Enthusiasm

We had an extraordinary meeting in Manchester last week.  The group is just one year old and there were fourteen of us - including a member who actually lives in Austria; he attends meetings onscreen via Teams.  It’s not often that an OCDS meeting attracts such a large number.  Some of them of course were what we call inquirers or aspirants or visitors.  What struck me was that the key factor in this is the contagious enthusiasm of the Seculars for the meetings and for the Order.  We can put up posters and distribute flyers and advertise in parish bulletins and online – and that is important, it does get results – but people’s witness to their friends and family is a powerful factor in the growth of an OCDS group (as it is of course in the growth of the Church at large). 

Intercessions

RIP Fr Jon Bielawski, Jacqui, Sister Maisie

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children), Theresa K, Elena

Sophie – newborn having heart surgery; Sianna, young child in the post-operative phase; James, recovering from heart surgery

Ivy – sick child

Brian (recovering from Pneumonia)

Kevin (heart attack)

William Gove (in recovery)

Illness:  Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Mark – brain infection

Michael, Kira – vulnerable youngsters

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

We are asked to pray for the Diocese of Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand, as the Northern Mission celebrates its centenary. The process of selecting a new bishop continues.