Worthy, water, worship - 2026 Storrington Retreat
Diana Smith
On Saturday 25th July 2026, I joined Fr Steven and approximately 20 other pilgrims for a Day Retreat at Storrington Priory.
Storrington Priory is a former monastery built by Norbertine monks who arrived from France in 1880. They built the lovely French-inspired building of red brick with inlaid white crosses. The Priory is physically attached to Our Lady of England RC Church via the cloisters and is a short walk from St Mary’s Church of England across tree and flower- planted grounds. Storrington Priory is currently run by the Chemin Neuf Community, a charismatic group who emphasise ecumenical unity.
Our own Fr Steven has a long history with Storrington Priory and the Shrine of Our Lady of England. He informed us that he first visited the Priory on a class trip in Year 7 (the first year of secondary school). In his teens, he was a member of the working party to relocate the Shrine of Our Lady from the crossroads of the village to a woodland glade with a shaded pilgrim path approach. He also planted the trees and helped to landscape the now-mature pilgrim wood.
Our Pilgrim Party assembled at Storrington Priory for an 8.30am start. The day consisted of fellowship, hymn singing, food, religious lectures and discussion, Ignatian discernment, a singing procession and finally a Eucharist. Our first lecture focussed on John 4 (Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at the well at midday). Individually, we gave the text a close reading and afterwards shared the words and phrases which had jumped off the page to us, to give us insight into the Scripture. It was such a safe space that I felt confident to share my ideas as the words and phrases spontaneously popped around the room from pilgrim to pilgrim. Fr Steven’s subsequent lecture gave me new insight into the humanity and circumstances of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well … I had never before realised that high noon was the wrong time to draw water from a well and that it was normally a social, communal experience. Her openness with Jesus was striking as it came from her brokenness … God’s love is better than any bucket! The metaphor of water (“what are we thirsty for?”) was introduced and the answer was LOVE. The ultimate love is the Love of God. The scriptural passage showed us not to put up barriers to God’s Love; the physicality of worship can co-exist with spirit and truth.
When we split into discussion groups, it was interesting to hear the experience and ideas of fellow pilgrims on the three main concepts of the written excerpt: worthy, water and worship. We regrouped for a concluding short lecture about how the Samaritan woman was changed by her encounter with Jesus at the well. (“Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the City.”) Metaphorically, she had been thirsty for God’s Love. She was able to leave behind what she thought she needed and rely/trust in God. We considered “what is our water jar?” What can we symbolically leave behind because, knowing Jesus, we are not the same person as we were. Change is empowering. Jesus meets us exactly where we are at – we all have our role to play in the Kingdom of God!
After all that learning and thinking, we shared a communal lunch which was gluten free, dairy free and had zero carbon footprint, as everything was grown or produced locally. It was a hearty meal consumed with jolly fellowship.
Our post-lunch activity was an Ignatian-style reflection, also called Ignatian Discernment, which is a contemplative exercise with guidelines to focus your mind. This was a solitary and silent activity developed by St Ignatius of Loyola in the mid-1500s but which has relevance in the present, as it equates to mindfulness with a particular religious focus. We were encouraged to find a comfortable place and to commit our time freely to God with joy. I chose a shady spot under a beautiful mulberry tree, where I lay on a small cotton picnic cloth that was in my handbag. A hot breeze was blowing across the parched yellow South Downs landscape and I felt the beauty of God’s creation all around me; I cleared me mind of all of its daily clutter and noise in order to concentrate on the spiritual questions given. It was a truly beautiful experience, and all the pilgrims appeared refreshed and contented when we regrouped for our physical pilgrimage: our walk to the Shrine of Our Lady in a clearing in the woods.
Our pilgrim group assembled outside the front door of Our Lady of England Church, across from the former site of the Shrine of Our Lady. We entered the woods and processed along a tree-lined path, singing the Hail Mary Full of Grace hymn. When we arrived at the Shrine, Fr Steven led us in the Litany of Saints and the Angelus. We stopped to offer up our prayers and appreciate the loveliness of the site. It is truly a beautiful shrine of Our Lady.
We finished our Day Pilgrimage with a hymn and a Holy Eucharist Service. Although it was only one day, it was very educational, prayerful and focussed. As always, when Christians get together, it was also a lot of fun and had much laughter as well as more poignant moments. I hope you have a sense of the day from my writing about it. I do love to go on longer pilgrimages; I loved our trip to Lourdes in 2019 and I have been to Walsingham many times, but a Day Pilgrimage is the ideal blend of social and spiritual, a pause in our busy lives to encounter Jesus without distraction. In short, our day at Storrington Priory was a glorious experience.
