Sep 9, 2015
The atmosphere is amazing!
Every year well over a thousand young people gather in Walsingham for the Youth 2000 Festival at the end of August. It’s an amazing gathering of people from all over England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales for five days of music, prayer, workshops, and especially great fun. The atmosphere there is noticeable straight away, from the moment you arrive in the door of the welcome tent and Barbara gives you a big hello. It’s a sign of things to come!
Is there anything to be said for a cup of tea?
I arrived on the Friday and it was like coming home again. It’s only my second year, but everyone is so open and friendly it’s like I’ve never been away. We had a beautiful reconciliation service in the evening. There were dozens of priest helping people to put aside the mistakes of the past and to move on in life assured of God’s love and understanding. (more…)
Jul 19, 2015
Last Sunday we had the extraordinary opportunity to celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life with a powerful Mass in the RTE Studios in Dublin. We had a viewship of around 60,000 people not just in Ireland, but around the world.
You can view the programme by clicking here.
We had people from a variety of religious congregations and a number of lay groups
(more…)
Jun 17, 2013
Tomorrow we’re off along the Camino, beginning the first week of a 500 mile journey that finishes at the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostella. The Camino, or the Way as it is sometimes known, has been walked by pilgrims from around Europe for well over a thousand years. The route we’re taking begins just inside the boarder of France, crosses through a stunningly beautiful pass in the Pyrenees, before heading into the Navarre region of Spain. We’ll wind our way along roadside, forest path and river bank on our way through pilgrim towns like Roncesvalles, Estella and Pamplona.
But the Camino is more concerned with the journey within than without. The beauty and the slowness of the Way invite the pilgrim to clam their soul, move to a different rhythm of life, and listen to still small voice of God. The Camino has become increasingly popular over the years among a wide variety of people. It’s called people of all religious creeds and none. But most importantly it succeeded in engaging many who are looking for something new or seeking something that was lost. It’s a journey of discovery where the way is as important, if not more so, as the destination. It about the times of solitude and silence walking by yourself, taking in all the life around you. It’s also about sharing the Way with others; listening to their stories and offering some of your own.
Over the next week we’ll be posting photos on our Facebook page so keep an eye out and you’ll be able to track our progress as peregrinos del Camino de Santiago de Compostella!
Jun 7, 2013
“You are authentic disciples of Jesus Christ,” said Pope Francis when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Speaking about the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, he spoke of their ministry, saying “only a priest in love with the Lord can renew a parish. But at the same time he must be a missionary who lives the constant desire of looking for those who are separated and who is not content with just administration.” (more…)
May 30, 2013
A Novena is a very special time of reflection. It is a time of intense personal prayer and petition. It is also a time of communal prayer with many hundreds of others who join with us, in person at one of the centres where the novena is being prayed and celebrated, or remotely across Ireland and England with people following the novena in their own homes. There will be community Novena celebrations in Myross Woods, Ballyvaloo and in Sacred Heart Parish, Western Road.
During a Novena we not only pray for our own needs, and the needs of those close to us, we also pray in communion with all those others who are making the novena. We join with those who are far away in many different parts of this country and abroad. It is an opportunity to continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life as well. It is an area of prayer that has been overlooked in recent years, but it is an essential part of vocations promotion.
As part of this prayer drive we have sent over 20,000 vocations prayer cards to benefactors of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The idea is that we can create a climate of prayer that once again celebrates the baptismal call of all people and encouages those who might be considering whether to become a sister, brother or a priest. In Africa they say, ‘People are people through people.’ It is through our relationships with God, others and ourselves that we realise who we are. Let us pray today for that grace to fulfill our own vocation, while supporting others to do the same.
You can join in the Novena through the Novena prayer:
O Divine Jesus, who said,
“Ask and you shall receive”,
I kneel at your feet.
From whom shall I ask if not from you,
whose heart is the source of all blessings.With a lively faith in you, I come to ask ( pause and mention petition here ) I admit I am most unworth of your favours, Jesus,
but this is not a reason for me to be discouraged.
You are the God of mercies
and You will not refuse a contrite heart.
Look with pity on me, I beg you,
and your compassionate Heart will find in my weakness
a motive for granting my request. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me.
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.
May 25, 2013
Yesterday was all about engagement. It’s more than just a buzz word. It’s about looking at how we as a Church in general and as vocations directors in particular outreach to young people. Sixty vocations directors from a wide variety of religious congregations gathered in the Emmaus Centre in Dublin to share, brainstorm and realise new and exciting ways of making contact with people considering a call to religious life and the priesthood. (more…)
