Our First NightFever together

On Saturday, 19^th October, we had our first Nightfever London together as SPES. Before the evening started, we had a short introduction with Laura, who was the evangelisation leader that evening. We met our evangelisation partners, guys from Father Steven Language´s vocation centre.  We got to know them and went together to Mass. After that we went downstairs for a short briefing with a copious number of other volunteers.

The main part of the evening began with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The nice music started and we prayed together for our fist street evangelisation. Outside we invited people who crossed Soho Square to light a candle in the church and enjoy the nice atmosphere of prayer and music. Many meetings and conversations later we went inside to stay very close to the Blessed Sacrament for a personal time of adoration. Later some of us did welcome ministry: we stood at the door and welcomed the people entering the church; others went outside again for another time of street mission. At half ten all volunteers met inside for conclusion prayer and the amazing evening ended with the Benediction and a wonderful Salve Regina. After tidying up, some of the volunteers shared the experiences they had that evening. For each of us it was a splendid evening with many great experiences. Tired but full of joy we caught the bus and went home.

The Lectures Have Begun ...

We have just finished our first week of lectures, much quicker than we thought it would be!  This week the topic that our lectures were focused on was prayer.  We have had a number of different lecturers in talking to us about the different types of prayer that there is and which we will encounter in our daily life in SPES.  It has been nice to at last meet some of our lecturers and to put a face to the name.  

So what have we been learning about and what is the prayer life in SPES like??  In SPES our whole timetable is made around the different times of prayer that we have.  Prayer is at the centre of everything we do.  Each day we pray Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer from the Divine Office, which is the official prayer of the Church.  Fr Alex spoke to us about the Divine Office this week.  Although we have been praying it from the day we arrived it was nice to learn more about it so that we may understand it better.  We have been singing some of the Psalms from the Office and look forward to learning to sing more of it in the coming weeks.  Together each day we also pray the Rosary.  We had a beautiful talk about Our Lady and the Rosary on the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, how very special and it was also our first lecture.  That evening we had Mass in the SOS Prayerline Chapel for the restarting of the SOS Prayerline after their short break.  It was nice to have Mass in the small Chapel and on Friday we were back in the Chapel again for a hands on explanation of the Mass by Fr John Farrell OP.  It was amazing and really helped us to understand more about the Mass.

Our SPES timetable has some time in morning dedicated to Spiritual Reading so we were blessed to have a full day session with Sr Margarida and Anne-Marie from the Verbum Dei Community.  They spoke to us and explained Lectio Divina and we had some time to put what we had heard in to practice.  Each day we have the opportunity for an hour of silent Adoration together as a community, which can sound and feel a little scary to begin with.  What are we supposed to do for an hour everyday in front of the Blessed Sacrament!  Well thankfully Fr Alan came along and talked to us about what Adoration is and gave us some helpful tips as to how to spend our time in Adoration and how it will not always be easy.  Friday afternoon gave us an opportunity to learn what Spiritual Direction is and to meet our Spiritual Director as a group.  In a couple of weeks we will begin to meet with him individually.

It really has been quite a packed week with all the lectures and trying to get into our new routine of early starts and long days, but we are enjoying it and looking forward to all that we will experience in the next nine months!  Please keep praying for us.

Our First Week @ SPES

Outside Tyburn Convent

Our first week at SPES was a relatively relaxing one.  As mentioned in the previous post we walked to St Patrick's on the Monday and spent the afternoon with Fr Alex, learning more about SPES and what was in store for us.  After a quiet morning at St Mary's on Tuesday we paid a visit to Tyburn Convent for a talk about the Tyburn Martyrs and a tour of all the relics. For some of us this was all new and we are looking forward to learning much more about the Martyrs during this next year.  It is hard to believe that the site of Tyburn Tree, where the majority of our Martyrs were killed during the Reformation, is just sitting there on a traffic island in the middle of the busy traffic of Marble Arch and so many people don't realise.  We are sure many also don't realise that the Tyburn Nuns are right beside it and have perpetual adoration going on in their Chapel.  We were very impressed with Tyburn and feel very blessed to have been able to visit and see the many relics.


