Abbotswick House of Prayer Retreat, Sunday 25 April

This week we had a lovely retreat in the countryside of Essex with our Spiritual Director, Fr. Matt. It was just what we needed to escape from the busyness of city life. The countryside and surroundings of the Diocesan House of Prayer in Abbotswick were very beautiful with a calm and extremely peaceful atmosphere. The serene environment was perfect for quiet walks in prayer. Fr. Matt's talks gave us plenty of things to pray about and contemplate. It was great to have the time to reflect upon the year and what it has done for us in our lives spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. He helped us to see how we have grown individually and as a community. Our time of retreat continued when we attended the Youth 2000 retreat, Healing@Ealing. It was a wonderful time to pray, reflect, and socialize. This time of retreats has been an invaluable opportunity to reenergize before our mission in Scargborough this upcoming week. We will be doing street evangelisation during the day and working with local youth ministries in the evenings. SPES is excited to teaming up with Fr. William again. We are looking forward to applying all of the experience and knowledge that we have gained from this year. We are most especially excited to share our love for Jesus Christ to others. Have a week full of graces with lots of love and prayers. God bless!!!

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Acts of the Apostles and Mission Preparation, Sunday 18 April

This week we had lectures on the Acts of the Apostles given by Fr. Neil Ferguson which was perfect for this time of Easter. It was interesting to learn and hear about the History of the Early Church. We also took time to prepare for our missions in Scarborough and here in London, Spirit in the City. We are looking forward to evangelising within both of these missions. A couple of us managed to take time out to give a helping hand at Open House. It was great having the chance to be there and to interact with all who came. It was nice to be able to share the joy of the season of the Risen Christ with those who are less fortunate with a warm welcome, friendly faces, and delicious food bringing them a bit closer to Christ. It's also been nice having the opportunity to reflect on the scripture during our time in the morning with Lectio Divina. Using scripture to see how God is speaking to us and where the word of God is alive and active in our life.

Next week we will be off to Brentwood for a retreat with our Spiritual Director, Fr. Matt Blake. It will be wonderful to have three days to pray, relax, and to reenergize after a busy Easter Octive. Have a blessed week, may God bless you all!!!

Celebrate Conference, Rejoice Alleluia Christ has Risen!

This week at the Celebrate Conference in Devon was incredible. It was a great place to be to rejoice, give thanks, praise and worship to the Risen Christ. It was certainly a time filled with happiness, joy, and peace in our hearts. It was amazing to be there amongst a couple thousand people from all around the world and of all ages. There were many great workshops with incredible speakers who were full of wisdom and insight that gave us much to contemplate and reflect upon. The atmosphere was positive, uplifting and very energetic which made it quite difficult to be in a bad mood. It was nice to have met so many new people. We also enjoyed the time we had to pray together, giving praise to God with lots of singing, and daily Mass. There was a bit of time for relaxation too where we were able to go out for a walk, jog, and even a swim. It was a wonderful week to have together especially the week after Easter to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection.

This week coming we look forward to getting back into the swing of things at St. Patrick’s with our lectures which now will be at the French Church in Leicester Square, daily prayer of the Divine Office, Rosary, Mass and Adoration. Have a blessed week and enjoy this Mercy Sunday!!! You’ll be in our prayers and please continue to keep us in yours!!!! God bless.

Prayer Vigil, Easter Holy Week

This past week one evening we as a community had an all night vigil praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament for recruits, future students, but also remembering all the past and present students. It is always nice having the opportunity to pray together especially in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the middle of the night where many graces and blessings flow. We also had the amazing opportunity to attend the Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral where 250 priest from the dioceses gathered to celebrate mass and to renew their priesthood. It truly was astonishing and beautiful to see so many priest in one place celebrating mass together. We were outside to greet them with friendly faces, but also to thank them for all there hard work they do in serving the Church with posters and prayer cards. The Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Holy Friday and Saturday) was a great time to embrace, be still and reflect upon the Passion of Christ and all that Jesus endured for our sake, a complete self-giving of Himself in order for us to be saved. We not only had the Lord’s Super on Thursday where Christ instituted the Eucharist, but on Friday we did the Stations of the Cross and celebrated the Lord’s Passion praying together. We had the privilege to attend the Passion play in Trafalgar Square which really brought to life Christ passion. Christ death and resurrection gives us much hope and encouragement knowing He loved us so much to lay down His life for us. It was great having the opportunity to get to Confession this week too. The unconditional love and infinite mercy of the Father is unfathomable, but is nice to know that no matter what we have done in the past, God is there waiting with open arms for us to repent and say we are sorry. We also started on Friday a Novena to the Divine Mercy in honor of Mercy Sunday coming up next week.

We are very excited about the week to come because we are heading to Devon to spend a week in the South West of England to help out as stewards at a week long charismatic conference called Celebrate. There we will be meeting all sorts of people from all ages and many different countries. It will be a new experience for many of us, but one we are looking forward to very much!!! We are hoping and praying for sunny weather. Have a blessed week everyone, may God shed His light upon each one of you! God bless and Happy Easter!!!