PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

Hello Everyone

Wishing you a very blessed advent.

Over the last few weeks I have run a number of

Parish missions with the team I am a part of

called St Patrick’s Community. We have been

to Tarbert in Kerry, Kilcommon in Tipperary,

Johnstown in Kilkenny, Kinnitty in Offaly,

Dun Laoghaire in Dublin and our final

mission before Christmas is in Attymass in Mayo.

People often ask me when I travel abroad what

The faith is like in Ireland. The only way I can

answer that is by saying that when we do these

missions the response of the Irish people is

phenomenal, with packed churches almost

everywhere we go. The great thing about a

mission is that it is an opportunity to invite

people who don’t normally come to church, and

I can see that God is working powerfully in

Ireland and bringing his healing and mercy

in a beautiful  way.

About 12 years ago, just after I had first moved

here, I went to visit the Regina Coeli hostel for

the homeless in Dublin, which was set up by

Frank Duff the founder of the Legion of Mary

(who was an amazing man of God). As I was

being shown around the shelter I saw a picture

on the wall of Jesus and he was surrounded by

the poor, the sick and the lame and all manner

of men, women and children who were searching

for comfort and hope. As I looked at this picture

I knew that God was calling me to Ireland and

I began to speak in schools, parishes, and prisons

And that was the birth of St Patrick’s Community.

A few months after this I travelled to England

to run a youth retreat in Glastonbury. An old friend

of mine called Niall happened to be there. As we

were chatting he asked me why I was in Ireland,

when there was enough work to do in England. I

told him that I felt God wanted me there.

After this Niall went into the church and a man came

and sat down next to him and put his hand on his

shoulder and said “It must come from Ireland!” and

Niall said “What must come from Ireland?” and the

man replied “The re- evangelisation of Europe, it must

come from Ireland!” My friend was blown away by this

and a few months later he came to Ireland himself and

has been a part of the community for the last 11 years.

A couple of years later we were conducting a

healing service at a church in Donegal and the

people were crowding round Jesus in the Blessed

Sacrament. You could see the burdens they were

carrying but also the incredible faith they had in

the Lord. As I watched I was reminded of the

picture I seen at the Regina Coeli hostel and I

really felt that God was showing me this is why

he brought me here. From that point onwards

invitations to run missions in parishes began

to flood in.

One of the greatest joys of my life is being able to go into

secondary schools and tell the young people about the

incredible love and mercy of our God and the gift of being

able to share our lives with him, and of the plan he has

if we would only give him permission. Over the past

few weeks I have spoken to thousands of students and

to see their hunger for God and the light in their eyes is

still deeply moving for me. Literally hundreds email me

and ask questions on how they can come closer to God

and put him in the first place in their lives.

I recently spoke at a school mission in Coventry and

had the privilege to meet Barry and Margaret Mizen

whose son Jimmy was murdered in South East London

five years ago.  They are an incredible witness how

someone can forgive. Margaret said not long after her

son died that she hoped the parents of Jimmy’s killer

would be left alone as it wasn’t their fault. She said

she didn’t feel anger because anger breeds anger,

and that is what killed their son and could destroy

their family too.

They now speak in schools and prisons spreading

the message of forgiveness and calling for an end to

the cycle of violence and anger which destroys so

many lives. Margaret said to me that a few days

after the murder of her son she was praying in the

church and felt God say to her the she didn’t need

to worry about her son because He was looking

after him in heaven. This has brought her much

comfort especially when she misses Jimmy the most.

Please keep them in your prayers because I know

they are doing immense good.

May your hearts be open to receiving Jesus in His

humility as he comes to us as a helpless baby. Have

a blessed and peaceful Christmas!

John Pridmore

FORGIVENESS LEADS TO FREEDOM!

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well and at peace,

At the end of August I travelled to Winipeg in Canada where I

spoke to 1000 people at a Marian conference. It was a very blessed

weekend. While I was there I had the honour of meeting and

spending time with a man named Roy Schoeman. Roy was an

orthodox Jew and business professor who had an amazing

conversion to the Catholic faith. He had a powerful revelation

how in the spiritual realm money is worthless and it is only the

treasure we store up in heaven that is of any value when it comes

to eternal life. His witness of living for God was truly inspiring.

From there I went to Scotland and ran parish missions in Greenock

and Dunfermline. I was very touched by a man who told me that

during the mission he felt moved by the Holy Spirit to speak to his

neighbour with whom he had fallen out with several years before.

He knocked on her door and said to her that he felt that life was

too short to carry on with their feud, and would she forgive him for

any hurt he had caused? Straightaway she embraced him and said

of course she would forgive.

This reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was challenged

by a priest to forgive those who had hurt me in my life and to pray

for them. There was one particular person who had caused me

immense pain and I will be honest I didn’t feel like either praying

for them or forgiving them. But in obedience to what the priest

had said I started to pray and at first my prayer was “Bless this

person, but make sure they suffer!” but as the months went by,

gradually God softened my heart until eventually I genuinely

wanted this person to be blessed. Little by little and by the grace

of God I realized that I had forgiven. Years later I was astonished

to hear that this person had been become a Catholic, made their

first Holy Communion and Confirmation and was now attending

Mass each day. Maybe it was part of my forgiveness that played

some part in their conversion.

After this I led missions in Brighouse, Yorkshire and then Folkestone

in Kent. At Folkestone I had the joy of meeting up with two good 
friends of mine, Kathy and Carole who were helping and serving
during the week.

My next stop was Toronto, Canada where I spoke at 5 different events,

including to 2500 secondary school students, also at an event called

Theology on Tap which took place in a pub, and at a business

breakfast hosted by Cardinal Thomas Collins. The Cardinal said when

speaking to the businessmen “It is in the little events of everyday life

that we glorify God, by being honest and having integrity in our

dealings and by showing kindness and patience to those we meet”

 This was especially appropriate as it was the feast day of St Therese

of Lisieux who wrote of her little way in much the same terms. I

knew it was God reminding me that the little things are important

to him and not to miss the opportunities that he sends moment by

moment.

The final mission I did was in London at a Church called St Cedds.

It was nice to be back in my hometown and work with the Parish

Priest Fr Adam who I have known for many years.

The things that I really felt God impressing on my heart over the

last few weeks are that the more we can forgive the more freedom

we receive in our own hearts. That we should never get too busy,

but to embrace the present moment because that is where we find

God, and finally to make sure that our hearts are fixed on the things

that truly matter because, as Roy discovered, at the end of our lives

it is what we have done for God that will be our true treasure.

You are very much in my heart and prayers

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

PRAY, HOPE AND DON'T WORRY!

Hello everyone

I hope you are well and at peace.

Towards the end of August I took part in a five night tour of 
Ireland in which we prayed for the protection of the unborn
child in this country. We went to Letterkenny Cathedral,
Armagh (where Cardinal Brady came to pray with us), Dublin,
Limerick and finished at Our Lady’s Shrine of Knock

At all of these venues big crowds turned up to pray with us and 
it showed me once again that the faith is very much alive in
Ireland. As the tour went along there was a growing faith in my
heart that God would intervene in some way. I must confess that
at the beginning of the five days I didn’t hold out much hope God
could change the current situation quickly.

To my amazement on the final day while we were at Knock it was 
announced that the Bishops of Ireland were to Consecrate the country
to The Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I knew that this was a sure sign that even in the midst of this current
storm God was in control and nothing is impossible to him.

This whole situation reminded me how important it is for us to pray 
with faith (even faith the size of a mustard seed) and never to give up.
I receive so many emails from people, particularly mothers, who are
praying for their loved ones. Often these situations look impossible
from a human point of view, but God wants us to have peace, to hand
over these problems to him and trust him to act in his own time.

One friend of mine was leading a self destructive lifestyle, he hated 
himself for something he had done in his past and he couldn’t
forgive himself. So for a number of years he drank heavily and
took drugs. One night he stayed at his mum’s house and at the top
of the stairs she had a picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
As he was passing it, he stopped and looked at Mary and because of
the despair he was feeling he said to her “Are you real? Because if
you are I need you because I’m dying here!” and nothing happened
so he went to bed. The next morning he awoke to the sound of the
Hoover going downstairs in the living room. Now it was a Sunday
morning and his mum would never normally clean on a Sunday.
Then he remembered that he had hidden his stash of drugs underneath
the settee in that room and he knew she had found them. The rest of
that day he was in fear of the confrontation that he was sure would
arise because of this discovery.

Later that day his dad came up to him and asked him to come outside. 
Then he held out his hands towards his son. In one hand were the
drugs his mum had found and the other hand was empty. Then his
dad said to him “Today I’m giving you a choice, you can take your
drugs and you can leave this home because we will not watch you
destroy yourself any longer, or you can take the hand of the family
that loves you and you can change your life and be our son again.”
That day he decided he wanted to change and not long afterwards the

love of God touched his life in a deep way and he committed himself 
to live for the Lord.

A few years later he was asked to give a talk on Our Lady at his local 
Parish and he decided to use the picture of the Immaculate heart of
Mary from his mum’s house. When he took it down off the wall he
was surprised to find the names of all his brothers and sisters written
on the back with his own name written at the very bottom. So he went
to his mum and asked why his name was written on the back of the
picture of Mary? She replied “When you were in your wildest times
and I was worried sick about you and I couldn’t even sleep at night,
I went on a retreat and the priest said If you are worried about your
children, consecrate them to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and she
will look after them because she loves them even more than you do.”
When he heard this my friend started to cry because he knew that it
was Our Lady who had led him back to her son Jesus!

