Most of the Hyning community will be away from the 12th - 24th April at Brownshill for our annual retreat. Do not worry if you cannot get hold of people at this time. Please pray for us as we will for you.
Events in February
The Pope in his Message for Lent writes: Slow down, then, and pause! The contemplative dimension of life that Lent helps us to rediscover will release new energies. In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, more sensitive to one another: in place of threats and enemies, we discover companions and fellow travellers. This is God’s dream, the promised land to which we journey once we have left our slavery behind.
Several of our Lenten events have been focussed on giving time for prayer. Last weekend we held a Lent retreat which will be repeated this weekend. On Feb 22nd, we hosted a Day on The Cloud of Unknowing, led by Donna Worthington. It was a very rich day with times of reflection, silence, sharing and prayer. We look forward to the next day led by Donna on “The woman who anointed Jesus”. (April 3rd. Details on the programme page).
Monastery Days
Great day with members of https://youngcatholicadultnetwork.uk/ It's great to be inspired by the faith of so many young people. The aim of the Monastery days is to help young people share their faith, explore the Scriptures and spend time in prayer and adoration. Next day is March 27th at Hyning. For more info click the link here Monastery Days
Sr. Marie Cecile
Many of you will be meeting her in person but here she is, our newest member and our youngest!
News and events
Last week we welcomed Sr. Marie Cecile from our house in Goma as part of our community. (Picture to follow soon). Over the past two weeks we welcomed our Mother General, Sr. Elizabeth Mary and her assistant Sr. Felicite, for our Regular Visit. We took the opportunity to hear about the other communities and to share our thoughts on community life at Hyning.
The guesthouse is now fully operational and we have had a series of residential and day groups staying. October is very full indeed and we are enjoying meeting new and old groups again.
There are a series of events on our programme page coming up including the Woman at the Well evening on the 9th October and the Christmas Card making Day on the 10th. October. There are still spaces on both events.
Vocation weekend
Events to consider coming up...
YouCan Video
YouCan days
This is an updated poster about an initiative inviting young people to engage in the Gospels regularly and to visit monasteries who are hosting the reflections across the country. Contact details on the poster. or contact Hyning for more details etc.
Article by Sr Michaela
Discovering the Treasure
On Saturday, the 1st of July, the #nunsof twitter (and one #bruvoftwitter) held a conference in London. The theme was “Discovering Treasure: Exploring the Impact of Social Media on Religious Life”. The conference was a response to a desire of the group, which meets monthly on Zoom, to explore the topic of the ‘treasure of social media’. Various different communities were represented on the day including members of the Daughters of Charity who hosted the day at their Provincial House in Mill Hill, from Assumptionists, Benedictines, Carmelites, Cistercian, Sacred Heart congregations etc, and a member of the Anglican Benedictine community at Mucknell Abbey. Several others also attended on Zoom from across Northern Ireland and England.
Sr. Therese Tighe of the Daughters of Charity opened the day by welcoming us to the Daughters of Charity’s Provincial House and Sr. Judith, a Benedictine from Turvey Abbey led the introductions. Sr. Michaela, a Bernardine Cistercian from Hyning in Lancashire led the prayer session and introduced the speaker for the morning session. This was led by Sr Therese Wilkinson OCD, of the Carmelites of Thicket Priory in Yorkshire. The theme of her talk was “Tweeting the Treasure: Sharing Religious Charism through Twitter”. This was followed by breakout Groups, questions, and feedback. The excellent presentation helped us to understand how to use Twitter more effectively to evangelise online and how to engage with others. Her account has over 20,000 followers and makes the Carmelite presence visible on the social platform.
This was followed by lunch and time together before the afternoon session. This session looked at “Mission and Making a Difference, one tweet at a time”, led by Sr Silvana Dallanegra, RSCJ and was followed by a two-way question time / discussion between members of the group in the room and those online.
Sr. Silvana explained the way she uses social media in her work for Caritas Westminster and how to use social media, Twitter in particular, to communicate effectively in today’s church and world.
The plenary session was led by Sr. Maria Robb, DC, and involved feedback from the day, ideas for next year and possible venues.
The day was greatly appreciated by members of the group who enjoyed sharing and engagement on various levels. We appreciated the hospitality of the Daughters of Charity and their generous contributions towards the day. We also enjoyed sharing each other’s culinary gifts including cakes baked in North Lancashire and chocolate hearts made in Turvey Abbey in Bedfordshire. We were also grateful for all the organisation and technical expertise of Sr. Maureen and Sr. Rita of the Daughters of Charity. It was also a joy for some of us to meet in real time after meeting online on Zoom only.
