The last three days of Adoration in Cardiff was a dream come true.... :)
Three places in three days... St Albans Parish, St David's Cathedral and the Cardiff University chaplaincy!
St. Albans - a small chapel made even more beautiful by candle lights, courtesy of our dear Father's artistic ability. Presence of the most Holy family, St Joseph, Mother Mary and Jesus, CREATED a family atmosphere as if sitting with our family. Each one of us was able to draw strength as if from our own family. The commitment towards prayer and the Eucharist of mostly the elderly parishioners and the reverence with which they were sitting in front of the Lord was an inspiration for us. There were few unexpected surprises as by this day we were stretched to our limits and in our perception were struggling, but the Lord makes everything work for the people who love him. AND THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A BLESSINBG IN DISGUISE AS RENEWED EFFORT WAS PUT INTO MOBILSATION AND THERE WERE UNEXPECTED SURPRISES IN STORE FOR US. Three of us who never planned to come together that night sat and had such a wonderful time that we did not realize how fast time flew by. By about 4 in the morning all the tiredness and struggles of the previous day was forgotten. The realisation we had then was, that sitting in front of the Lord is in itself is enough rest.
St. David's Cathedral - a beautiful Tudor style church, as the light streams came in through the many artistic glass panels, it was as if we were back in the golden ages of the Catholic Church in Wales. A place where people from all around Wales, came to celebrate mass right in heart of Cardiff. There was a steady stream of people walking in throughout the day to say ‘Hi’ to the Lord and as the Eucharist was moved into the sacristy in the night it was an even more intimate feeling. Sitting in this age old church reciting the mercy chaplet at 3 in the morning, We felt as if mercy of our God was flowing towards us in waves, it made us wonder about our God’s infinite mercy for his people and how He walks in front of us straightens our paths,.... otherwise we would not have had the opportunity to have been at the Cathedral where previously we did not have any contacts.
- Ponnie Sebastian
Cardiff University Chaplaincy - almost a year back in a JY training in Liverpool, we dreamt of being with university students and having loads of fun and fellowship. Well what can I say, on THE LAST DAY OF AWAKENING IN CARDIFF this became a reality. Throughout the day we had many students come in and out. A group of 4-5 students covered up the night slots with us and they had such a wonderful time being still in the presences of the Lord. The best part was when we all got to share dinner with a few students, loads of FUN! We did get a chance to share about Jesus Youth and what our movement was all about. PRAISE LORD!
Psalm 37: 4
"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires."
For the final blessing on Thursday morning we were glad to see few of the parishioners from other parishes come join us. I was glad to be there for the final blessing, and it was kind of mixed feelings. Although physically tired and exhausted, but deep inside there was this sense of peace and joy felt! WOW! What a feeling!
Lord we never really thought that all the work and effort that we had put in would be this rewarding, a great experience! Truly He had worked through each one of us, right from the very moment we had the 12 hour rosary (the weekend before adoration started), the spirit was dwelling, we all had our struggles, LORD took care of us....
I am truly blessed to be a part of this team........
We pray that Awakening be a time of great change for all JYs and UK !
with the spirit of Awakening
Cardiff Service Team
(Abstracts from Bejay Jayan's email dated 25th March 2011)
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