ST PAUL S POST St Paul s Province Weekly Newsletter: 103 Our birthday girl this week is: 5 November 2018 Vivian Whelan 10 November Sr Helena explaining the symbolism to Tracy.
Our Sisters: Olcan Watt Cephas Wearden Evelyn Wilson Relatives/friends of Sisters: Marguerita s brother, Pat; Damian s brother, Brendan; Anna Hainey s brother, Danny; Eily May s brothers, Tade & Jack, and her sister, Mary Philomena White; Lisa Greer, (not Green) daughter of Sue Rix; Lorraine s Mum, Mary; Francis niece-in-law, Val McCartan and Francis brother, Austin; Brigid Mary Wright Margaret Collins Carmel Comerford Mary Sloan Kathleen Doran s niece-in-law, Kerry; Carmel Gorman s sister-in-law, Mary; The father of Sr Mary Ann (USA), who is unwell; Mary Curtin s niece, Breed; Joanna Jackson, former sister & sister-inlaw to Teresa Jackson; Berney O Grady, who is seriously ill. Just a reminder that it s now November, the month when we remember very specially our deceased sisters, relatives and friends in our prayers. Article taken from the Parish Newsletter of St Peters Parish, Lytham On 3rd October, the running total was 139,047.94. The same day I sent a cheque for 2,500 to Maeve in Villa El Salvador. And then last week 993.61 Gift Aid arrived in our account. It cannot get much better than that, so a million thanks and hugs to all who support our Mission, because Maeve is providing: More hot meals More medicines A doctor for even more hours a week A full-time nurse Transport to & from the Mission Food parcels Recreational equipment & support Plus all sorts of extras for our Grannies & Grandads, more now than ever before. NOW THAT S MISSION - BRILLIANT!
Sisters travelled from London, Liverpool, Minsteracres and all points between to meet Eileen and Marie in Ilkley this week.
Why did St Paul of the Cross pray for England? Watch this space! PART 8: FATHER GEORGE SPENCER S IRISH HOLIDAY: 1842 In 1839 Father George Spencer was appointed to Oscott College as Spiritual Director. He immediately introduced Prayers for England. The prayers of St Paul of the Cross were being answered and, like Paul, Father Spencer was noble by birth and in manner. In January 1840 he visited John Henry Newman at Oriel College, Oxford to ask him to pray for Christian Unity. Then, in 1842, he spent his summer vacation in Ireland. It was a tricky assignment he was giving himself, for English Oscott Chapel today inroads into Ireland dated back centuries. The people could not have forgotten either Oliver Cromwell s, To hell or Connaught or the blatantly unjust accusation that St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, was involved in the 1679 Titus Oates Plot to kill King Charles II, which was an excuse for his martyrdom at Tyburn by hanging, drawing and quartering. The Shrine of St Oliver Plunkett, Drogheda Jesuit Church, Gardiner Street Father George Spencer, however, hoped that the sufferings of the Irish people might give them the heroically charitable motive for praying for the Conversion of England, and so off he went. Starting in the Jesuit church at Gardiner Street, Dublin, he preached his Crusade of Prayer for the Conversion of England in the Franciscan church at Merchants Quay, Dublin; in Carlow, in the Franciscan church in Wexford; in Waterford, Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick, Ennis, Birr, Loughrea, Galway, Castlebar, Tuam, Longford, Mullingar and Navan, giving twenty long sermons in the great churches and about twenty shorter sermons in convents and chapels. Carlow Cathedral The old Church, Loughrea Kilenny Cathedral, with ancient Round Tower
As he returned to Oscott, Father George Spencer admitted he had set out with a sense of trepidation but in fact, he said, it had been the best holiday he had ever had. He loved the Irish people and they loved him - although some stopped short of promising to pray for England! In 1844 Father Spencer was so unwell that on medical advice he was sent to the Continent, supposedly for a relaxing holiday with his friends, Ambrose Phillipps and family. In fact they spent the next three months successfully pleading for prayers for the Conversion of England. Then, in December 1846, Father George Spencer entered the Passionist Novitiate at Aston Hall, Stone in Staffordshire. The prayers of St Paul of the Cross for England were being answered most remarkably. Sr Dominic Savio CP Did it never occur to you that animals and plants seem to excitedly take their small place in the circle of life, in the balance of nature, in the dance of complete interdependence? And that it is only we humans who have resisted our place in the one great act of giving birth (see Romans 8:22), senselessly participating in the death of our own and other species? We are, by far, the most destructive of any animal. As long ago as the 12 th century St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179, also a Doctor of the Church) writes: Human beings alone are capable of disobeying God s laws, because they try to be wiser than God. Other creatures fulfil the commandments of God; they honour [God s] laws. But human beings rebel against those laws, defying them in word and action. And in doing so they inflict terrible cruelty on the rest of God s creation. Jesus taught that if we would first seek God s Reign (Matthew 6:33), and obey his command to love God and love one another (Matthew 22:37-40), all the rest would take care of itself. We would no longer defy the laws of nature but seek to live in harmony and sustainability with Earth and all her creatures. This radical lifestyle demands a deep sense of the inherent dignity of all things. We cannot pick and choose who has inherent dignity and who does not. And in the end it all comes down to love! (adapted from R. Rohr) Sent in by Pat Carney