The day was a real discovery of the ‘treasure’ of social media but also of the great joy of the discovery of the ‘treasure’ of religious life alive in each sister and brother. As Pope Francis has said in the past, social media can “help us to better connect, rediscover, and assist one another”. This is certainly the case with the #nuns and #bruvs of twitter.
July News
We had some special visitors last weekend from St. Oswald's junior Church. There are a few photos below. (Used with permission). Sr. Reina ran the day with Vanessa who runs the Junior church.
At the moment the communities of Hyning and Brownshill are in retreat till Thursday 13th July. Please pray for all those in retreat ( and for those who aren’t!)
Thank you
Sr. Mary Colette would like to thank everyone who has sent her get well wishes, cards and prayers over the past few weeks. She broke her hip and is recovering gradually and thanks all those who have been so kind to her. Please keep her in your prayers.
Sr. Mary Joseph's funeral will be held on Monday 29th May here at Hyning at 10:30 am. Please email hyningbookings@yahoo.co.uk if you are planning on attending the Mass and the buffet afterwards. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts at this time.
If you would like a Zoom link for Sr. Mary Joseph's funeral please email Sr. Michaela at srmichaelasbc@yahoo.co.uk by Sunday evening 28th May. I won't be checking email on the Monday morning or during the Mass. Thank you for your understanding.
Community news
The community ask you to pray for the repose of the soul of Sr. Mary Joseph who died peacefully earlier today at Nazareth House in Lancaster. Though she had not appeared to have been ill, she had lost interest in eating and drinking in recent days. Sr. Mary Joseph returned to the Lord she had served so faithfully all her life. Sr. Mary Joseph was a former student of our schools at High Wycombe and then Slough. She taught for many years and lived at Hyning in the 1980s and then retired from teaching in 1994 and moved to Hyning. Please pray for her and the community and her family who always kept in contact with her and visited regularly. There are no details for her funeral available as yet.
Big thank you
A massive thank you for all those who braved the rain today and helped on #TheBigHelpOut day. #TeamGarden #TeamCleaning, #TeamApplepeeling and #TeamKitchen. You were all amazing. It was lovely to meet old and new friends, enjoy a meal together, pray together, get soaked together as well and enjoy the Coronation tea!
Big Help Out - Coronation Volunteering Day - 8th May
DEFINITELY GOING AHEAD DESPITE THE RAIN - PLEASE BRING YOUR WATERPROOFS! (7.45 a.m, 8th May)
A warm welcome to all of you!
We invite you to help the Sisters maintain their heritage environment, particularly the delightful but energy demanding eleven acre landscaped garden.
Tasks will include clearing and tidying wild areas, some outdoor painting, planting, path and wall maintenance. Other lighter activities also available.
Please wear clothes suitable for outdoor work including sturdy shoes or boots. Gardening gloves would also be greatly appreciated.
Most activities are outdoors. In the event of very heavy rain, please consult our website to see if the day is maintained. If it is raining lightly, please find something waterproof to wear!!
Please bring a packed lunch. Drinks and refreshments will be available throughout the day and we will conclude with a Coronation tea at 3.45 pm, featuring Sr Michaela's delicious cakes!!
A chance to discover the Monastery of Our Lady of Hyning, to meet the sisters and share in the beauty of creation.
Ideally, please register through thebighelpout app or through the website www.thebighelpout.org.uk
If you cannot manage this, please contact us and we will add you to the list.
Vocation weekend at Brownshill
Brownshill are hosting a vocations weekend in June. All details on the poster!
The Big Help May 8th
If you are free on the 8th May, we are down as a group for The Big Help https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUXM5DPWdAXzUyW850Wl2kdyy9ZOvKzO/view and you just find the app, and search for us. See you on the 8th May perhaps! Help with gardening, kitchen, cakes etc.
Bottles are back for sale
Sr. Reina has been busy again. The bottles are back! £5:50 big and £3 for small ones.
March news
We had a very successful Lenten retreat led by the sisters and Fr. Anthony, our chaplain at the end of February. This week we are hosting a Beginners’ Icon course led by Sr. Mary Stella and David, one of her icon group leaders. I’ve put a few images so far on the Icon Studio page but you can also view the Gallery here.
The next two events are the Card making Day and the Calligraphy Day. More details on the programme page. We are also open for Easter so please come and say hello. The Stations are also available online.
We also have an exhibit created by Clare McNamee, Sr. Mary Stella’s talented sister, on display outside the Icon Studio!