Fr Richard Aladics joined us on Tuesday evening in preparation for our introductory retreat beginning on Wednesday morning.  Fr Richard has been great and really has given us plenty to think and pray about as we begin our year.  As many of us our new to London and to give us an opportunity to get to know each other a little he took us on a boat trip on the Thames. (Wouldn't it be nice if all our retreats included a boat trip or afternoon out).  Our retreat finished on Friday afternoon.  Fr Alex and Ambrose joined us for dinner on Friday night.  We have been spoiling Ambrose and he is very much enjoying having 5 girls to fuss over him.

Busy being artistic

Saturday was a fun and relaxing day as we joined in with the Open House Art Class, which will now be happening on the first Saturday of every month.  One of our homeless guests taught us all how to make some very beautiful paintings - he is amazing at it (and he was also so patient with some of us who are not natural artists).  On Sunday we were all at St Patrick's for the 11am Mass and then tea and coffee after Mass with a chance to meet some of our parishioners.  We already enjoy the Sunday tea and coffee time.


Now that we have survived our first week of SPES it is time to prepare for our first week of lectures!  This coming week the topic we will be looking at is Prayer, in particular the prayer life that we will be living together here at St Patrick's.

Scarborough Mission Day 5

Today we spent most of our day in St Augustine's Secondary School, which was fantastic.  We started the morning leading the assembly, this time it was Alfonso was spoke about being a witness and gave some of his testimony.  He spoke very well and the students were engaged with what he was saying.  After the assembly we were given the opportunity to visit some classes. We split up into two groups so we could visit both Year 7 classes and then for second period we were back together to speak to a Year 11 class.  The students had some great questions to ask us and seemed to enjoy us being there.  At first we're sure they thought we were a little crazy standing in their class talking about Jesus and how He loves us.  We enjoyed the class visits and the chance to hear back from the students.  In the assembly we can tell them quite a bit but there isn't that chance to answer their questions.

After we spoke to the Year 11 class it was back to St Peter's Church for adoration and Mass before we tucked into a lovely lunch in the Parish Centre.  One thing we definitely have to say is that the food and hospitality in Scarborough is amazing, absolutely out of this world!  Big thank you to all who looked after us and cooked for us!

In the afternoon we were back up at St Augustine's to visit some more classes.  Again we separated into two groups so that we could visit more classes in the time that we had.  At times during the assemblies we wondered how much the students were actually listening to us but when we visited the classes we realised that they had been listening and some of them had questions they wanted to ask us.  Each of us enjoyed the class visits and look forward to doing more at St Augustine's on Friday.

We had a lovely supper today (seriously the food is great here!) and then packed up to go and see the Confirmation group.  Tonight they were having two sessions, we were leading the second session.  The first session they had was on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and was a great session led by Sarah.  Our session had the title 'Witness' and we began firstly by asking each of the Confirmation candidates to tell us their name and why they had chosen to be confirmed this year.  There were a range of answers but the most popular seemed to be that their parents wanted them to get confirmed and some of their friends were doing it this year.  Although at first it may not have been their choice to be confirmed this year we congratulated them on being there tonight and having in a way made the choice themselves.  We spoke to them about what it means to be a witness and how we can be witnesses but we must choose to be.  We divided them up into four groups and gave them a scenario where they had to decide what the correct thing to do was and which gifts of the Holy Spirit would help them to make that choice.  They were a fantastic group and a very honest group.  We will continue to pray for them and we would ask that you do the same please.  At the end of the night we each lit a candle from the Paschal candle and prayed that we would receive the light of Christ, as we had done at Baptism.  It was very beautiful and prayerful.  We are loving our time here, what will the rest of the week have in store for us!?

Scarborough Mission Day 3

It's Monday and thankfully we don't have that Monday feeling! We were up nice and early and ready for the road. Our first stop was to St Joseph's Church for adoration and Mass.  We joined the parishioners for Morning Prayer and the Mass was a special Mass for a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Very beautiful.

From St Joseph's we walked over to St Peter's. Fr William gave us a map yesterday and Ben's map reading skills found us a nice public footpath away from the road. It lead down along a play park, some playing fields and a cemetery.  The weather was sunny with a bit of a breeze, yet again we seem to have brought the sunshine to Scarborough, lets hope it keeps up for the week.

After a quick tea break we packed up guitar, music, Scriptures and Miraculous medals and headed for the town centre. We found a nice spot on some steps outside Poundland and the music really worked.  Many people stopped and listened to the music or at least looked over to see what we were doing. There were some great conversations with people. Some people were very pleased to hear Christian music being played on the street and others were very happy to receive a Miraculous medal and Scripture quote as well as the offer of prayer.


