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.

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

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!!!