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On the night of the Epiphany, 12 of us (including Quanda the guide dog, who was to contribute much laughter to the weekend) gathered at the FCJ House in Manchester to make a New Year retreat.

Leading the retreat, Anne Lee, consistently gentle and self-effacing, kept us to the theme of Journey. We were glad just to be rooted for the weekend, with one another and God, reflecting on our journeys. Teresa Brittain, also a Sister of Sion helped us to explore the Journey of the Magi, and in a questioning approach with no hard answers we came to a sense of acceptance that was to grow in our time together. In the course of the retreat, one of our number was baptised, and Fr John joined us in a beautiful celebration of Jen Armstrong's baptism during the Mass. He spoke of God's unconditional love for each person, which was surprisingly and amazingly mirrored in the group's acceptance of one another as gifts.

In many ways it was a weekend of creativity. Reflections took the form of paintings, music (Teresa Brown played her powerfully peaceful violin compositions for the group), prayers, readings, dance, and thoughts, which were shared generously and trustingly. In the midst of this personal reflection, there was too a consciousness of all humanity in struggle, and the film of Oscar Romero which we watched on Saturday evening epitomized this.