Hello Everyone
I hope you are well and at peace.
At the end of my speaking tour of schools in
England I had been feeling quite ill and very
depleted and even though I was booked to
go and speak in Fargo, North Dakota I was
seriously considering cancelling because I
wasn’t sure I had it in me. Yet when I prayed
I really felt God encouraging me to go. It
turned out to be a week of grace. After one
talk at a university a student told me his
story. As a young boy someone had badly
hurt him and he had immense anger and
hatred towards this person who had taken
away his innocence, by his own description
he said it was eating him up inside and
nothing could give him peace. But after
hearing my talk he went to confession and
confessed all the anger and unforgiveness
and afterwards he felt that God and set him
completely free and he had a deep sense
of peace and closeness to Jesus. This just
reminded that Blessed Mother Teresa
always used to say “Give until it hurts”
and it is in that giving when it really costs
us something, that God can work miracles
of grace!
After this I travelled back to speak at
Parish missions in Liverpool and Clonlara
Co Clare. While I was back in Ireland I
ran a school retreat for my old friend
Fr Michael from Irvinestown. All the
students went to confession and it was
nice to see some of them come back
who had been on the retreat on
previous years.
Next I went to Florida to run 3 parish
missions in and around Tampa. At one
of these a lady told me that she had
done something she regretted 14 years
ago and had been carrying around that
sin ever since. It was like a cloud of
doom that hovered over her so that
she never felt true joy within her. But
after going to confession and bringing
this sin to Jesus she said it was like
experiencing a resurrection in her
heart. This is the year of mercy and
Jesus wants us to come to him with
all our burdens and experience his
forgiveness and healing.
Sometimes on the missions there is
a day dedicated to Mary and we will
set up a petitions box before a picture
or statue of our blessed Mother. One
married couple who attended the
week wrote out a petition and
placed it in the box which represents
the Immaculate heart of Mary. They
prayed for their son who is addicted
to drugs. The following day he
approached his parents and asked
them to help him overcome his
addiction. He is now in the Cenacolo
community (a community which helps
people break addictions through prayer
and communal living, which is highly
effective) in Florida. That is the power
of prayer! When people come to the
mission and make the sacrifice
to go out of their way to put God first
in their lives, God is never outdone in
his generosity.
As we continue our journey of lent let
us pray for one another that we would
have generous and open hearts to all
God asks us to do.
God bless you in his deep love
John Pridmore
Posts
