Liz Markham gives thanks for 50 years as an Ursuline

I am at present on a three months sabbatical to my home country which coincides with the 50th anniversary of my commitment to the Order of St Ursula. In 2015 when I experienced a strong sense of gratitude to God for all I have received in life, beginning with loving and caring parents, my dream was to make a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to God to all the places in Australia where I had spent part of my life. Since I began my life as a teacher I have seen the difficulties of so many children and I have been grateful for my childhood. Well, I had no idea of how I was going to organize or finance this pilgrimage but I needn't have worried, God was with me in the form of Ursulines and family. There seemed always to be an Ursuline who was going in the direction I wanted to go and was offering a lift. I have visited the property west of Cecil Plains where I spent my childhood, have passed Margate where the family spent a few months when I was a toddler, passed the Primary Correspondence School from where I received my correspondence lessons, walked around St Ursula's, Toowoomba, where I attended from Grade 4 to Senior, been in the area of Kelvin Grove Teachers College where I studied teaching, visited the place in Armidale where I spent 2 1/2 years when I first joined the Ursulines, passed the house in Canberra where I lived as a young Ursuline, visited the ANU and Ursula College where I studied for my BA, passed the College where I studied Special Education, spent two weeks with 13 Ursulines at the Ursuline holiday house were we holidayed as young Ursulines and spent time in Sydney where I taught for a year before going to Africa.

A wonderful part of my pilgrimage has been reconnecting with so many people who have been part of my life's journey. This has included relations, friends, and class mates from St Ursula's in Toowoomba. The generous way in which the group of Ursulines in Australia have enfolded me in their love as one of them has been a wonderful gift for my 50th jubilee as an Ursuline. The eight days I spent on retreat at the beautiful St Mary's Towers retreat centre at Douglas Park NSW (a heart place surrounded by the beauty of the Australian bush) has been an important aspect of my sabbatical.

I conclude with an expression of thanks to all those Ursulines, friends and other benefactors who have given material or other support to the Ursuline ministry in Botswana.

May I always strive to live in a way which gives thanks to the Source of All Life.