Good morning world!
Today I am very excited to be going on a few days retreat with my favourite religious order……
They too have faced their ups and downs but nobody can deny their hands on dedication to prayer and to the poor..
I first met the missionaries of charity about 10 years ago in India. I volunteered with them for 4 months in Pondichery at the south of India.
And so how happy I was to discover that there is a group of missionaries of charity living nearby us here in London and well known to our wonderful parish priest who often says mass for them!
On new years night we might them and since then we regularly visit to pray with them when they have eucharistic adoration!
Mother Teresa trained them well and left a stunning example of how prayer and action go together!
Maximum prayer, maximum care!
And so this weekend they have a retreat for some people who are new to the faith and they were looking for some volunteers to help out and encourage the group!
Providence made them think of Toni and I and how wonderful it is to be able to give something back and help others get to know Jesus and His plan for their lives!
It is also a welcome break for us too as it will be held in a lovely little retreat centre in Southampton, away from the hustle and bustle of city life!
As usual all of this is entirely last minute! We found out yesterday for today! It’s a constant reminder how God can surprise and as the saying goes:
Poor Seamus will not be going with us this time! He has enjoyed a number of weekend retreats in Ramsgate and this weekend he’ll stay in the city and attend the discipleship day held by the Franciscans of the renewal, another enormous blessing to us Catholics in London and another order who pray hard and work hard with the poorest of the poor.
We are truly blessed here in London to have these inspirational groups who work tirelessly to spread the faith and to develop and grow people in their calling!
It will be Toni’s first retreat since meeting Jesus over a year ago so I’m super excited for him too as he discovers more and more about the church and as God grows him in his own gifts and calling!
(Hand painted by Toni).
And of course as I set off I think of mother Teresa who started her worldwide ministry simply by helping one person!
And with this in mind my prayer is for the lost youth especially (but not only) in the area of sexuality, emotional illness, lost in the occult and those tempted by suicide.
With the help of Our Lady, queen of heaven and mother of mercy may we, like mother Teresa, do all we can to bring love, healing and community to these hurting souls.
Thank you all for your prayers and support and an enormous thanks to the Parish of St. Mary of the Angels and our parish priest Fr Keith who has been an astounding source of encouragement and support since arriving in London not to mention Fr Paul who has blessed us comeasuritly!!
We are indeed very very blessed!
So! Prayers, prayers and prayers for all attending this retreat and for our priests who bring heaven to earth every day in the mass!
Bless you all super-abudantly today and as St John Paul II once said:
“Be not afraid to open wide the doors to Christ”.
You will all of course be in our thoughts and prayers too and if you have any special intentions please do feel free to write to us and we will pray for them in a special way.
Michael, Seamus & Toni