Hello friends and family (and maybe some enemies!!) from London on the feast of Pentecost!

Just over a week old in London and what a week it has been!

Moving countries is never easy and so we are very grateful to all the prayer and support that have got us this far!

So far we’ve found a parish and Seamus has found a job. I continue to pray with people and rely on donations and between us we are doing our best to support Toni.

Thank you mother!

We’ve been staying in hostels which can be quite exhausting with little personal space and yet an opportunity to offer these sacrifices to God!

As we reflect on Pentecost we could reflect too on the terrible inconvenience of it all!

It all starts in the upper room where the apostles were locked away with Our Lady in fear! Fear of what? Of death probably!

So if one was a fly on the wall in that upper room the atmosphere was intense. Mary was praying for these poor men locked in fear!

And then BOOM the Holy Spirit came and the apostles change! Out they burst into the crowds doing all sorts of miracles! Where was Mary? Was she disturbed? Obviously not!

Mary seemed to be leading from behind! She seemed to have gifts of intercession, prayer, counsel and her prayers got answered through the apostles!

Mary wasn’t looking for all the glory herself. Her prayer wasn’t

“give me all the gifts”

but

“give them all the gifts”

And God responded!

And even still today she is always asking us to pray for priests to be full of the Holy Spirit which is what it’s all about!

And so Pentecost was an interior time for our Lady and an outward time for the apostles!

The silence of one gave birth to the noise of the other!

And it’s still the same. There are many people with remarkable inner gifts of the spirit. Some are contemplative monks, others ordinary lay people and to the world they don’t look much good!

Mary must have been about 47 when Pentecost came. St Joseph was dead! So what do you think people had to day about this middle-aged widow hanging about a group of young men!

If she was alive nowadays she’d be laughed at and ridiculed and probably told to get a job!

And yet Mary was the powerhouse behind Pentecost!!

This gentle little woman stood at the foot of that cross on good Friday, she waited in faith till Easter Sunday and now she is in the upper room to encourage the apostles!

“My son didn’t die for nothing” she may have thought!

Without Mary the apostles may well have gone home. Only days after good Friday they were back fishing. It seemed (looking from the outside) that they lacked faith and were ready to give up quite easily!

And so Mary’s greatest gift was her iron faith and this clearly motivated the apostles!

So anyway, along blows the Spirit and miracles start happening! Again it’s worth noting that just because the apostles worked miracles doesn’t mean they had great faith!

Although we know of no public miracle or even speech from Our Lady her faith towered above every miracle worker!

And so my point is that today is the feast of Pentecost and you may be praying for a blast of the Holy Spirit! You may be asking for gifts of healing and preaching and teaching and yet Mary may be smiling on you saying

“My child, I have a greater gift for you, a more silent gift, a gift of prayer and faith. It may not look as glamerous on the outside, it may even look like nothing, but worry not! Retire into the upper room of your heart and join me in silent prayer, suffering and intercession for priests and missionaries all over the world!”

Dear friends. Happy feast of Pentecost and may the Holy Spirit continue to anoint you all whether in the silence like Mary or in the crowds like the apostles!

Please keep us in your prayers as we venture forward and a big thank you to everyone who has helped us financially.

Blessing and prayers

Michael