✦ COME & SEE WEEKEND • 13–15 JUNE 2025 • YOUNG WOMEN 18–35
Angie
Personal stories · Lay Branch
The Joy of the Lord is your Strength
I was born in a small town in the desert of Northern México on the border with California, the second of six children to Catholic parents. However, apart from attending convent school and Sunday mass, often without my parents, the only memory of family faith was bedtime praying with my dad. Somehow that was enough for God to plant the seed of faith in me.
By the age of 8, my maternal grandmother, a lay Franciscan, became the biggest influence in my faith. I remember fondly the Sunday evenings spent in her bedroom praying the rosary with my siblings and cousins. Over a dozen little bodies huddled up around her like little rabbits covering every space available on her bed and the rest of the room. This was often followed by singing to the tune of my brother’s guitar under the lemon trees and the stars until bedtime. Faith was associated with joy and togetherness.
Maybe these early memories were pivotal in my association with COLW when I met them at Abbotswick, House of Prayer in Brentwood. I had an appointment with Sr Camilla for a volunteer role in the office. At that time, God had planted a desire in my heart to ‘pray more’, but I was struggling on my own and a ‘House of Prayer’ seemed to be just the right place until I realised that the driving time to get there will be at least an hour and therefore, not viable.
But, as I found out, paraphrasing Isaiah (55;8), ‘God’s thoughts are not my thoughts nor his ways are my ways.’ So, as I entered into the courtyard that autumn morning looking at the house and gardens beyond, I was hit by a wave of love that took my breath away. ‘You are here’ I thought, feeling God’s presence all around me. I knew I was meant to be there too.
That Autumn, as I joined COLW – Sr Camilla, Sr Gabi and a couple of novices – I found again the warmth, joy and togetherness that I experienced as a child and that I was so yearning for. COLW became my ‘family’, my spiritual family. Here, I began to understand that God encounters us in the silence. Talking about faith and God during lunch or while working was natural. The sisters were welcoming, joyful, friendly and as they are often described, ‘real’ people. This was home! So, when after fourteen years they finally moved to Walsingham I continued my association with them by visiting on my own or with my husband and even friends as often as I could, working, praying and attending their wonderful retreats. It was there in the little cottage at the back of Dowry House that the Lay Branch began to form with a few young families, couples and single people searching like me, for a spiritual home. The initial vision of becoming an ecclesial family was beginning to materialize and it was only natural that I should be part of it. After all, this has been my family for a long time now!
As the community grew in numbers, they began to search for a property that could become a convent, a place more suitable for their contemplative way of life. I felt very humbled and privileged to have been invited to be part of the search. It soon became obvious to me that we were looking for an impossibility as the kind of house needed for a convent didn’t exist within our budget. But God’s Divine Providence has no limits so when we found this weirdly renovated barn, now The House of the Divine Will, our mother house, I knew this was His Will for us. Even the architect – and owner – could not understand, when I asked him, why he had designed a family home in that way – shaped as a monastery. ‘I wonder that myself – he said – it just made sense.’ Of course it did. It was going to be a convent one day!
COLW has been more than a family to me. It has been a place of transformation and spiritual, and personal, growth. Although my husband is not a member of the Lay Branch, he too feels very much part of the COLW family and enjoys visiting the community from time to time. He particularly likes to attend our Lay Branch gatherings when the convent is filled with the laughter and joy of our young people playing in the garden or chatting during lunch, filling the chapel floor during prayer, or just falling asleep in their parent’s arms during formation time. COLWelians come with all kinds of stories, in all shapes and sizes: single, couples, families, widows or widowers, consecrated members and priests, we are all part of a big, warm and joyful family. Together, we are COLW!
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