Annual Confirmation Pilgrimage
On a rather dismal Saturday morning a group met at the preaching cross at St Cadoc's Church, Trevethin, to begin a journey of exploration. to visit pastures new, to experience some of our Celtic Heritage and to follow in the footsteps of the Saints of old. For that day we were 'Pilgrims' traveling the old pathways in prayer and joyfulness - not knowing what to expect.
Like pilgrims across the ages we began our journey in prayer asking that God would enable us to discover our unity in Christ, that we would recognize and celebrate the grace of God in the places we would visit and the people we would meet, but most of all that we would truly sense God's call on our lives, in the spirit of the Saints Issui, David, Cadoc and Ignatius.
We left our valley to journey to the beautiful scenery of the Black Mountains and the Uanthony valley. We followed the winding narrow lanes to the country church of Merthyr Issui at Patricio. At the holy well, we received the water in our hands and we marked a cross on our forehead as a reminder of the life-giving water of baptism.
As we walked into the Church, we were surrounded with signs and symbols of the past. From the beautiful 15th century rood loft and screen to the pre-reformation wall paintings and so much more, here we gathered in prayer, as in generations past, to the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Our day continued on to Llanthony, Capel-y-fin and the Monastery of Father Ignatius born in 1869. We gathered beneath the statue of our Lady to bring to a close a day of fun, fellowship and searching.
I believe the words of our closing prayer in some way reflect our thought and feelings:
'I give myself to you, Lord. With my mind and its thinking. With my hands and their working. With my eyes and their seeing. With my body and its actions. With my heart and its loving. I give myself to you.'
Revd Anne Golledge