn’t quite work out like that. My health rather let me down, and I spent most of the time just sitting or lying quietly. But in many ways that was just what I needed. I did manage to join in with a couple of the services. And the rest of the time I just soaked up the peaceful atmosphere.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is a beautiful place, tucked away in the Norfolk countryside. I try to get there at least once a year, though mostly just for a day, or even a couple of hours. For me, it’s somewhere that heaven touches earth. Here’s a link to the Shrine website, where you’ll be able to find out much more about the place than I can include in a blog post.
Below you will see a few pictures taken on my recent visit to Walsingham. There are 30 photographs in all, and each one links to a larger version.
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I go to a Carmelite monastery in Kent and an Anglican monastery also in Kent for my ‘retreats’ and I am over due one so I must get away for at least a day very soon! Great photo’s Paul. Sorry to hear about your health but as you said, it kept you still and peaceful.
Thank you Steve. I am quite pleased with the photos, especially considering the camera they were taken on: a rather old Fuji with only 2.0 mega pixel resolution — it was state-of-the-art when I bought it quite a few years ago now. I had to play around with the levels in Fireworks a bit to make most of the interior pictures viewable; it’s really quite dark in the majority of the shrine church.
I hope you do manage to get away for a day, or more, soon. I’ve always found it a great help in recharging the batteries — even this time when I wasn’t so good.
My favorite building on earth is an old Methodist church in my home state of Ohio. I had a retreat there once that just changed my life (and set the course for most of my walk with Christ), and so the place is really special and sacred to me. I totally know what you mean about certain places being heaven touching earth!
Amen to Steve’s comment on the amazing photos.
By the way, if you don’t mind me asking: how specifically can we be praying for your health, if that’s not being too nosy…
Thank you Tom.
It’s good to go back to those special places. The place, I find, helps to revive the memories of the meaningful event.
As for my health, not too nosy at all, I don’t mind being specific. I’ve only really kept things a bit vague on here because I don’t want to turn this blog into a personal blog that always talks about my health (I hope that makes some sense in the reading of it). I have a relatively rare heart problem called Prinzmetals Variant Angina. One of the best treatments for it is a tablet that causes side-effects in me that are a big problem. Stop taking the tablets, side-effects are okay, but angina goes way out of control — which is what happened last autumn. Take the tablets, and I get some semblance of control over the angina, but the side-effects mean respiratory problems, amongst other things — which is where I am now. We’re just trying to get the balance right by varying the dose; but I don’t seem to be able to take sufficient to be a great deal of help.
Your prayers are appreciated Tom, thank you.