Back at St Peter's we tucked into lunch and chatted about how our morning had been before going back down to the town centre to take up our spot again. The afternoon was a little quieter but still people seemed to be attracted by the music. We had a lovely supper at the Parish Centre and were at last joined by Armel, who has come up to help us this week.  Armel is a friend of ours from Notre Dame de France Church in Leicester Square.  After supper we went up to St Edward's hall for the youth club, which takes place every Monday night.  We taught them some action songs and spoke to them about how we can praise God through music. They were a lovely group and we look forward to seeing some of them in the schools and also at our Youth Night on Friday night.

Scarborough Mission Day 2

Our first full day in Scarborough was a nice quiet relaxing one.  We attended the 10am Mass at St Joseph's and the 11.30am Mass at St Peter's.  It was Ben and Alfonso's turn to introduce SPES to the parishioners and explain a little about what we do (sorry no pictures to prove this due to beautiful Paschal candles being in the way).  We have been made to feel very welcome here in the Parish.  After the Mass at St Peter's we joined some of the parishioners in the Parish Centre for tea and coffee.  It was lovely to have the chance to speak to some of the parishioners, who were all very nice to us.

We were then picked up and whisked off to an absolutely fantastic lunch with Jennie out at her sisters lovely caravan park.  Fr William and Jennie's friend Mike joined us and it ended up being quite a long lunch with a lot of chatting. The rest of our afternoon was nice and relaxing also as we took a walk up through the town centre and down by the seafront, harbour, and castle with Fr William.  We met Maisie when we were in town so she joined us for the rest of our walk and will hopefully be helping us out during the week as she has done in the past.

In the evening we had a lovely quiet Holy Hour in St Peter's before heading back to Jane and Hugh's house. We had a good evening with time to chill out, chat and have a lot of laughs together (and some tea and cake of course!).  It looking like this is going to be quite a 'sweet' week!  The boys will be happy especially our sweet toothed Ben, who even had cake for breakfast!

St Patrick's Weekend

This year St Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday, which kind of meant we could celebrate all weekend. (Well he is our Patron Saint and it is very good to celebrate his feast day as best we can).  Although because it fell on the 5th Sunday of Lent we had to use the readings etc for the 5th Sunday of Lent rather than for St Patrick's Day, but they were very fitting.  To prepare to celebrate our Patronal feast we held 40 Hours of Adoration in the Parish.  It was a beautiful time and many people came to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. 




Decorating the community centre

As well as preparing spiritually we also needed to prepare some practical things for the weekend, such as decorating the community centre and preparing the Shamrocks that were to be blessed and distributed at all the Masses over the weekend.  We had a lot of fun deciding where to put all the different decorations.  There were loads of them!  The Shamrocks were interesting, there was absolutely tons of them!  They took forever and we had very green fingers when we finished.  But it was all worth it when we seen how pleased people were to be given some at Mass.



Some of our shamrocks ready to go

Fr Alex blessing the shamrock



Community centre all decorated

We were very blessed over the St Patrick's weekend to have Fr John Harris OP with us as our main celebrant.  Fr John is the Regent of Studies for the Irish Dominican Province and also the National Spiritual Director of Youth 2000 Ireland.  He was great, a true preacher.  He spoke well about the New Evangelisation and how we are called to show we are Christian and to proclaim Christ to all.  Before Fr John left on the Monday morning he found some time to give us a lecture about the challenges of the New Evangelisation.  We very much enjoyed having Fr John with us for St Patrick's Day and we learnt a lot from him.




Instead of the usual tea, coffee and sweet stuff after the 11am Mass on Sunday we had some traditional Irish food.  We had some very tasty Irish stew and colcannon as well as some lovely cakes, apple tart and cheesecake.

NightFever - another awesome evening!

Every time we have NightFever here at St Patrick's I am left in total amazement at how well it works. Looking at it and explaining it to others it just sounds so simple, but actually seeing how easily it draws people into the Church and the experiences they come away with, well let's just say it must be The Lord at work.

For those of you who aren't sure what NightFever is I'll give a short explanation; Basically the evening begins with the Saturday night vigil Mass after which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration. Volunteers sign up to different roles during the night. Some stay in the Church to pray, others go out in pairs with candles to invite passers-by in to the Church, and others are present are the entrance/back of the Church to welcome people into the Church.

