BEHOLD, I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW

Below is a copy of a Mission Update Letter:

First, I thank you for your prayers and support during my time in England.  I believe the good fruit I witnessed during my time there, was a result of your personal prayer and sacrifice for the mission.    I pray the Lord will reveal to you the important  role your prayers have played in the missionary work of the Church, that you might be encouraged to continue to pray and stand firm in faith that the Lord is indeed at work in mighty ways throughout the whole of humanity.

As I have pondered how and what to share with you about such a grace filled time, I thought I should first share with you a story.   At the top of this letter, you see two pictures.   Both pictures, as you can see, involve a tree.  This tree was on the grounds of SPEC (the retreat community where I was serving in England).   From the first time I was in England for missionary work, nearly 5 years ago, this tree was the topic of conversation.  There was just something about this tree.   It was large, and in the middle of a prominent field.  And, for some reason people always felt drawn to it.  There would always be visitors taking pictures of it, people wanting to climb it and touch it, people always talking about it.   The most interesting thing about the tree was…. IT WAS DEAD.   It had been dead for a long time.  But, it was somewhat of a landmark and was actually historically ‘listed’.   So, this dead tree could never and was never cut down.   This was strange but, fascinating.   Well,  it seems God had something to say through this old dead tree.   And, as St Ignatius teaches us “God labours through all of creation”… He labours to reveal to us His love, His truth…. If only we are still enough to notice.

About a month before I returned to the U.S.., I had a friend visit from America.   She and I woke early to walk the grounds of SPEC so that she could take a look around before she returned home.   As we were walking, we began to talk about all the great miracles that God had been about here in the community, on the retreats and in the hearts of so many.   I was sharing with her about the beautiful renewal that was taking place in England… in our little community and beyond.   And, as I was sharing, a great rainbow appeared.  It began in the back of the main SPEC building and seemed to arch straight towards that tree.  It seemed to be going directly into the center of that dead tree.   We were both very moved by this and knew in our hearts it was a great gift from the Lord.  We were both left with a tremendous hope in our hearts.

Then, about 2 weeks later, on the day the Core Community of SPEC met to pray, seeking God’s Will for the community, another clear sign occurred.  The tree split completely and entirely around the trunk and fell in pieces to the ground.  This tree,  which had been dead yet remaining upright (and made to stand) for so many years… was suddenly crumbled to the ground.   And, in the very center of where this old dead tree had stood, was another beautiful sign.     There, the only thing left standing was a new sapling growing out of the center.    When I saw the tree, so clearly in my heart the Lord said “BEHOLD, I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW” (Rev 21:5).   And it seemed to me such a confirmation of the ‘NEW’ thing God is doing in England.   He is renewing His Church… heart by heart by heart.  Freeing His children… mind by mind by mind. 

I have had the humble privilege of witnessing so many miracles during my 2 years in England.  As a missionary, this is a beautiful grace from God, to be able to witness His great and mighty works so to share the wonders of His goodness to many.   Also as  a missionary,  before you are sent, the Lord so often offers a glimpse or a sense of all He desires to do.   I am in awe that He has fulfilled so much in such a short amount of time.   Things are where I would have hoped them to be years from now.   And my heart has SUCH A GREAT HOPE FOR EUROPE!   

I will be writing more individual stories however, for the purpose of this update, I want to share with you a brief overview and some of what God has done in the SPEC community.   May all Glory be to God alone, who is the ONE who has brought all of these good things into being.    

SPEC, as many of you know,  is a retreat community, under the mandate of the Diocese of Westminster.  It was established to form and empower young adults in their missionary mandate and to reach the young people of the diocese through retreat ministry.   The CORE Community consists of several families and singles who live there year round.  They then welcome in around 15-18 young adults each year, coming from all over the world.  These young adults come for a year of spiritual formation, to live in Christian Community, and to help serve on the retreats.   The retreats run for either a day or up to 3 days, serving young people in the diocese ages 8-18. 

In my years there, one of the greatest transformations was God bringing clarity to the vision, mission and spirituality of the community.   There was an openness to begin a time of formation with the Core Community, into group discernment and prayer.   From there, so many beautiful things began to happen.  Prayer and humble obedience is always the first step!

Foundationally, the Eucharist and a devotion to Mary became pillars to the community’s spirituality.   A rhythm of prayer was secured and daily time before the Blessed Sacrament was established.   Also, the community took on a ‘Way of Life’, which consists of specific ways the community was committed to live out the gospel and to intentionally reflect on this in our daily routines.

Also, there was a commitment to devote more intentional time to Missionary Formation for the young adults.   Through these changes, there was tremendous fruit.  The first blessings were seen in the lives of the young adult missionaries.   Many young adults experienced deep conversion and healing, coming into a deep and personal love with Our Lord and awakening a love for the Church.    The time set apart to ‘listen’ and discern God’s Will also yielded much, as 3 of the young adults have gone and several are now in full time ministry work.  

Another fruit was a community evidently and intentionally seeking holiness and the joy that comes from serving and following the Lord.   Young people who came on retreat began to notice a difference.  They would say things like “everyone looks so happy, is it always like that here’  or “there is something different here, it is good and I want to know more” or “I always thought being holy meant I couldn’t be myself but, now I see there is something very real and beautiful about it”.    This joy the young people who came to us saw was the Lord through the community.   What a great witness this can be.  This witnessed helped point to the Lord and yielded an openness of heart and openness of ear to the good news of the gospel.

We also witnessed hundreds of young people experiencing the love of God, often for the first time as well as them discovering the beauty and richness of the Church, in Her teachings and in the Sacraments.   One particular young woman said “I came here not believing in God.  Now I am leaving in love with Him and wanting everyone to know!”.   Or to hear from the young people that their favorite part of the retreat was so often “Adoration” or “Mass” or “Confession”.   One young man saying “I have fought my mother every Sunday about going to Mass  But now, after what I experienced at adoration, I can’t wait to go to Mass.”   Mother Teresa often said “bring the young people to the Eucharist”.   What great wisdom…. If only we bring others to Him, present in the Eucharist, HE does ALL the rest.  And will always do what He promised.   May our hearts always believe in the power of His Eucharistic presence!

Also, during my time in England I witnessed many marriages and families experiencing conversion and healing.  Several families who had been subtly disconnected with the authority, teachings and sacramental life of the Church have discovered anew and come back to the heart of the Church. 

In addition to retreat ministry, there were also remarkable things experienced in London through evangelical outreach…. and by the great simplicity of being ‘present’ and ‘available’ to God there.  

So many stories I could tell and in so much more detail.  However, I pray this offers a glimpse of the great wonders God is working in that place.  

Through my own personal discernment, I believe the Lord has asked me to return to the states for now.   In missionary life, it is always difficult to leave the people and nation you have grown to love so profoundly.  It is after all, a small glimpse of His very love for His people in that place.   And, for God to share even such a small glimpse with my heart is a gift beyond measure!  Please continue to pray for the Church in Europe and that God might protect and grow all He has planted in the hearts of so many!

I humbly ask also for your prayers for me during this time of transition and discernment.   Please pray the Holy Spirit might guide me and make know God’s Will in all things.

Be assured of my continued prayers for you.  

LABORERS FOR THE HARVEST

Today's Gospel Mt 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest."

Today's Gospel was one that was such a great consolation to me. The first few verses could not better describe what I feel I experience here on a daily basis. To go where He goes, so often means daily encounters with those who are in need of deep healing. Emotionally, spiritually, and physically... there are so many in need of healing. And so many who seem to be aimlessly searching but without any direction.. "like sheep without a shepherd" Matthew 9:36.

It is so often easier for us to see and attend to the needs of others when they are so apparent... like when you are caring for those poor in material goods... what they need is evident. They need a warm coat. They need a new pair of shoes to protect their feet. They need a meal. But, the poverty the Lord has sent me to care for in this season of my life is much different. It is a poverty of faith.. a poverty of truth. And, hearts that are wounded by such a poverty. In both of these ways of poverty however, there is one remedy that seems to never fail... it is the remedy of LOVE. To love without condition is how He always cares for us. And it is the way He asks us also to love.

And the more our eyes are open to the needs of others... the more we recognize how much need there really is. Isn't this also what was unfolding in this passage from Matthew. In the presence of Jesus ALL that woundedness is illuminated and Jesus' heart desired for each of them to be made whole. And so it must have seemed overwhelming for the disciples as they begin to walk with the Lord... suddenly crowds of people needing healing, needing direction were made known to them. And Jesus said, "ASK". He said, "ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for the harvest." Matthew 9:38

This is what I have been praying since I arrived..."Father, please send others. Please send more missionaries here to England." And, what a great blessing that He IS sending others. He is sending 2 other missionaries to SPEC.

Please pray for Nick and Amanda who will be coming to England in January. They were both missionaries through Life Teen Missions. And, they are both very dear to me. What a tremendous gift that God would make a way for there to be 2 positions here at SPEC and for them to be sent here at the same time. I am amazed at the careful orchestration of God! There is nothing He can not do!

Today's gospel is also a reminder... everywhere in the world today it seems there is the need for more laborers. Today, you and I will continue to have encounters with those who are in need of healing and who are deeply in need of love. May the Lord help us to recognize and respond to these needs... to be present to everyone we encounter. And, let us all continue to do as Jesus said, and ASK for more laborers!

PREPARATION

Preparation... it is happening everywhere here in England. The city is cleaning and building in preparation for the Olympic Games that will be here next summer. Many of the students here are preparing for their upcoming exams. Today, I am cleaning the chapel knowing that we will be getting ready for Advent soon. And, just as I felt prompted to begin to clean the chapel and get ready for what was to come... there is an invitation also to be present interiorly to this time preceding Advent.

In the last blog, the Word highlighted from Ecclesiastes spoke of each season having its definite purpose. And what a beautiful time to be with Mary as she was in an intentional season before the Annunciation.

But does that time before the Angel came have to teach us? What does Mary teach us?

Surely, she must have had stirrings in her heart in those preceding weeks and months... desires which the Father had already knit into her. Desires which she would have been attentive to. Desires which she would have already been sharing with God as He awakened them in her heart. And what beauty that she teaches us that she simply remained in great humility and related all these stirrings in her heart back to God. She would not have taken them and tried to figure things out on her own or make sense of it all or demand immediate clarity or even move God's plan along ... no, she teaches us a more perfect way of surrender to the One who holds the seasons of our lives in His hands. She shows us how to be present to each moment and give all things back to God - always. She would have perfectly lived out that season preceding the annunciation.. for it indeed had a great purpose as well.

In my life He has given many opportunities to grow in patience. And I have grown to love the waiting. NOT that the waiting is easy or glamourous or something that would attract others as a way of living. BUT, I do know that He is IN the waiting. And because of that, there is faith in the waiting.. there is hope in the waiting... there is love in the waiting. So, when the world cries out for immediacy... even as others look for immediate evidence of great fruitfulness in ministry.. He is this contradiction and He is the only source of all fulfillment. We are all being prepared and we are all waiting for something... can we receive the hope in the waiting as Mary did? Can we share those desires to God?

For Mary, in those weeks months and years before the annunciation, The Father, her beloved, would have already been part of an ongoing exchange, as she shared all things with Him. In this sort of faithful sharing there is trust, intimacy and a communion of hearts. There is an invitation in this closeness to God also for each of us. This intimate love is what anchors us for all that may be difficult in our lives. And, through such a way of sharing there is the beauty of being emptied of our own Will.. in order to become open to receive His Will and His desires for our life.

One of the greatest gifts in my life is to be with Mary as she teaches my heart so much. And as we invite her into our lives during this time and we stay present to the present moment or the present season we can ask her to teach us to simply be present to each moment WITH God. And to share and relate everything back to God. For He who holds all things in His hands is the one to perfectly orchestrates each and every season of our lives!

The first lines from one of St Therese's prayers...

May there be peace within you.

Today, may you trust you are EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE MEANT TO BE

There is such hope in this. And a beautiful invitation of surrender.... trusting He is always leading... He is always caring.... and He is always the one looking ahead so that we can be where we need to be... in the PRESENT moment of our lives.

Mary, teach us to be present to the present moment, surrendered totally to the Fahter's perfect care!

Bless you all.

"To everything there is a season and a time for every affair under the heavens" Ecclesiastes 4:1

Above is a picture from Austria. Last month, I was so very blessed to be able to travel there for 10 days on silent retreat. What a great blessing of providence that the Father would arrange for this time away and that He would connect me to a wonderful American priest who has been living in Austria for nearly 20 years.

As you can see in the picture, when I arrived in Austria it was the peak of Autumn, with nature announcing the beauty of a change that was in process. The few days before I left for Austria there were only the first signs of this change in England... however, when I returned nearly all the leaves were fallen to the ground and the trees were barren. In what seemed like so short a time ... everything in nature had just 'moved right along' to something new.

After living in Arizona for so many years without any real seasonal changes, I experienced so much more amazement at natures transitions this year. Returning from Austria, as I drove onto the grounds at the SPEC Centre I was utterly amazed at how quickly things had looked so COMPLETELY different... yet how gently it had all happened. In that moment the Father reminded me.... the seasons of our lives can also change in an instant.

So much has seemed this same way here in England. For some things, it feels like I enter a new week and recognize suddenly but gently a new season has arrived. For example, families I have been journeying with who once felt alienated and far from Jesus' presence in the Sacraments and teachings of the Church are now experiencing much grace and blessings in the Sacramental life of Church. And true miracles of renewal and awakening are happening. Couples are praying together and are going to daily Mass and finding much consolation and grace. And they are experiencing a gift of Understanding in the Truth ... again, a new season has come.. yet it has been so gentle.

In this New Evangelization this seems to be such a hallmark of the renewal.. a change, an awakening, an intimacy with God.. yet so gentle.. like a dewfall that slowly gathers until it is noticed in the morning light.

Thank you Jesus for all you are doing! We pray that You would renew your Church, Lord.

The Art of Living

"The first form of witness is the very life of the missionary, of the Christian family, and of the ecclesial community, which reveal a new way of living. The missionary who, despite all his or her human limitations and defects, lives a simple life, taking Christ as the model, is a sign of God and of transcendent realities. But, everyone in the Church, striving to imitate the Divine Master, can and must bear this kind of witness. In many cases this is the only possible way of being a missionary."

John Paul the II in the encyclical Mission of the Redeemer.

Gathering of many nations...

Lately, everywhere you go there is an undercurrent of excitement in anticipation of the Olympic Games to be held here next summer. It seems that as London prepares to gather the nations through these upcoming events, so too is the Father gathering the nations here at SPEC. A little over a week ago, we welcomed into the community young adults from England, Germany, Belgium, North Korea, the United States and New Zealand.

Despite our different origins, languages, gifts, and shortcomings...He is gathering us to be united in one heart and one mind. And, for one purpose, to make known the good news of the gospel and His unfailing love.

These young men and women have joined the resident community here to spend the next year living in community, experiencing a way of life centered on the Eucharist and nourished by a rhythm of prayer. It will be a year set apart for them, a year devoted to the Lord. They will be developing and growing in their own spiritual formation and serving through the retreat ministry here at SPEC. All of us together, in the pursuit of holiness.

Please pray for us as a community.

Mary, Queen of All Nations, pray for us.

Mary, teach us what it is to be a family.

The Dawning of Hope

To all of you who have prayed for me and for the mission here in England ... with all my heart I thank you and assure you of my constant prayers for you. It is through your prayers that I believe God has made a way for the many beautiful things beginning to happen here. And, there truly is a tangible dawning of new hope and blessings for the Church here in England and the greater Europe.

It has felt as though the world's eyes have often shifted attention to this little island since my arrival. The initial demands of the ministry here did not allow much time for things like updating this blog, but, in many ways I have been grateful that the stories from England have potentially reached you and updated you a bit on life here. And so, from news of Royal Weddings to Riots...and Olympic games to The Anglican Ordinariate ... I have prayed that as these stories, joyful and sorrowful would reach the lives of many, and that somehow God would inspire us, as a family, to pray for this nation and His Church here.

The vast contrast of these news events really does mirror so much of my own experience here since I arrived. And, I do hope to share more stories with you very soon. For now, I share only that He has continued to grow my confidence that, in the Kingdom, God can accomplish much through patient waiting.... as we wait with Him, who has promised never to leave us.

And so, as I sit to write this... my heart and prayer tonight is especially with all of you who have been waiting, waiting for your hearts longings, waiting for the breakthrough of new life in relationships and situations and circumstances. As well as those who are particularly laboring in the vineyard of our Lord here in Europe... may our Mother Mary be with you to bring you comfort and the hope of her Son. In great confidence, I trust much is coming to all those who have waited on His promise.

"They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagle's wings; they will run and not grow weary, they will run and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

~ Mary, teach us what it is to be a family.