Dear Friends,

 

On Saturday 6 June, at St. Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth, I will make my Simple Profession of Vows in the Community of Nazareth.

 

I’ve been trying to find the right way to write this to you, and I keep coming back to the same simple truth: this is what I have always wanted. Not in a passing or romantic sense, but in something steady that has stayed with me over time. Even when I didn’t fully understand it. Even when I tried to put it to one side. It has remained.

 

Getting to this point hasn’t been straightforward. There have been moments where it feltclear, and others where it felt uncertain, costly, or even out of reach. I think that’s part of why this feels as it does now—not a sudden step, but something that has been coming into place over years.

 

When I make my vows, I will promise Stability of Heart, Obedience, and Conversion of Life for a set term within the Community of Nazareth. I am aware that I am only at the beginning of understanding what that will look like in practice. These promises will have to be lived out day by day—in prayer that is sometimes steady and sometimes difficult, in choosing to remain when it would be easier not to, and in allowing my life to be shaped gradually rather than quickly.

 

Within the liturgy, these vows will be given concrete form. I will receive the cowl, the ring, and the Rule of the Community—signs of a life that is both hidden and bound.

 

It is a beginning, and in some ways, a very ordinary one. The kind that doesn't unfold all at once. Our life as a community is still in its early stages. Much of what we are doing is simple: praying together, studying our Rule and way of life, working out how to live this vocation faithfully in the context we have been given. There is nothing polished about it yet, and I think that honesty matters. We are learning by doing, and by remaining committed to it.

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My profession sits within that. It is not separate from the life of the community, but part of how it is taking shape. In July, Br. Nicholas will also make his vows, which is an important moment for us, not just individually, but as we begin to grow into a shared and recognisable life together.​

 

I also want to say thank you, properly and without rushing past it. The support we have received as a community, and that I have received personally, has been more than we could ever have imagined. Messages, encouragement, prayers, support in the background—it all adds up. It has made a real difference, especially in recent months as this has become more real. I am very aware that I am not coming to this point on my own.

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If you are reading this as one of our Friends, please know that you are part of this. Your prayers and your support are not separate from what is happening here. They are part of what sustains it.

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As the day approaches, I would be very grateful for your prayers—for me, as I prepare to make these vows, for Br. Nicholas as he prepares for July, and for the Community of Nazareth as a whole. We are still learning what this life asks of us, and we want to be faithful in it.

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Be assured of my prayers for you all, especially as we move through Holy Week and towards Easter.

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Andrew-Thomas CN