At the front of the Church in from of the Blessed Sacrament there is a prayer intention box for people to write down their prayers as well as space to light a candle and a basket of Scripture quotes that you may pick up. While all of this is happening there is beautiful music playing which can be heard outside. There are priests available to hear confessions or just to talk to.

Really there are not words to describe the evening, one must experience it for themselves. Listening to people as they leave the Church and thank you for giving them such a lovely evening is, well it's humbling, we don't really do anything other than invite someone in. Jesus does the work really. The evening finishes with Benediction at 10.30pm.

Ambrose exhausted after an evening of evangelising

Another Busy Week of Study and Outreach

This week we have been working on our third assignment, which has been focused on the second two parts of our Creed; God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Our lectures were based on the Catechism and the coursebook from Maryvale. We looked at different parts of the Life of Jesus and how the Holy Spirit was present in them. In particular we have studied the Incarnation, Jesus’ public life, His Passion and Death as well as the Resurrection, Ascension and Second Coming. We also looked at how the Church is described as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. There was a lot of stuff to take in this week but it has all been so interesting. Let’s hope our assignments explain it all well enough. There’s been a few late nights this week, hopefully all worth it.

As well as our studies this week we have been busy with our outreaches. Monday night we had Catholicism, which was about Mary, Mother of God. It was a very interesting evening and Mary always causes questions with those of other faiths so it is good to learn more about what we believe about Mary and how to explain it to others. Thursday night two of us were helping with Open House, which is always a great evening and the food looked amazing! The other two of us were on SOS Prayerline for Thursday evening.  Each of us love doing SOS Prayerline, it is awesome to see the faith that so many people have that they call in to ask for prayer or to thank the Lord for prayers that have been answered.   Last night we were down at Notre Dame de France for LumiNations.  It was absolutely freezing but that didn't stop us setting up the music on the steps and get out the evangelising materials.  It was a great night and many people stopped to have a look at what we were doing and to listen to the music.  Inside we have Adoration going on and people praying for those of us who were outside. Tonight we shall be out on the streets again for NightFever, here at St Patrick's.  We start with Mass at 6pm followed by Adoration and our street mission.  We are all very much looking forward to it and if you can join us please do.

The Sound of Silence ...

We recently returned from our main SPES retreat, around half way through our year. On a cold Sunday afternoon we all packed up and headed back down to Whitstable for a week long silent retreat!

The retreat was held at the Southwark vocations centre run by Fr Stephen Langridge, and our retreat was led by Fr Richard Aladics of Leeds diocese.

The first morning we awoke to snow! And a lot of it, even the beach 5miutes down the road was covered with the white stuff. We were told how the main structure of the retreat would go; 2 conferences a day led by Fr Richard, Mass and a Holy hour and in the evenings Compline; in-between these times we were asked to remain in silence, (with the exception of meal times) we were able to go for walks down to the beach, in to the old town, read, reflect, reflect on Scripture and just be with God. ‘Who am I Lord?, Who are you?’


The silence was challenging at first, as it is something we are not used too, I often caught myself pacing around the kitchen for no apparent reason, but after the first couple of days the silence became very comforting, a great sense of peace can be found and a real self-awareness and realisation of our dependence upon God in the silence.


We all loved it!! And now are all submerged back into busy, busy London; but not without a new found sense of inner peace and knowledge that we are able to turn to God in solitude and find rest in him.

A community weekend of fun...or not?

After our last week of lectures a weekend of fun was planned before we all headed off for our Christmas break. We all enjoyed our last week of lectures, a whole week dedicated to the Gospel of St John and given by Fr Thomas from the Community of St Jean. But we were all very much looking forward to our weekend of fun and treats.

It all started off well. We got up early Saturday morning, packed our picnic, wrapped ourselves up warmly and headed off Mass at Brompton Oratory. After Mass we went in the direction of the Natural History Museum. But we weren't looking to visit the actual museum, instead we were ready for some ice-skating!! For some it was their first time, for others they wished it was there last, lol. Surprisingly some who were not so keen took to it quite quickly and for first timers they were doing well. Others, well one in particular, hung tightly to the sides of the ice-rink before quickly exiting half way through the session. Oh well, I do believe they still had some fun. Amazingly not one of us fell! Well not physically; this is the point in the weekend where one by one the students began to drop!

