Responding to God’s Invitation

If you have been around our Parish for any length of time you will notice that we tend to mention the word ‘encounter’ a lot.  It is, after all, the central focus of our parish mission, “To be a vibrant community that actively accompanies people to encounter Jesus”. While one encounter with the living Jesus can indeed completely transform a person, an ongoing pattern of encounter will propel them to transform others!

As Catholics we are incredibly blessed to have the sacraments as tangible moments of grace and meeting with God. These summit moments are pivotal to our journey and pattern of life but they are not the only places where we can encounter God. If we wish to pursue life everyday with Jesus, the Gospel invites us to consider opportunities to experience a deeper encounter with the living Lord.

This is already the desire of many hearts in our parish community – the bold response to Fr Josh & Fr Gerard’s Pentecost challenge a few weeks ago was certainly evidence of this growing sense of desire. It is clear Holy Spirit is doing something in our Parish. No parish, for example, grows in numbers following a reduction in Masses, but we have grown by over 100 parishioners! This is just one example which has challenged the parish Senior Leadership Team to think about regular opportunities for people to respond to the movement of Holy Spirit in their hearts.  Over the coming weeks we will begin offering the opportunity for prayer ministry immediately following weekend Masses.

On several occasions in the Holy Scriptures, God invites us to pray for one another with the laying on of hands. This is a very ancient and simple tradition in our Church and one that is open to any baptised person.  You will see in this week’s newsletter an invitation for those who might be interested to be trained in prayer ministry or prayer teams (as they are sometimes called) after Mass.  A prayer team is two people who pray with those who come for prayer with specific needs.  Praying for ourselves is good, but it can be deeply moving and impactful to have others stand with us and pray in faith and belief that God is intervening in our lives.  Jesus promises “Where two or more are gathered in my name there, I am in the midst of them” Matt 18:20.

Many of the most profound lifechanging encounters in my life have happened when I have humbled myself and stepped out to ask for someone to pray with me for a particular need. Taking a step of faith like that can take courage, but faith attracts God’s attention and      action.  Simon walks on water after a step of faith; the woman with the issue of blood is healed after a step of faith; Jesus, the King of the Universe stops and marvels at the faith of the Centurion who understood that Jesus could heal his servant from a distance.

This new ministry in our parish offers a concrete place where we can respond to the week-to-week call of God in our hearts. God is constantly calling us into more and for more. Creating room for more in our hearts begins with being prepared to give Him more and stepping beyond what we may have done before.

Beth Davies,

Mission Coordinator