Busy Bees

St, Bernard of Clairvaux is the Patron Saint of Beekeepers, and the patron of my eldest son whom I always say was born under his patronage, I say this not only because my eldest boy is a devotee of all things outdoors, but because I was head of Clairvaux House in a Bernadine Convent school when he was conceived.  In his words: "Believe one who knows: you will find something greater in the woods than in the books.Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters." And, so it is that I find myself dedicating a Saturday morning making frames for the beehive with the youngest, whilst the eldest is out learning from the 'wood and stones' and tidying up a pheasant drive for the new season...he would return in the afternoon bearing gifts or brightly coloured feathers, eggs and the odd good stick.

Bernard was know as a 'difficult saint' - this a description I adore. Essentially, it comes down to his refusal to use a rational approach to theology and God, but to preach using an appeal to emotion to foster conversion and an immediate experience of faith. As a master of prayer, he emphasised the value of personal and experiential friendship with Christ. He is known for being 'honey- tongued' in his preaching and I remember that he said: "what we love we grow to resemble" and also "we find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those who love us". 

I think you will come to love a life in France and will come to resemble that which you love! I cannot wait to hear your children utter their first French words as naturally and effortlessly as they speak English, what a pleasure to bring up bi-lingual babes!

The Mellifluus Doctor, St Bernard, will surely be at your side in reviving family traditions new and old - especially the idea of an advent garden lit by beeswax candles set into apples. With this tradition I can help - for we have both a bramley apple tree and bees! Perhaps I will be able to send you beewax to set your own candles into apples and we can share a new tradition.

I was teaching today about Julian of Norwich as an (the) most influential saint of Norfolk. The lesson contained her hazelnut vision. The one which she holds, in the "eye of understanding" a hazelnut in the palm of her hand and hears that it lasts and will last because God loves it. What we drew out from this vision in today's class was the Julian of Norwich cared deeply for creation and believed that God loved all of His creation, us and all living things. And, we understood that all living beings exist because of God's love. This love should become a pattern for our love of the world around us, and that was where we met the challenge,,,,how do we demonstrate a love for all of creation? 

It is here I must return to the bees. I look at creatures that seem so fragile on the edge of a huge eco-system and wonder how they could ever survive...and yet they do and our survival depends upon them. And as St Julian would have it: they last because God loves them, and everything that exists has its being because of the love of God: 'all manner of things will be well' as there is a "Force of Love that  holds us fast and will never let go". So for that we are our grateful and celebrate bees and chat to them whilst we eat dinner!

All our family traditions, from making the Christmas Puddings whilst wasailing on Candlemas to making Easter Bread - brightly decorated, to holy water fonts, saying the Angelus daily (I love it, my watch pings everyday at 12 and 6; a school I once worked at stopped at 12 everyday to say it together) or house blessings...they are just ways of showing our love, and what we love we will grow to resemble.

What's the feast on the table at yours?