Firstly Ola left us after ice-skating to go home to bed feeling and, sorry to say it, looking sick. The rest of us had our picnic and then went for a look around Science Museum. There were some nice and interesting displays there. In the evening we went back to St Patrick's to play on the Wii. This is where student number 2 dropped. Terry began to not feel so great. After some Adoration and street evangelisation we all headed off home.

Saturday had been Fr Alex's birthday but since we had not seen him we celebrated his birthday on the Sunday. It was a nice day and we were joined by a few others;except our two sick students. Although now that number was increasing Alfonso didn't feel so good and had to have some sleep. That left just Ben standing - but not for long! By the end of the day Ben was also not so good. In the evening we went to see The Hobbit. Ben and Alfonso were just about fit to go. Laurie, Ciara and the two Australian seminarians joined them. The film was good, although a little dragged out at the beginning.

Since now all the students were sick the plans for Monday were cancelled and instead Laurie took those who were well enough down to the National Gallery to look at some art work associated with The Birth of Jesus.

After this it was pack up and get ready for our Christmas break, and hopefully recover from all the sickness!!

Advent Mission

Our Advent Mission took place over the weekend of Friday 7th - Sunday 9th December.  There was a lot of preparation beforehand but it was all well worth it. 

Praying before the Blessed Sacrament for all those we had met

On the Friday night we went out into the streets to speak to people and to remind them what Advent is all about.  While we were out evangelising others were in the Church praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament for us and those we would speak to.  At the end of the evening we all prayed for those we had met and their intentions before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Free Hot Chocolate and Mince Pies

Saturday was a long day but we all very much enjoyed it.  In the afternoon we had Adoration in the Church with beautiful music (thanks to the NightFever crew) while outside we set up two tables, one for the all important hot chocolate and mince pies and the other with some interesting and informative flyers and a box in which people could write their prayer intentions if they wished.  We had prepared some small gift bags to give to those we met and spoke to.  The gift bags have a Scripture quote, miraculous medal with explanation and a sweet.



Any prayers?









Some of the Gift Bags we give out



Saturday night was our latest NightFever, an absolutely brilliant night as always!  For nore info see our previous post :)

Sunday afternoon ran pretty much the same as Saturday except we were based at Notre Dame de France, the French Church at Leicester Square.  There we had lovely music on the steps of the Church.  Then at 6pm we were back at St Patrick's for the International Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  This is a Mass that brings together the different communities who celebrate Mass at St Patrick's every week.  After the Mass we processed from St Patrick's to Notre Dame de France with a beautiful statue of Our Lady while we also sang and prayed.



NightFever!

A view from the balcony

No, this is not a case of John Bosco by day, John Travolta by night! ‘Nightfever’ is organised by young Christians whose faith is central in their lives and who seek to bridge between individuals, parishes and communities.

The night starts with Mass; this is followed by Eucharistic adoration when the church is illuminated by candle light, until Benediction at around 22.30.

Candles are lit
for many different
intentions

During this time of Adoration we and other volunteers head out onto the streets surrounding St Patrick's with lanterns, candles and small information cards. It is a simple invitation to people to come into the Church to light a candle in front of the Blessed Sacrament for any intention they may have, (Or just for them to get out of the cold!).

It is very simple and very effective, confessions are heard throughout the night; also there is a great music team that comes and provides music throughout the evening inside the Church, which is also wired to play out the front of the Church which helps to draw more people inside.
We all enjoy Nightfever and all the fruit it bears, and we are all looking forward to the next one in the New Year!

It's that time again - Advent Mission Preparations!!

The preparations are well under way for our Annual Advent Mission which is taking place in just a few days time!  The Advent Mission is a weekend of Adoration, Prayer, Music, Evangelisation (with Hot Chocolate and Mince Pies) to prepare for the coming of Our Lord at Christmas. It is a great opportunity to remind ourselves and others that Advent is a time to prepare and to wait on the Lord's coming.

It all kicks off on Friday evening with Adoration, prayer and music in the Church.  During this time some of us will head out into the streets of Soho to chat to people in the area about life, God and Christmas.

Adoration last year with the Nativity scene below

On Saturday we will set up our table of refreshments, you can't beat a nice cup of hot chocolate on a cold December day.  There will be Adoration and music in the Church.  It will be a place where we can invite people to come for a moment of peace and quiet away from the crazy shopping streets here in the West End.  A chance to speak to people about the real meaning of Christmas and why it is that we celebrate this time of the year.

