✦ COME & SEE WEEKEND • 13–15 JUNE 2025 • YOUNG WOMEN 18–35
SPIRITUALITY
Living Mary’s “yes” in every moment of our lives.
A life shaped by Mary’s yes.
Our spirituality can be summed up in the prayer:
O Mary, teach us always to say yes to the Lord,
Every moment of our life.
O Mary, teach us always to give thanks to the Lord,
Every day of our life.
England’s Nazareth
“Walsingham is England’s Nazareth, the place where we remember the joy of Mary’s ‘fiat’, ‘yes’, ‘let it be’, ‘amen’, ‘alleluia’ to God’s plan for her.”
The Word made flesh
Mary’s free, loving and joyful response to God’s will at the Annunciation and at every moment of her life, allowed ‘the Word to become flesh and live among us.’ Her response models for us our vocational living and its consequence of embodying Christ’s life in us. Our life is to be ‘another humanity for him (Christ), in which he can renew his whole Mystery’. In this way we help hasten the coming of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Called by name
We aim to help promote a vocational culture in the Church and in contemporary society by supporting everyone’s growth in freedom so that they can follow their unique call in life – God’s dream for them and, in effect, their heart’s deepest desire. Ultimately it is not important what state of life we are in, what we ‘do’, but our relationship with God and how that unfolds, who we are and how we have lived by love. True joy will only be found in the realisation that each of us can reach the fullness of life by following God’s call to love and serve, wherever we find ourselves.
We recognise in many people the search for meaning and the desire for truth. In response to this COLW wants to promote a culture of vocation in which everyone feels ‘called by name’:
To live life as a response to love received.
To seek union with God.
As Christians, to live fully one’s baptismal promises.
To discover one’s ‘personal’ vocation.
To a ‘particular’ vocation.
To the order, place and purpose for which one was created.
Mary is our vocational model as one who responded totally and allowed God to do with her all that he wanted, to live in His will. When Jesus says that his mother, brothers and sisters are those who do the will of his Father in heaven we have a glimpse into the wholeness of Mary’s self-giving. It was not bearing Christ in the flesh that made her blessed. Her real motherhood lay in her full surrender to the Father’s will; her "Be it done unto me” in sorrow and in joy, in diminishment and fullness.
The sources of our spirituality
We would be glad to welcome you.
Whether you are discerning, visiting Walsingham, or simply want to learn more, please get in touch.
Community of Our Lady
of Walsingham