THE DARKNESS CAN NEVER PUT OUT THE LIGHT!

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well and at peace,

Recently I travelled to the United States and had
the privilege of speaking at two men's conferences
in Buffalo and in Lafayette. The thing that inspired
me with both of these was the men I met who were
organising the events. They reminded me that we
are in a battle to bring the light of God's grace into
every place on this earth. To meet people with such
commitment really rekindled a fire in my heart.

While I was there I did a TV interview with Fr Andrew
Apostoli for EWTN and I can honestly say that to spend
time with him and to speak with him about God was
an incredibly uplifting experience.

At the same time our new Pope Francis was elected
and he seems to be showing us that the weapons we
have to fight in this battle are prayer, humility and
service and a willingness to go wherever God sends
us.

Over the last couple of months I have spoken in a
lot of secondary schools in the USA, Ireland and in
Italy and more than ever I have witnessed the thirst
that is in young people to know God. Many have
emailed their experiences to me. One girl who was
16 years old said that since she was very young she
had felt very alone and really didn't like herself, there
was a constant pain in her heart. When she was 12
she twice attempted to take her own life and since
that time she had suffered with Bulimia and felt very
isolated from her friends at school. She had asked
God for sign that he was real and that he loved her
and when she was listening to my story God had
shown her in a deep way that he was with her and
that she was beautiful in his eyes and he had a plan
for her life. I pray that knowledge would grow and
grow in her heart and she will have a truly blessed
life.

I remember when I was young I went through similar
pain and when I was 16 I felt so angry at life and those
around me. At that time I was locked up in a youth
prison and many times I wanted to take God's greatest
gift, my own life.  I never dreamed there was any kind
of future for me and that there was a God who loved me
and had an amazing adventure planned for my life.

After God changed my life I spent a year at a prayer
house in Scotland and every day we would spend hours
praying before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and he
was slowly but surely healing my heart. One day I went
to confession to a visiting priest, it hadn't been that long
since my previous confession. At the end of the confession
he said to me "You're angry at God" I replied "No I'm
not, I love God" he said again "You're angry with God"
I said again "No I'm not, I love God" a third time he said
"You're angry with God" and then I thought "I'm getting
angry with you!" But then I said, "Yes you're right I am
angry, where was this loving God when I was been beaten
and abused and rejected?" Then the little story of footprints
came to my mind. Where the man looks back over his life
and he sees two sets of footprints in the sand but then when
the difficult times come there is only one set of footprints.
Then the man says to Jesus "Lord, you promised me that
you would never leave me, but at the difficult times you
abandoned me!" Then the Lord replied "I never abandoned
you, it was at those times that I carried you" It was then
that I realised that God had never left me, when I was being
crucified he was being crucified, when I was being scourged
he was being scourged, when I was being rejected he was
being rejected. It was one of the deepest healings of my life
and changed the way I viewed God.  


Years later  I was speaking to a friend of mine who is a
nun. I asked her why it was that God was so good to me
and seemed to spoil me? She said that she thought that
God wanted to make up for the pain I had experienced
in childhood, as she said this I started to cry because I
realised just how much compassion God has for those
who suffer and all he asks of us is to reach out with that
same compassion to those who are suffering and those
who need his light and hope. As Pope John
Paul II once said to the young people of the world.
 "There is one thing that the darkness can never put out,
and that is the light of Christ, You are the light of Christ!
Burn for Christ and burn brightly and never be afraid
because the darkness can never put out the light!" That is
the battle in which we all take part, to bring that light
to those who need it most.

You are very much in my heart and prayers,

God bless you in his deep love
John Pridmore