Enjoying a mince pie, hot chocolate and a nice chat last year

Saturday night sees the return of NightFever, a very popular and powerful event here at St Patrick's.  Seriously if you have not experienced NightFever and you are in London this weekend there is only one place you should be - St Patrick's!

Sunday afternoon is quite similar to Saturday afternoon but we head down to Notre Dame de France in Leicester Square.  Again there will be a good supply of hot chocolate, mince pies and some music on the steps of the Church.  Sunday evening we gather back at St Patrick's for Solemn Mass with our international communities who are based here.  After Mass to celebrate the Immaculate Conception we will process with Our Lady from St patrick's through the streets of Soho to Notre Dame de France singing and praying.  The Marian Procession is always a beautiful event.

Check out our flyer for more information about the different events happening over the weekend along with times and locations.

Refreshed and ready to go again :)

We've had an amazingly relaxing week!  It began with a lovely retreat out in Whitstable with Fr Stephen.  He gave us some inspiring talks to help us prepare for Advent and we took advantage of the beautiful surroundings to go for walks.  Trevor and Marcus, the two Australian seminarians, joined us on retreat and we showed them a little of the English seaside – a bit colder than what they are used to.  We will update a little more about the retreat and some pictures in a couple of days.

Wednesday we were back at St Patrick’s for a long but most enjoyable day.  Trevor and Marcus gave us some music lessons, teaching us some beautiful chants, which hopefully we can put into practice during this year.  Wednesday evening saw a lot of cleaning taking place – not only did we have our monthly Church cleaning but Ambrose also had a bath!  Thankfully Thursday was another relaxing day with a trip out to Greenwich Park where we had a lovely walk and a picnic before having a look around the Maritime museum.

Last night (Friday) we took part in our first LumiNations night.  LumiNations is an event which SPES helps to co-ordinate and takes place at Notre Dame de France, the French Church in Leicester Square.  There is Adoration in the Church and some beautiful music on the steps outside the Church.  Notre Dame de France, like St Patrick's, is located in a busy area of Central London.  With all the noise, bright lights and craziness of a Friday night in Central London we try to be that gentle light to the nations and invite people into the quiet of the Church to meet Jesus.  There's also  an opportunity to offer some tea, coffee or biscuits to the passers-by or those who stop to listen to the music.  We all had a good night and are looking forward to the next one.

Next week will be a quiet week with regards to lectures but there will be lots of work done to prepare for next weekend, which is our Advent Mission weekend– a weekend of Adoration, Prayer, Music, Evangelisation with Hot Chocolate and Mince Pies to prepare for the coming of Our Lord at Christmas. It will be a great opportunity to remind ourselves and others that Advent is a time to prepare and to wait on the Lord's coming.  Please keep it in your prayer.  More information and details will be uploaded to our blog tomorrow (I hope).  On Tuesday we will take a break from the preparations to join Joanna Bogle on another of her Catholic History Walks around London.  If you would like to join us we will be leaving from St Patrick's at 1.30pm.  There is Mass before at 12.45pm.

Our Day with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal!

We recently spent a day in Canning Town with the Grey Friars.  When we arrived we immediately began by helping with the preparations for the soup kitchen which they run for the poor and homeless.  This involved opening plenty of cans, chopping potatoes, getting stuff ready for tea and coffee and then serving the soup and toast to the people that came along to the Friary.  We had the opportunity to have a chat with many of the people that came along; both the helpers and the homeless and we were really able to see how God is working with and through this mission.


After getting some soup for ourselves we were given a lecture from Fr. Emmanuel on Community Living.  He made no secret that the next few months are going to come with many challenges and hardships, but, he also let us know that from these 9 months will come great graces and so much joy; this, everyone found very beneficial and we look forward to putting much of what he said into practice.  After a bit of free time, along with some basketball, we settled down for Evening Prayer and an hour of Eucharistic Adoration.





The whole day was rounded up with a lovely chicken dinner prepared by Fr. Emmanuel and some good social time with Br John Bosco, Br Angelo and Fr. Emmanuel.  We are all looking forward to any other opportunity that may come to meet up with the Franciscans again!

Where have we been and what have we done!?

