Jan 25, 2025

Rector’s Letter February 2024

written by Jennifer Wright

Dear friends,

As I look towards the upcoming month of February in my diary, I realise that for half the weeks I shall be away at St Bueno’s Jesuit Centre in North Wales. St Bueno’s is set amongst the rolling Welsh countryside and was built in 1848 as a place of theological study for the Jesuits. It is a fabulous building, but it has the most confusing configuration of stairs and rooms inside, so that when you’re there you never quite know how to get anywhere else…. but if you wander long enough you kinda come across where you want to go!

This February I will spend two weeks at St Bueno’s completing (I hope successfully!) my three year’s training to become a Spiritual Director. And I am often asked what that means. Spiritual Direction is a safe place and time where someone can explore their relationship with God… where time is intentionally given to deepening our response to God’s invitation of love… and where, through conversation, one is helped to pay attention to what God is doing in one’s life. The hour each month is a sacred conversation, and one which, for me, comes directly out of a desire to know God more intimately. I personally have had a Spiritual Director now for 20 years, and have found their attentive listening and gentle questioning invaluable to my relationship with God.

I chose the above picture of the icon to accompany this letter, as it is called ‘Jesus and Friend’, and I thought it appropriate for my two weeks away, learning how to accompany another in a very specific context. But, of course, the image is pertinent for all of us. As Christians we live our life with a faithful, divine companion, who loves us and blesses us daily. At the moment we are celebrating the Epiphany season which is all about God’s revelations and who God is, which might prompt us to consider how God is acting in our lives today. I hope that many of us have someone to talk to about this sometimes – and if we haven’t, then maybe it might be a helpful thing to explore. It is good for us to have a companion, or even be a companion to someone else. Happy chatting this month! I am always happy to talk about this with anyone, if you’d like to explore further.

with love, Liz