North Island Outreach – Week 1 @ St. Francis Xavier Church, Whangarei

A team of 16 missionaries started the journey to the north on Friday, 10 Feb 2017. The journey was long and awesome.  On the next day upon arrival, we presented our cardboard testimonies at the Youth Mass and it was a true blessing to witness the positive response of the parishioners as many were moved to tears by what God has done in our lives.

We were blessed to present to a group of 300 primary school students (Years 1-4) at St. Francis Xavier School on the third day of outreach through action songs, a mime and a fun dance. The students kept asking for more!

We were also privileged to reach out to the students at Pompallier College on the fourth day during their school assembly with the skit “Testify to Love”. This short skit that spoke of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross was well received by the students

Parish Seminar started off with the talk on the Father Heart of God and we ministered to the parishioners of St. Francis Xavier’s Church in pairs, comforting them by representing their parents. The first night ended with the parishioners queuing for personal prayer and to receive the Father’s love. The second night’s topic was Jesus, the Son of God. It was a time of deep reflection with the availability of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Parish Seminar ended with the topic on the Holy Spirit on the third night where parishioners were invited to the altar to receive prayer.

We also got a chance to spend some amazing time with the youth of the parish. We engaged with them through action songs, praise and worship. It is a joy to see them responding positively to the name of Jesus.

ONE DAY YOUTH RETREAT

On the 11 March, a team of three ICPE staffs headed by Fr. Alliston conducted a one day retreat for the youth organized by the Missionary of Charities congregation sisters. We started of with a fun filled sing-a-long song to warm them up before we led them to a time of praise and worship. 

This was followed by a teaching on Father's Heart of God delivered by Fr. Alliston, and worksheets were given to them to reflect on their responses in terms of commitments for this Lenten season in view of the teaching they have received. It was later followed by a guided adoration by Sr. Hanah from Missionary of Charities with Sacrament of Reconciliation made available by our priest.  

We had a lunch break once we finished with the adoration session before we resumed with an Eucharistic Mass celebrated by Fr. Alliston. During the mass a testimony was delivered by Bibiana and all those who were present were touched by her life story. 

All in all we ended the sessions with a short message of thanks delivered by the youth representative.

Thirteenth Week of the School of Mission

Theology of the Body week was a truly transforming week, in my opinion.  Dr. Adam Cooper spoke about the difference between lust and love and he elaborated on the positive nature of desire. Dr. Cooper also spoke about the consequences of disordered desire and emphasized that it is only when we enthrone God in our lives that He can take away our disordered desire.

He explained the difference between shame and guilt which was quite profound, seeing as these two words are sometimes used interchangeably. 

The talk on the key to self-mastery which is getting in touch with one’s feelings and offering these feelings to God for his glory was quiet enjoyable.

We learnt about the sacrament of matrimony and this sacrament was labelled as a primordial sacrament seeing as the bible begins and ends with a marriage, both between man and woman and between Christ and his church. Dr. Cooper also spoke about marriage having three core features: Exclusivity, Permanence and Totality.

We experienced a rather fitting end to the week with the men at the monastery honouring all the women for the role they play in Christ's Church. 

Twelfth Week of the School of Mission

‘We are all messed up, but it’s OK. God changes our mess into His message.’

What an incredible week it was with Fr. Rob Galea, our guest speaker for the week on the topic ‘Praise & Worship’. Speaking on the topic, Fr. Rob assured us that we are children of God and we are to believe it no matter how we feel. Our worship to God should not be influenced by the way we feel. In worship we give back to God with “extravagant love and extreme submission,” His due honour.

To live out a lifestyle of worship, Fr. Rob encouraged us to be “extravagantly generous” in all that we do. As God has abundantly lavished His love and blessings on us, we too are called to give without reservations in our service to others. 

The week ended with an exciting night of worship led by Fr. Rob and the ICPE Worship Team, where he spoke about answering God’s call despite the fears, doubts and temptations that come our way. “Do it scared,” he told the fully packed church gathered that night.

We left with the assurance that God is with us and we can serve Him even through our fears.

Eleventh Week of the School of Mission

After a week of Christmas Preparations followed by Christmas break, the school resumed its teaching sessions with the week on Discernment. The week on discernment had participants buzzing with excitement throughout all the sessions.

Fr. Francis, the speaker of the week, assured us and reinforced to all that God speaks to everyone. We just have to open our hearts; schedule a time to spend in prayer; eliminate distractions and submit our will to His.

He also touched upon the Ignatian Spirituality rules of discernment and shared some helpful markers/signs for use during discernment.

The week was an awesome time of learning to hear God’s promptings in our daily lives and do our best to respond to it.

WORSHIP NIGHT - 13 Jan 2017

Worship Night, a night we can praise and worship the living God as one family in Christ. The upcoming Worship Night is on 13 January 2017, the second Friday of the month. The speaker will be Fr. Rob Galea, a Roman Catholic priest, a singer and a songwriter serving in a Diocese in Victoria, Australia. Mark it in your calendar, come and be blessed by the Lord!