Oh no!  Can't believe it's been almost a month since we updated our blog! Here at SPES we have been very busy and there just hasn't been time to hop on the internet to update.  Apologies, but hopefully this post will bring us all up to speed and we can try to get a more regular post happening.

So some of the students arrived on Saturday 29th September and we headed out to have dinner together at the house of one of the Board of Management, a great night was had by all.  We were also joined that weekend by Christina, one of the past SPES students from Deanna's year group.  She came over from Germany to not only say hi to the new students but to say goodbye to Deanna.  By Monday 1st October we had gathered together all of the new students; our new group consists of Alfonso (from USA), Ben (from England), Terry (from England), and Ola (from Poland).

Week 1

Our first week was mainly a chance for us to get to know each other and to find our way around.  On Tuesday 2nd October we consecrated the year to Our Lady with a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden and a Rosary walk from there to Tyburn Convent, where we met some of the nuns and were shown the relics of the Martyrs.  Before returning to St Patrick's we knelt and prayed at the place of Tyburn Tree.  It was a great day and a wonderful experience for us all.  Wednesday saw us pack up and head off to Whitstable for our first SPES retreat.  We spent a wonderful 4 days getting to know each other and taking time to thank God for bringing us to SPES and asking Him to continue to strengthen us during this year.

Week 2

Our second week was a great week learning about Prayer and the different types of prayer; personal prayer, Holy Hours, the Rosary, the Mass, Divine Office, Discernment and Lectio Divina. Now we are prepared and ready to tackle what this year has in store for us. On Thursday 11th October we joined many others at the opening Mass for the Year of Faith in Westminster Cathedral. This year will provide us with a great opportunity to not only learn more about our Faith but to grow in it also. After Mass we went on a Catholic History Walk through London led by Joanna Bogle; it was
good to hear about the history of the Catholic Church in England, especially for those in our group who are not from England.  On Saturday 13th October we took part in our first 'Cookathon', a whole day dedicated to preparing and cooking meals for the next few weeks.  For some it was their first proper experience of cooking a meal from scratch.  Many thanks to those who came and joined us for the day, especially to Della, without whom the day just wouldn't happen.

Week 3

This past week the students have been learning about Divine Providence, and
experiencing it! They have been hearing the personal testimony of people in different
circumstances and how God has provided for them in their lives. During the week they
also learnt about some of the outreaches that happen here in the Parish; SOS Prayerline,
Open House, NightFever, and of course the monthly Church cleaning! Thank you to
all those who also helped with the Church cleaning, again the Lord provided us with
some good cleaners and our Church is looking beautiful. We had the pleasure this week
of having a guest lecturer from Australia; Fr Gerry O’Collins, who spoke to us about
Vatican II. On Thursday night we headed out to the cinema to watch October Baby; a
pro-life movie being presented by Good Counsel Network and 40 Days for Life. A must
see.

Next week we are focusing on Community Living. The students have already spent
three weeks living together so now it’s time to give them the secrets of how to survive
the next 8 months together.

Hopefully we will be much better at posting over the next few weeks and we will update with some photos of the things we have been doing.

Prayers and God bless

SPES @ Medjugorje Youth Festival Part 3

On the Friday morning of the festival we rushed down to the morning programme so that we could get a good spot to see and support Magnus McFarlane-Barrow, who had been invited to speak from the main stage.  Magnus is the founder and CEO of Mary’s Meals (www.marysmeals.org.uk) and his parents started the Craig Lodge House of Prayer (www.craiglodge.org) after visiting Medjugorje in 1983.  The story of Mary’s Meals is inspiring, to think that such a simple idea can make such a big difference to so many children in the world.

                   

 Friday night after the Mass was the procession through the village.  Many of the villagers had made small altars with statues and candles outside their homes.  It was such a wonderful evening.  While walking through the village we had the chance to meet and talk to other young people from different countries and to share our experiences with them.  At the front of the processions there were representatives from each country carrying their country’s name, flag and torch.  Unfortunately we had missed out on starting the procession but along with our sign we eventually made it to the front towards the end.  We probably looked like quite a confused group of young people – we had our Scottish flag and sign but no torch, Deanna had an American flag in her hair and I had the Irish flag dripped on my shoulders.  Being able to be so close to the Altar when Our Lord was exposed on the Altar was a real privilege.  Earlier in the day Deanna had talked about possibly trying to get closer to the Altar during Adoration that night; well ‘ask and you will receive’, we couldn’t have gotten any closer!

The testimonies on Saturday morning were by young people from the Cenacolo Community (http://www.comunitacenacolo.it/).  It is fantastic to see how with the help of God and a good community someone can turn their life around again.  

In the afternoon Deanna had the opportunity to speak about SPES from the main stage.  She done a great job of it, well done Deanna!  It was lovely to speak about SPES to a few young people who approached us afterwards and even now we have had some emails from young people who heard Deanna speak at the festival.


It was a great opportunity to share with the young people what SPES is all about and the experiences that you can have in SPES.


Saturday evening was a very special evening for our group; we were invited to Ivan’s private apparition.  It is difficult to describe the feeling of peace that we had during the time that Our Lady was appearing to Ivan.  Even afterwards it was hard to believe that we had been there.  What a way to spend our last evening in Medjugorje!  Afterwards we made our way back to the Church for Mass and Adoration before then watching the musical show by Cenacolo; an awesome performance (although to be honest I didn’t watch it all since it was in Italian and I couldn’t cope with the crowds, but I’m sure it was all awesome).

On Sunday we had a few hours to chill out, buy the last of our souvenirs and say goodbye to Medjugorje as well as ensure we had an ice cream before leaving.  Having waited many years before finally being able to go to Medjugorje I have to say it was well worth the wait.  I had a fantastic time and have had many graces and blessings from my time there.   Thank you to all those who made my trip possible and for all those who made it special, especially those who I was able to share the week with.  May Our Lady continue to protect us all and guide us to her Son Jesus.

SPES @ Medjugorje Youth Festival Part 2

Wednesday 1st August was the official start of the Youth Festival.  We started off our day in the usual way with breakfast, prayer and Mass.  Medjugorje had already been busy with people since we arrived but there seemed to be more and more young people arriving each day.  Around the Church it was starting to get more crowded and colourful as each group of young people brought with them their flags and banners.  There was also a giant helium Rosary floating around all week, it looked awesome!

As the Youth Festival was not kicking off until the evening time we joined an afternoon talk and presentation by Pure in Heart (http://www.pureinheartireland.com), an International Catholic Movement of young adults who through prayer and friendship, strive together to learn, live and share the truth, beauty and meaning of human sexuality.  The presentation covered many topics including: What is Love?; Dating and relationships; Sex and sexuality; Modesty and Respect; and Chastity - the forgotten virtue.  Although I have met the team and heard the presentation many times there is always something new in it for me and their personal testimonies are so inspiring.

The Youth Festival began with a time of welcome from each of the countries who were in Medjugorje for the Youth Festival.  Our group were given the opportunity to do the welcome for Scotland so armed with some Scottish flags, the signpost for Scotland and the all important Scottish accent they headed for the main stage to encourage all the young people to have a brave heart and let Jesus give them His Freedom!  Following all the welcomes there was an International Mass.  One of the most important things you need if you ever go to Medjugorje is your radio, otherwise you’ll be lost.  Thankfully with a simple little radio you will get the translation for everything that is happening.  After Mass there was a beautiful time of Adoration and reflection.  The young people were encouraged to love God now, to love Him wherever we are in life, that if we wait until we are saints or holier then we may never love Him.  Jesus is standing knocking at the door of our hearts, waiting for us to open it and to let Him in and to love Him.


Thursday was the first full day of the Youth Festival.  Both the morning and afternoon sessions were packed with lectures, music and amazing testimonies.  The choir, made up of young people from many different countries, was fantastic.  And how could we not mention the Dancing Nuns, absolutely amazing.  They had us all up on our feet dancing to all the songs.  Although the young people came from many different nations, countries and languages we were united through our faith, the celebration of the Sacraments and song.

Medjugorje has been called the ‘confessional of the world’; this is very true.  Everywhere you look there are queues of people waiting to go to confessions and although this year a new block of confessional was opened there were still many priests hearing confessions outside.  Many people come to Medjugorje looking for something and feeling overburdened, many want to get close to God but do not know how.  Through the loving care of our Mother Mary we find the courage to respond to her call and to allow her to guide us to her Son.   Our desire is to better our lives in the love of Christ.  We kneel before Jesus and we ask Him to transform and change us.  Through the graces that are poured out in confession, Mass, and Adoration we are strengthen in our desire to follow Christ.