Awakening 2012 Day 10 to 14 _- Manchester by Bejoy Mathew

Dear Family,

We started our 'Awakening' perpetual Eucharistic adoration in Manchester on 3rd March at 9.30am.

Our parish priests Fr. Ian Farrell kindly opened his parish (St.Joseph's Church, Longsight) to us and exposed the Blessed Sacrament for adoration at 9.30a.m.on Saturday in the chapel. All of us within the prayer group and our JY families took turns to attend the adoration. Few of our JY have taken one week leave off work to sit in front of our lord Jesus Christ. It was a refreshing experience for all of us to spend some time recollecting the blessings showered on us in our lives. 


On Sunday the 4th we started our adoration and had Holy Mass, with youth many coming in to chapel to spend the time with the Lord. We offered our hearts to our Saviour as like a beautiful flower offering. We silently adored Jesus, surrendering everything to the King of Kings.

During the evenings the chapel keeping overflowing with youth and families alike. It is indeed a wonderful experiences for everyone who enters this sanctuary. 

All the intentions of Awakening and many more were remembered while we recited the Rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet. We had some beautiful moments of praise and worship, the whole congregation in accord with one heart felt the Holy Spirit surround us and set ablaze in our hearts.

Our Lord has been so gracious to Manchester; with local community involvement  and a a river of grace flowing all over;

 Fire of Holy Spirit is all around!!

 Praise God!!

BE A PART OF THIS GRACE OF AWAKENING; VISIT MANCHESTER!

Love and prayers 


Bejoy Mathew

Awakening Day 8 and Day 9 - Cardiff - Bejay's experience

AWAKENING CARDIFF – EXPERIENCING THE FATHERS LOVE J

The joy that was seen during the 10 pm mass on our faces sums up how "awakening" has touched each and every one of our hearts. After the 10 pm mass,I was surprised to see few parishioners stay on  till 2 am. Truly inspirational to see active participation amongst some of the locals.

Its morning now, and I am here sitting, asking him "what is it that you want me to do in my life Lord"..?????" I realize that you make me go through all  ups and downs in  life for a purpose..but where are u taking me? But, then this question always hits back when I hear his voice asking me....if I would be  willing to say "yes" no matter what he has  planned for me.? 

One of my good friends once told me that the "Our father" is a very dangerous prayer because it very clearly states "thy will be done "..... So don't say it until we completely mean it. Every day we pray, may his will be done but when it comes to reality we rely on our human desires and instincts to choose.  Probably something that we all need to think about. But the Lord  promised me today that he will teach me to trust him... And so will he teach each and every one of us... Because we are all his children and he is OUR FATHER.

Fr. Binu, during mass, rightly said that we must all ask with our whole heart knowing fully well..our God is a loving father and he has GOOD .... and ONLY GOOD plans for us.

Exactly 24 hours of adoration left in this parish of St. Albans and in CARDIFF.... Some of us are really going to miss AWAKENING here .  Expecting more crowds to come in these last few hours....

Bejay.

With the spirit of awakening !
JY CARDIFF.

Awakening 2012 Day 5 to 7Cardiff - Ponny's experience

AWAKENING CARDIFF – EXPERIENCING THE FATHERS LOVE J

The 2^nd day of Awakening in Cardiff; another day of Grace and Blessings. A steady but small stream of people visited the small chapel at St Philip Evans today. Sitting in front of the Lord I asked myself why coming here is different to praying in silence somewhere else? The thought came to me that Our Lords presence in the Eucharist can be experienced in a tangible and individualistic way by everyone who walks into the Awakening chapel.

Everyone seems to have their own way of communication with the Lord.  Some walked in stayed silent for sometime and then walked out. Some came said rosaries as a family, sang songs and left. Some read from prayer books, while others seemed to write, some listened to music or even read and reflected. yet there were few others who simply stared at the Lord, Or closed their eyes and stayed silent, some even shed a few tears. As children of God we all have our own way of connecting with the Lord. Awakening seems to be a time when each one tries to make time to experience that connection.

The rosary sung by a five year old boy will stay afresh as a cherished memory from this day forth. His innocent and not so clear Hail Mary sung with full devotion and energy brought a smile to my serious face along with the realisation that I am sitting in front of my Jesus and I too can be a child in front of him!!

On the the 4^th day of Awakening in Cardiff at St Albans Church, sitting in front of the Lord inside the small chapel, I picked up a book on Rosminian spirituality and smiled because I was sitting in a Rosminian Church and would there have been a more appropriate book than this to read here? The smile turned to a surprise as I realized that it was edited by A.Balsito, whom I recognized as our beloved Blessed Antonio Rosmini from the Rosmini center at  the Ratcliff College.The words of Rosmini himself jumped out at me “ Adore, Be Silent, Rejoice” I decided to do just that and also made a poster with these words. As I was putting it up a group of parishners were saying the rosary and one of the ladies caught my eyes and smiled. This moment of connection is what has been happening all day today. This year the parishners have also organized a rota for themselves and most of the slotts were covered by them. Awakening over the last years has created a connection in this parish and no one is a stranger anymore. This desire to spend time with the Eucharistic Lord in adoration has created a sense of unity and friendship. The mass celebrated by our very own JY pastor Fr Binu added to that sense of belonging as even without prior notice or planning the chapel was full at 10:00 pm for the mass. Surely another day of amazing grace and beauty.

Ponny

With the spirit of awakening !
JY CARDIFF.

Awakening 2012 Day 4 and 5 : Bristol

The 'Awakening' round the clock Eucharistic adoration was held at St. Joseph’s Church in Bristol  from 9am  on Saturday the 25^th February till 11am  Monday the 27^th February. The day started beautifully with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament by Fr. Joy Vayalil. We had the amazing support from the JY Bristol Senior Core Members who were there with us right from the very start of this beautiful initiative. Thanks to the kind  support  of Fr, Joy,  that made it possible to continue the  'Awakening' here in Bristol . The involvement of the people at the adoration was incredible. Although some could not stay for long hours,  a good many number of people  took the effort to come and be a part of the adoration. We were blessed to have had a strong  support from some families out here, who were present there majority of the time.Many expressed it to be a  beautiful experience to sit in front of the Lord and say whatever you want to say from your heart.

 

edited from the email received from Marina behalf of Bristol JY.

Awakening 2012 Day 2 Nottingham

Day 2

A wonderful day. As the exposition of our blessed sacrament entered into second ‘day’ there were many people come to stay with Jesus. At some stage there were not enough places in the chapel for people to sit. Many parishioners came over including some youths. Some of them signed in for 25^th.

The intentions of the awakening 2012 were written on a board by Joju , kept in a visible area inside the chapel. A small box for written prayer intentions was also placed in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

So far by the grace of God the adoration of Blessed Sacrament is going smoothly with Participation from a wide range of people from both Malayali and local parish  community.

on behalf of the Nottingham JY

Awakening 2012 Day 1 Nottingham

Day 2 began with participation from parishioners especially Monica Purde.  She is the back bone of the Eucharistic adoration at the Good shepherd Church, a truly inspired and convinced servant of the Lord. She has never left us alone since Awakening 2011 and subsequent monthly adoration. She is a parish committee member. She is a portal for us into the local community. She was the coordinator from the parish for 7 days adoration in 2011 and 3 days in 2012. She was happy to come between 6 am and 8 am every morning which we have difficulty finding people during weekdays and was fully committed to reach on time. She did the same on 23^rd morning.

Towards the end of Day 2, the participants from parish community reduced and at some point there were just two people sitting in front of our lord. (‘O Blessed Sacrament Thou must be expecting many of your beloved brothers and sisters to stay with you and you are ready to pour your love and mercy abundantly to them. However, because of our laziness we could not inform many people to come and experience your love in the community. Jesus, we are sorry for not spreading your word properly’).

From 9pm onwards there were many people from Malayali community and parishioners came to stay with our Lord. During the night, there were about  5 people.  One of them named Kuriakose has day duty on 24^th but awake all night and went to work in the morning for full day. He said to Justin Thayill that he would love to stay on Thursday (24^th) night as well! isn't it awesome to see the Lord at work in us!

on behalf of the Nottingham JY 

Awakening 2012 Inauguration at Nottingham

On 22^nd Feb. 2012 ‘Awakening 2012’ started at Church  of Good shepherd, Nottingham with exposition of Blessed Sacrament after the Ash Wednesday mass 7.30pm. Fr. Philip Ziomek - Parish Priest exposed Blessed Sacrament in the Church. The presence of Fr Binu Palakkappilly was truly inspirational to JY in Nottingham. The participation of parishioners and Malayali community at the beginning of ‘Awakening2012’ was remarkable. More than 35 people stayed with God in the beginning. Later the Blessed Sacrament was taken in to Our Lady’s chapel by Fr Philip.   

 Jijo Thomas who stayed with us in the night (first time for many years) said that ‘it is truly an unforgettable experience’ and he wanted to come for night vigil third Friday of every month. He was really inspired and said that he will come again whenever he gets time within the three days. Joju chettan was wonderful, he came with all his three kids to adoration and kids slept in the parish hall while we are experiencing the love of Blessed Sacrament.

on behalf of Nottingham JY