St Pio always used to say “Pray, hope and don’t worry” and I think 
that is very good advice because there is always some situation that
will worry us and rob us of our peace if we allow it to. 

Last week I ran a healing retreat up at Ards friary in Donegal and it 
was a beautiful time where God’s grace touched all of our lives and
gave us renewed hope for the future. I’m hoping to run a couple of
these retreats next year possibly in different parts of the country.

Over the next few weeks I will running Parish Missions in Scotland 
and England, as well a speaking in Secondary schools and I would
really appreciate your prayers for these events.

Just to let you know that the new music CD that I have had commissioned

entitled  “This is The Air I Breathe” is now available from my website 

www.johnpridmore.com  

You are very much in my heart and prayers.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

TRUST IN GOD

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well and at peace.

A few weeks ago I spoke at a novena taking place in Letterkenny

Cathedral. It was praying for the intercession of Venerable

Matt Talbot (his relics were present) for people struggling with

addictions and their families.  Matt Talbot was someone that

through the grace of God overcame an addiction to alcohol and lived

his life totally for God. He is dear to my heart because it was through

his intercession that I gave up smoking. Although I could now

do with his help to stop eating so much because since I stopped

smoking I’ve put on about 3 stone.

Over the course of 9 days different people gave their testimonies

about how with the help of God they have conquered their addiction

and it was heart warming for me to see how many people came to

pray for their loved ones. It is so important for us never to give up

praying because nothing is impossible for God and as I can witness

He can change even the most broken of lives.

Next we had a parish mission in Cloghan, Co Donegal and although

it was a small parish it was great to see how the people responded

and their love for God. Following this we went to Medugorje in

Bosnia for our Community retreat. It has been reported that Our Lady

has been appearing there for the last 32 years calling us back to God.

After I had arranged the trip to Medugorje I received an email from

friends I had made while speaking at the Christ Our Life conference

in Iowa, USA. These people had organised the conference and they

deeply impressed me with their dedication to the Lord, it was been

one of the most powerful events I had ever attended. They were

in Medugorje with a group and they asked me to speak to them all.

When the talk was finished a young man told me that he was going

to go to confession and get rid of everything and to completely

start again with God. I thought if the trip was all for him it was worth

it.

As I was praying one day I really felt God impressing on me how

important it was to Him that I speak in secondary schools, and at

that point not many schools were planned before the summer. I had

arranged to go to several places for parish missions and various meetings.

Then amazingly through seemingly chance encounters doors were opened

and emails inviting me to speak in school started to arrive.

For example I was going to visit my old friend Fr Richard Aladics who

was celebrating 25 years of priesthood in York. He celebrated Mass

in the Bar Convent which is the oldest surviving Catholic Convent in

England and it was a pleasure to be there with him for that special

day. But out of the blue two schools invited me to come and speak to

their students in nearby Leeds

This same pattern emerged all over the country wherever I was staying.

God was arranging the talks the way that only He can. At the schools the

response from the young people was overwhelming with lots of tears and

many of them asking for a hug afterwards. This must be the Holy Spirit

because I can assure that in the days before I knew God no one would

come up to me and ask me for a hug!  

The emails that came in from those students were so moving with many of

them saying that they had experienced God for the first time and that they

wanted to open their lives to him. The whole thing just reminded me that

I have to trust in God and to follow His plans and if I am obedient to Him

His grace automatically follows.

Recently I commissioned a CD to be made and used at our missions, it
is called “This is the air I breathe” It has been made by Edwin Fawcett
and his sister Hermione Thomas who I first met years ago while I was
running retreats for youth 2000. Edwin would often do the music ministry
and his work is truly anointed. I believe the CD is very powerful and will
bring many people closer to God. If you are interested they will be
available on my website www.johnpridmore.com in about a months time.

Finally I would like to invite those who can attend to one of the

following venues where I will be speaking and where we will be praying

for the protection of the unborn child and that abortion will never

come into Ireland.

Each evening there will be a Mass of reparation as well as talks

and a time of prayer. Also attending are Fr Michael Ross, The Franciscan

friars of the renewal and various pro life groups.

Tuesday the 16^th of July-  Letterkenny Cathedral,  Co. Donegal at 7:30pm

Wednesday the 17^th of July-  Armagh,  St Malachy's Chapel at 7:30pm

Thursday the 18^th of July-  Limerick - South Court Hotel at 7.30pm

Friday the 19^th of July-  Dublin, Sean Mc Dermot Street Church at 7:00pm

Saturday the 20^th of July-  Knock Shrine, Blessed Sacrament Chapel at 7.30pm

If you can attend one of these venues I would love to see you there, If you

can’t come please pray for us!

You are very much in my heart and prayers.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore