Vincent Pallotti died on the evening of January 22nd 1850, he was canonised on January 20th 1963, and so it is fitting today, January 21st, to revisit one of the final prayers of his life. The Benedicite is his own ‘O bless the Lord‘, and the context is the Benedicite found in the book of Daniel 3, 58-87. St Vincent intersperses verses from the book of Daniel with reflections on his own life. It is a prayer of thanksgiving for his entire life which was dedicated to God and his work and shows that Vincent was acutely aware that the good done was through the grace of God.

The ‘Benedicite’ of Fr. Vincent Pallotti,
composed shortly before he died (OOCC X, p. 488-95).

All things the Lord has made, bless the Lord: give glory and eternal praise to him (Dan. 3,57).
Lord Jesus, banish me from within myself and replace me with yourself.
May my life and all my actions be destroyed and may your life be my life.
May your agony be my agony, your death my death,
your resurrection my resurrection.
May your ascension be my ascension;
may all things that are yours, be mine,
may the life of the blessed Trinity be my life.
O all you works of the Lord, o bless the Lord.
To him be highest glory and praise for ever (Dan. 3,57).

A sinner was I conceived (Ps. 50,7);
but the conception of Jesus Christ has destroyed my sin
and the conception of Christ is my conception.
And you, angels of the Lord, o bless the Lord,
and you, heavens of the Lord, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 58).

I lived in my mother’s womb, without faith, without hope, without charity;
but the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ
which he acquired in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary
through the charity and mercy of God are my merits.
And you, waters above the heavens, o bless the Lord,
and you, armies of the Lord, o bless the Lord (Dan 3,60).

I was born under God’s anger (Eph 2,3);
but Jesus Christ’s poor and humble birth
made me a child of God, a friend of God,
an heir of God, a co-heir of Christ (Rom 8,17),
and replenished me with every good.
And you, sun and moon, o bless the Lord,
and you, stars of the heavens, o bless the Lord (Dan 3,62).

In the first days of my life I did not do any action worthy of eternal life;
but through the great charity and goodness of God
and through the sweetness of his divine mercy,
the merits which Christ had from his infancy can be my merits.
And you, showers and dew, o bless the Lord,
and you, breezes and winds, o bless the Lord (Dan 3,64).

I grew in age, in wickedness and in ignorance, culpable ignorance;
while Jesus grew in age, in wisdom and in grace in the sight of God and before men;
may the same merits of Jesus’ growth to maturity
destroy my wickedness and my ignorance.
And you, fire and heat, o bless the Lord;
and you, cold and heat, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 66).

That which I should have done, I did not do,
and that which I should have omitted, I did not omit.
I should have obeyed those to whom I owed obedience,
but I did not obey them;
but the actions, the virtues and the obedience
which Jesus showed in his relationship with Joseph
and the Blessed Mother Mary,
through the charity and mercy of God,
are my actions, my virtues and my obedience.
And you, showers and dew, o bless the Lord,
and you, frosts and cold, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 68).

I received baptism; but I did not profit from it as I should have.
In confirmation the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, descended on me;
but I thwarted him always.
But the baptism of Christ is my baptism,
and the fullness of the Holy Spirit which was in him is my fullness.
And you, frost and snow, o bless the Lord,
and you, night-time and day, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 70).

To me and to others it appeared as if I fasted, kept vigil, prayed;
but all my fasts, my vigils and my prayers
are as nothing before the Lord.
However, through the charity and mercy of God,
Christ’s fasts, vigils and prayers, are my fasts, vigils and prayers.
And you, darkness and light, o bless the Lord,
and you, nights and days, o bless the Lord (Dan 3,72).

To me and to others it appeared as if I worked and taught well;
but I have not done anything other than evil and all evil.
I did not instruct the faithful as I should,
I did not preach the Gospel of Christ to all creatures (Mk 16,15);
but the works of Christ and his preaching of the Kingdom (Lk 10,9)
are my works and my preaching.
O let the earth bless the Lord,
to him be highest glory and praise for ever (Dan 3, 74).

To me and to others it appeared as if I brought back the lost sinners
to Christ’s flock;
but I through my great and numerous scandals have rather
distanced numerous souls which are dear to God and to Christ,
from Christ’s fold.
But all the labours and the zeal of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd,
are my labours and my zeal.
And you, mountains and hills, o bless the Lord,
and you, all you creatures that live on the earth, o bless the Lord (Dan 3,75).

To me and to others it appeared as if I healed the sick (Lk 10,9),
but through my sins all men became ill.
I did not restore sight to the blind;
I did not cause the lame to walk (Mt 11,5),
I did not make the deaf hear,
I did not make the dumb speak
I did not raise the dead.
But, through the great charity of God and his holy mercy
all Christ’s works of charity are my works.
And you, fountains and springs, o bless the Lord,
and you, rivers and seas, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 77).

To me and to others it appeared as if I evangelized the poor (Lk 4,18);
I, rather, have given scandal to all.
But Christ’s preaching to the poor is my preaching.
And you, creatures of the sea, o bless the Lord,
and every bird in the sky, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 79).

To me and to others it appeared as if I had instituted something good;
but I have done all that which is evil
but all that Christ instituted is mine.
And you, wild beasts and tame, o bless the Lord,
and you, children of men, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 81).

I did not baptise all peoples, but rather because of my sins,
innumerable persons have died without baptism.
And yet through the infinite charity of God
and through his holy mercy the institution of the baptism of Christ,
its propagation and its fruits are my propagation and my fruits.
O Israel, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him for ever (Dan 3, 83).
Because of my poverty and my lack of holiness
I have never profited from the ineffable institution of the
most holy Eucharist;
but through the holy mercy of Jesus Christ I have been filled
with every grace, as if I had fully profited from it.
And you, priests of the Lord, o bless the Lord,
and you, servants of the Lord, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 84).

I have never profited from the most august sacrifice of the Mass,
neither as a layman nor as a priest;
rather I have always assisted at it and I have celebrated it
in a less than fitting manner.
But through the holy mercy of Jesus Christ
and in his great charity
I have been granted the fullness of the merits
of the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
even though I be the most unworthy among all creatures, past,
present and future.
And you, spirits and souls of the just, o bless the Lord,
and you, holy and humble of heart, o bless the Lord (Dan 3, 86).

Footnote on page 495 OOCC X, “See Dan 3, 86, note the composition was interrupted, the final three verses of the ‘Benedicite’ were not quoted.”

A characteristic of Saint Vincent Pallotti’s spiritual life was his abiding experience of God as Mercy, Infinite Mercy, that God in his very essence is Mercy and continuously expressing that with humanity.
The following is a meditation taken from St. Vincent’s writing ‘Iddio Amore Infinito’ or, ‘God, the Infinite Love’, which is a series of 31 meditations on God’s infinite love interwoven with his infinite mercy. It was written in the spring of 1849. The meditations follow the same format, a reflection on an aspect of God’s love, a prayer composed by Vincent, and an offering, or oblation.

God, the Infinite Love, Meditation XVII
On the obligation to become perfect, since we are living images of Infinite Mercy.

Enlightened by holy faith, I will recall that my soul, being created by God in his image and likeness, is also a living image of his Mercy because God in his essence is eternal, infinite, immense, and incomprehensible Mercy, and everything he created followed his most beloved designs of Infinite Mercy.
I will clearly recall that this was done by God in order that the person, as a created being, and aided by his grace, must always use free will in order to practise all the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In doing so, the person can obtain mercy even after a live filled with sin, because our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5,7).
Oh, what a grace, oh, what a precious gift was bestowed on me by God in creating me like him, a living image of his mercy!
Therefore, by reason of creation I am obliged with the help of his grace, to always use my free will in perfecting myself in a worthy way because I am a living image of Mercy itself. In all my life I will busy myself in the practice of all spiritual and corporal works of mercy, according to my capability, state, position and condition, and with all the means at my disposal.
This way of life will make me always disposed and ready to receive from God newer, greater and numerous mercies. It will assure me the blessing that the divine judge will give the elect at the last judgement, in the valley of Josaphat.
Oh my God, infinite love, how ungrateful I have been. How I worked against your loving designs, especially against the design of your infinite mercy. Oh, how much negligence, oh how much resistance on my part.

But, through your infinite mercy help me to pray in this way:
Prayer
My God, my Father, infinite love of my soul, eternal, infinite, incomprehensible and immense Mercy. You see that according to your design I am a living image of you. Yet, through my ingratitude and through my fault my soul is deformed. My soul is guilty because I have acted against its very nature which is a living image of your mercy.
Therefore, I deserve to be forsaken and I deserve all the pains of time and eternity. But you, infinite mercy, do you want me to believe that you will forsake me? Through your infinite mercy, through the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, through the merits and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the Angels and Saints, I firmly believe, rather I am certain, that you will grant me a quick and perfect forgiveness of all my sins and for my inexcusable ingratitude. You grant me the grace to be always occupied in the perfect practice of all the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. In this way, I will perfect my soul more and more so that after this life I will be a living image of your mercy in the glory of eternity.

Offering
Eternal Father, in union with the most sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, I offer you the most precious Blood of the Immaculate Lamb, our divine Redeemer, in thanksgiving, as if you had already granted all the graces I have requested for me and for all persons, now and always.

OOCC XIII, pages 103-106.

St Vincent Pallotti’s Meditations on Jesus in the Eucharist

On January 22nd we celebrate the Feast of St Vincent Pallotti, canonised by Saint Pope John XXIII on 20th January 1963. Vincent had a great devotion to the Eucharist and indeed his spiritual diary attests that preparation for the Eucharist and thanksgiving after the Eucharist were part of his life. He drew up the following set of meditations on Jesus in the Eucharist, originally intended for priests, but universal in appeal. He suggested that one number would be taken for meditation each day and then repeated again the following month.

St. Vincent Pallotti’s daily meditations on the Eucharist.

1. Jesus Sacrifice, and Sacrament in the Eucharist
2. Jesus model, and truth in the Eucharist
3. Jesus Priest, and victim in the Eucharist
4. Jesus in the Eucharist, Sacrifice, Holocaust, and Eucharist
5. Jesus beseeching and propitiatory Sacrifice in the Eucharist
6. Jesus our God, and our King in the Eucharist
7. Jesus our Creator, and our Redeemer in the Eucharist
8. Jesus our Shepherd, and our Father in the Eucharist
9. Jesus our Spouse, and our Brother in the Eucharist
10. Jesus our Master, and Saviour in the Eucharist
11. Jesus our Banquet, and Viaticum in the Eucharist
12. Jesus our Physician, and medicine in the Eucharist
13. Jesus our Counsellor, and friend in the Eucharist
14. Jesus our guide, and companion in the Eucharist
15. Jesus our mediator, and peace in the Eucharist
16. Jesus in the Eucharist, witness, and judge of our Works
17. Jesus our ransom, and recompense in the Eucharist
18. Jesus life, and death in the Eucharist
19. Jesus our food, and grace in the Eucharist
20. Jesus our refuge, and hope in the Eucharist
21. Jesus our treasure, and happiness in the Eucharist
22. Jesus our model, and objective in the Eucharist
23. Jesus in the Eucharist is the gift people offer to God, it is the gift of God to be given to people
24. The power, and wisdom of Jesus in the Eucharist
25. The goodness, and love of Jesus in the Eucharist
26. The obedience, and patience of Jesus in the Eucharist
27. The poverty, and humility of Jesus in the Eucharist
28. Jesus infinitely adoring, and adorable in the Eucharist
29. Jesus infinitely loving, and lovable in the Eucharist
30. Jesus in the Eucharist, the greatest and the holiest of all our Mysteries

(OOCC XI, p. 441-443)

Stephen Muli and David Kakinda, professed students of the Province, were ordained deacons by Bishop Prosper Lyimo, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Arusha, on 11th January, along with three seminarians from the Archdiocese. The ordinations were held at Burka, Arusha, and many of our Pallottines were present.

Congratulations to David and Stephen on this milestone in their response to the call of the Lord.

Greetings to you all from Dublin.

Fr John Joe O’Brien died peacefully yesterday Monday 8th January at 19.30 very peacefully. He was a resident in Woodlands Nursing Home, Dundrum, Co. Tipperary since May 2016. John Joe died very peacefully, his niece Josephine Carey-Corcoran and I were with him, I had anointed him and Josephine and I were praying the first decade of the Rosary when he died. May his gentle soul rest in peace.

John Joe was born on 14th of January 1935, made his First Consecration as a Pallottine on 12th September 1957, was ordained on 10th June 1962 and spent all of his ministry as a priest in the USA.

Fr John Joe will repose at Ryan’s Funeral Home, Silver Street, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, on Thursday 11th of January from 4.30 to 7pm. His con-celebrated funeral Mass will take place in the College in Thurles on Friday 12th at 12 noon; burial afterwards in our Pallottine cemetary in Cabra. 

“In God alone there is rest for my soul” Psalm 62.

Homily at the Concelebrated Funeral Mass, Fr. John Joseph O’Brien, SAC, Pallottine College Chapel, Thurles, Friday 12^th January 2018.

Welcome to you all to our Community chapel, to our College, where Fr. John Joe started his journey towards priesthood on 8^th September 1950, at 15 years of age, and where he lived until his ordination to the priesthood on 10^th June 1962. He was ordained in the Cathedral of the Assumption here in Thurles along with his friend and class-mate, the late Fr. Michael McCormack, SAC. We are gathered here through our common Faith, and gathered in Christian Hope that Fr. John Joe is now in the eternal presence of the God he sought to know and love during his 82 years of life.

Our Mass is one of Thanksgiving, thanksgiving for Fr. John Joe, for his person, for his life as a priest and for all he was to all those with whom he shared life, be it family, his Pallottine community, parishioners and friends.

Fr. John Joe died very easily and peacefully on Monday evening at 19.30 in Woodlands Nursing Home. Josephine, his niece, and I, were present with him, I had anointed him a little earlier and we were praying the rosary when he died, and a phrase came into my mind then and stayed with me since, it is “and he breathed his last”, and it describes how he died, easily, there was no struggle, no agony, he went peacefully. And, of course, it later came to me that this is the phrase used to describe the death of Jesus in the Gospels of Saints Mark and Luke, in Luke 23, 46, “Jesus said ‘Father into your hands I commend my spirit’ and he breathed his last”, and this is how Fr. John Joe died, he breathed his last breath and he was gone, Josephine and I waited for another breath that never came.

Fr. John Joe to all those who knew him, was a man who sought God always and everywhere and found the God he sought. This is clear from the funeral liturgy he prepared for himself, which he did at least ten years ago. We were given a copy of these pages with the title “My Funeral – Liturgy of the Word” and “Music from Songs of Praise” for the hymns and the music; yes, prepared by him, typographical errors and all.

His well-worn and battered Bible has been placed on his coffin here before us; he read, and re-read the Word of God for as long as he was able and he chose 3 readings and a Psalm for his funeral mass that very clearly reveal his experience of God and they form a spiritual testament of his life.

The gospel passage is from John 17, 1-4, a passage taken from the farewell discourse of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. Let’s read it again … “Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; and through the power over all mankind that you have given him, let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him. Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ who you have sent. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do.” What strikes me is the line “Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Eternal life is to know God, to know Jesus Christ, not merely after death, in heaven, but to know God here on earth is already eternal life. This is a powerful understanding of human existence and our relationship with God. And, perhaps the final sentence is also one with which Fr. John Joe wished to express his summation at the end of his life “I have glorified you on earth and I have finished the work you gave me to do.” Indeed it was so.

Eternal life is to know God, now, and here on earth; the other two readings of the funeral liturgy develop this insight.

The second reading is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 3, 14-21, and here we have Paul’s prayer and it is that the graces of God working in one strengthen the inner self, the soul, the essence of the person, strengthening the inner person in a life-long pilgrimage in knowing the fullness of God. Paul uses imagery to best express this fullness of God – ‘to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth of God, in knowing Jesus Christ who is the utter fullness of God’. This surely mirrors Fr. John Joe’s understanding.

The first reading is from Isaiah 43, 2-3, and I think it tells us how Fr. John Joe experienced the presence and strength of God in his life, the exhortation is “Do not be afraid, I have called you by name, you are mine, and should you pass through sea and fire, (which are really the struggles, difficulties and sufferings of life), be aware that ‘I am with you’”. This was, I think Fr. John Joe’s experience, that God was always with him, through it all.

We all know that his last ten years were difficult, the onset of Parkinson’s Disease and its advance with the diminishment that came with it, and in his case it was coupled with dementia which was the form the disease took in his life and it meant that his final years were not easy. Through it all he had his faith in God’s presence with him. I would visit him occasionally, and it became very hard to hear him and to grasp what he was saying, one day when I was with him he was very agitated and I started to pray with him and he joined in, and so I always prayed a little with him on each visit and he always responded by joining in with the well-known prayers. He never lost that ability to pray, even though so much else had gone.

One day during his early days in St. Theresa’s Nursing Home in Thurles he asked me if I had ever heard of and read Carlo Carretto, and coincidentally I had about 30 years earlier. Carlo Carretto was an Italian religious author and he wrote books on spirituality, Fr. John Joe had read his works and he spoke of the book “Letters from the Desert” on the spiritual life, on life with God, in prayer, in solitude and lived in reflection. Perhaps he liked Carretto because he too had spent so many years of his priesthood in arid places in Nevada and in north Texas and he identified with what he read of Carretto’s years of living in the North African desert as a member of the Little Brothers of the Gospel.

Fr. John Joseph was born on 14^th January 1935, one of 14 children. He made his first Pallottine Profession on 12^th of September 1957 and was ordained on 10^th June 1962. In September 1962 he was appointed to Brownfield, Texas; in 1964 he was transferred to St. Elizabeth’s, Lubbock, and it is recorded that in the winter of 1965 and the spring of 1966 he accompanied 33 converts in their preparation for reception into the Catholic Church, so he was a very energetic young priest. One of our more colourful Pallottines, the late Fr. James McGrath, wrote of Fr. John Joe that he “is the most popular priest ever in St. Elizabeths”.

In 1966 he was moved to Ely, Nevada, where he started another work which was to be a characteristic of his ministry, that of building; in 1967 he was moved to Reno, Nevada, and in 1968 to Sparks, Nevada, where he was responsible for building an impressive C.C.D. centre with the help of his family, parishioners and friends, at a very modest cost. Fr. Pat Whelan was killed in a car accident on 17^th of February 1973 and as a result of this Fr. John Joe was moved back to Texas to become pastor of St. Stephen Parish in Weatherford, where Fr. Whelan had been pastor. In Weatherford he was responsible for organizing and overseeing the building of the Holy Spirit Centre on Bethel Road, with a very large C.C.D. centre, a parish hall, and office space. In 1982 he was once again appointed to Sparks in Nevada and this time round he built a new rectory, church and parish centre.

In the year 2000 it became necessary to hand the parish in Sparks over to diocesan administration, but Fr. John Joe stayed on in Nevada and worked as a hospital chaplain until the onset of Parkinson’s necessitated a move and he went to San Francisco in 2007. On 2^nd March 2012 he came back to Ireland and lived at St. Theresa’s Nursing Home, and in March 2016 he moved to Woodlands.

Fr. John Joe was a man who inspired loyal friendships which was evidenced by the letters, cards and greetings he continued to receive from so many loyal and faithful friends, long after he was able to respond to them. We received some lovely tributes to him, and perhaps a comical one or two, a parishioner from Weatherford wrote how Fr. JJ, as she referred to him, was an assiduous visitor to her home every Saturday at midday, to raid her fridge!

My confrere Fr. Donal McCarthy wrote a fitting summation of Fr. John Joe, and I will read it, “In life, John Joe was a man of quiet and gentle disposition. A man of great prayer, he was much sought after for guidance and direction in the spiritual life. He read and re-read the Bible every day and was steeped in the good things he found in it.”

And finally, from Psalm 62, our responsorial psalm today, which was chosen by Fr. John Joe, “In God alone there is rest for my soul”; Fr. John Joe, our prayer is that you find the rest you sought in your eternal life with God.

Fr. Derry Murphy, SAC.

Provincial.

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I love the first of everything – experiencing what I haven’t experienced before. So, this is my first ever Christmas in England, in Hastings and I woke early this morning with a sense of anticipation. This will be a new experience of Jesus, blessed community and holy solitude. People have been so kind and generous and it softens any sense of loss I may have. Happy Christmas Eve from my kitchen table in High Street where the seagulls are asking the dawn to break – a sound I love so well and never tire of hearing

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The oil in the lamps of the bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13) represents the grace that God has given us to help us encounter Christ in our life experience. It is the grace to wait in the time of waiting and it is the grace to go out and meet Him when the time for going out has arrived. It is the grace of alertness, the grace of vision and the grace of action.

The life of grace is not so much a state of ethereal tranquility but more a powerful impulse that sends us crossing vibrant, stormy seas; a climbing of steep ascents that leaves us gasping breathless. Grace is an adventure into the mystery of God, an adventure in which we stumble and fall; it is a bruising and a breaking. It is rest after struggle and healing after hurt, a healing that is greater than the hurt, a grace that we would never know without the hurt. There is always hope in brokenness. In God nothing and no one is damaged beyond repair.

The thing about this grace is that it is personal, given uniquely and differently to each one of us. It fits the person that we are, is designed specifically for each one. So, it cannot be passed on to another or shared even if we would like to. That’s not to say that we can’t help another to experience their particular grace but we can’t give it to them. It is not ours to give. It is God’s!

The story of the bridesmaids is a sober reminder to us to treasure grace, to use it or lose it. At least that we try to use it, strive to search for Christ every day of our lives. Strive! This is a word used by Jesus and it’s a word that offers us hope. We don’t have to get it perfectly right. We just have to try!

When I was a small boy I had and beautiful red car, a toy that I loved and played with constantly, revved it up so much that it broke down and wouldn’t work any more.  I was very desolate so my mother said I should leave it on the window sill in my room and maybe Santa would take it away and fix it. That night I did what I was told and next morning the car was gone.

I didn’t really expect anything to happen but, when Christmas came, there in the midst of my presents was my lovely shiny red car in perfect working order. As good as new!

In later years when I was going through a very difficult period in my life and not coping very well, one Christmas my mother handed me a gift and to my delight, what was it but a red car similar to the one of my childhood. She said nothing but I knew that she was telling me that, as the broken car of my childhood got fixed, so would I too get somehow fixed beyond my brokenness. And so the red car became for me a symbol of hope, the hope of being restored, repaired when I was damaged and broken.

This is central to the grace that God gives us – that we have hope when things are hopeless; that we watch out for signs and symbols of hope. In the battlefields of Europe during World War I the red poppy became such a symbol of hope. There in a land that was torn apart and scarred by the savagery of war; there in the midst of such destruction and death, the impossible happened when the fields blossomed with beautiful red delicate poppies.

There is significance in the delicate nature of the poppy. In it God is telling us about the power and resilience of what is frail, what is delicate and refined. It is a symbol of the grace that is given to us, that we so often reject because it is frail. But as we are reminded in the Bible – the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength, the frailty of God is far more enduring than any human power.

All of this is embodied in the reality of Jesus whose life on earth began in the frailty of a baby and ended in the frailty of the condemned on the blood red cross, the silent sleeping of a body in the hopeless tomb. And out of that hopelessness He emerged into new life so that we might emerge from our brokenness into lives that are truly transformed and, even though we bear the scars of our wounds, they are themselves the scars of transformation.

Red, the colour of hope – red cars, red poppies and the red blood of Christ by which we are redeemed. Just as in the mystery of Christian life we wouldn’t know the wonder of mercy if we hadn’t sinned, so we wouldn’t know the sheer pleasure and wonder of being healed if we had not been wounded in the first place. Grace abounds all the more!

+++
Postscript: I spoke about this today in my homily and after the 11.30 Mass a four year old girl came and handed me this little red car which she found in the church and thought I should have it because of what she had heard me say.  The Lord speaking to me again in the unexpected gift of a red car at the hands of a child. If anyone knows who this car belongs to I’ll keep it safe till next week.

Eamonn Monson sac, Hastings

http://eamonnmonson.blogspot.co.uk/