Royal Maundy

Yesterday I returned to Pontyclun for the last time, to give a Holy Week address and celebrate the Eucharist. When I returned home, Clare and I went together to a meeting of the Ignatian meditation group, being held in a house not far from us, in a street by Thompson's park. The group lunched together after its session, and then I cycled into town for a few hours in the office. Before returning for supper I rode up to the Heath Hospital to visit my centenarian Auntie Ivy, who was admitted before the weekend with a cracked femur. The repair job was done successfully on Monday and she is making a remarkable recovery for a woman of her age. She is fully alert and asking questions about members of my family, remembering their names. I hope I'm still as engaged with life as she is, should I ever reach such an age.

Early this morning, the double gazing work team arrived to install all new fittings on the ground floor at the back of the house, including a new door with puss flap. I hope the fact that it has been fitten a few centimetres lower will please Ben, who has access issues due to the stiffness that goes with being a 'geriatric' cat (in vet speak). While the work went on, we sat and watched the Royal Maundy ceremony from Westminster Abbey, and were rewarded with a glimpse of our dear friend Gill Howie from Holy Trinity Geneva smiling at the Queen as she received her Maundy purse. She and the church got a mention from the commentator too. I was also pleased to see Robert Paterson, now the Bishop of Sodor and Man, reading a lesson. When he worked in the Church in Wales and I with USPG, we were both members of the Provincial Committee for World Mission - he as chairman, and that was a quarter of a century ago. He still looks youthful, although he now has silver hair, as befits the dignity of his rank.

Following an afternoon's work in the office, I cycled over to St German's for the Mandy Thursday Liturgy. Father Roy invited me to share in the evening celebration and to preach as well, which was for me both an honour and a pleasure. There were about thirty in the congregation, much the same as I recall in St John's on an occasion like this. Older members are reluctant to go out at night if they don't have someone to accompany them, and that's a problem in any community made up largely of elderly people. I imagine it's tough for those who stay home alone when they'd rather be at worship with others.