A story of our time
Our approach to care represents an alternative to the popular path along which many people unwittingly find themselves following today, and with no memory of the ancient paths mapped out in the Bible.
Todays pilgrims could be described as the Feral Children of the Prodigal Son who didn't return home to the Father.
Our approach to care draws from tried and tested timeless spiritual and psychological truths drawn from the Christian contemplative tradition. From cradle to grave, in good times and bad, these continue to shed much needed Light in the darkness many find themselves living in today.
The example of the Ministry of Hospitality of St Benedict is central, and like our work emerged out of the threatened collapse of a political and morally failling society and culture. The first half of St Benedict’s life was a time of relative prosperity, peace, and good government. However, all that came to a sudden end - the last fifteen years of his life were a time of plague, natural disasters, war, destruction, and hardship that devastated peoples health and wellbeing. Beginning in the year 536AD, was a year described by historians as the worst ever to be alive.
We also find a model and example in Elizabethan times in the homes of recusant families like the Southworth's at Samlesbury Hall in Lancashire, and in priests like St Edmund Arrowsmith who ministered to them through whose intercession people still find healing today.
The cornerstone of the HtG Home & Guesthouse is the therapeutic Prence of Jesus’ Person, his HtG, made concrete in the Eucharist. This psycho-spiritual and intellectual cornerstone creates a much needed safe haven of rest, recovery, and recuperation for the many weary pilgrims of our broken society today. The family & friends of the HtG Home & Guesthouse, therefore, act as a bridge connecting wider society with Jesus' therapeutic Presence and Source of the fullness of human health, happiness, and wellbeing, of the body, mind, and spirit.
The HtG Home & Guesthouse is rooted in belief in Jesus' resurrection from the dead, revealing himself to be "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" whom we can come to know, love, and serve. We create an environment therefore that encourages and facilitates entering into a much needed therapeutic personal relationship with the Divine Phycisian, promising to culminate in the fullness of human health and wellbeing as we pass through this life into the next.
Jesus' Humanity through Grace is the psycho-spiritual and intellectual corner stone of the HtG Home & Guesthouse, and promising to be an evergreen source of hope and resilience that will never fail us along our pilgrim path through life.
By taking peoples 'spiritual needs' seriously, our personal and relationship based approach to care creates a culture and environment that aims to dispell the darkness of unhealthy ways and relationships which are often the root cause of much sickness and disease of the body, mind, and spirit.
Our person-centred approach is supported by a growing body of research in Health and Social Care.
Humanity through Grace Prayer - FOR THE JOURNEY
We find ourselves in darkness, yet we live in the Light; we know sorrow, yet we have joy; we are burdened,
yet we have wings to meet our God, the eternal Light and Life of all creation.
This is our joy now, and in this joy we shall remain.
We must fight to dispel the darkness of unhealthy ways and relationships
through the healing and development of our Humanity through Grace.
We must hold the standard high; we must let the Light of Christ shine forth.
We must never be discouraged. Amen.
our lady of the wayside
Our Lady of the Wayside,
we are weak, and we will falter.
When the rugged paths are winding
out before us, mile on mile;
Let thy lights be always gleaming,
As through all the darksome ages
For the pilgrim they have glowed;
Till they lead us o’er the desert
To the haven of our dreaming,
To thy home, with your Son,
At the ending of the road. Amen.