Not far from us in Ham Common, was an Anglican convent of nuns who decided to come and join us in prayer. As many as five or six of them would turn up and I considered this a great blessing.
Among the many who prayed with us was, Carol a friend from the Soho group who had, in the past, warned Ursula about going out with me because she thought I was psychic.
I wondered how best to approach prayer with so many non-Catholics around and remembered Fr. Alessio’s suggestion about including the rosary at our meetings. Taking courage in both hands, I asked the Anglican nuns if they minded me saying a decade of the rosary, namely the Resurrection. They were delighted and said they had no objection whatsoever and so the decade was said. Our friend Carol was there with the nuns when this decade of the rosary was being said.
I was holding onto my rosary beads which seemed to be full of electricity and had the sensation of light spreading out from the beads. Although I later learned that everyone was answering as usual, I could not hear them and wondered why no one was saying the second part of the prayer. Carol looked up and said that she could hear someone else joining me in prayer, but it did not sound like our voices and she could not see who it was. I am however mystified and glad this happened as it shows the power of the Rosary which someone once described as a ‘weapon’ in our hands.
The Anglican nuns returned again a few weeks later and to my surprise they themselves asked me to say a decade of the rosary - the Resurrection. They then went on to tell me how one of the nuns who had previously come to pray with us was at that time riddled with cancer. She told us that, since then, the doctors had examined her, and all traces of the cancer had disappeared. They wanted to thank our Blessed Mother for her prayers. What a joy!
I often went to their services and during their communion, I was prayed for as I went to the altar with crossed hands for a blessing. At times like that I felt the intense sadness of our separation.