This morning I’m going to write about correction and some principles I try to use when/ if correcting someone!

The only way to get better at something is by being corrected. We all know this from school or life!

Not to correct someone will do them no favours!

However the human mind can’t learn or correct too many things at a time. Think about how long it took you to learn to drive or to cycle or swim not mention to learn a foreign language!

A well known Irish proverb!

“Praise the youth and they will come!”

In other words, encourage, encourage and encourage and when you correct, encourage even more!

Jesus is not like Simon Cowell in front of a rubbish singer laughing at our comparative lack of holiness and christian virtue!

No! Jesus encourages us and only rebukes us severely if after repeated loving correction we simply refuse to listen or make any effort!

Recently I’ve received some correction myself in relation to my blog! The well meaning people behind it feel I don’t speak enough about the sacraments etc. when appearing on gay media.

However the way these corrections were worded made it seem like I don’t even use the sacraments myself!

They jumped straight into fault finding and criticising me and my blog when in actual fact I speak about the healing power of the sacraments and the power of the priest and prayer constantly!

When correction is done in this way it’s impossible to take it seriously! It turns into politics and fighting and does not lead to christian growth. It’s like being dragged up to the headmasters office for something you didn’t even do!

Now if you are humble about it you can put aside the bad attitude with which it was said and ask yourself if there is some merit in what is being said but this isn’t easy!

We all can be sensitive, we all have complicated lives and today’s church and world are complicated!

This means that we all need a lot of love and encouragement and to be reminded that even if we are making some mistakes or wrong on some things, God is merciful and over time He will teach us and grow us!

So! Here is a tip!

Before writing that email of correction, reread it and ask yourself these question:

Is there more positive in it than negative?

Does it encourage the other on the good things that they are doing?

Does it show understanding and mercy for the areas where you perceive they fall short?

Would you like to receive this message?!

If you answer no to most of these questions, don’t worry! Your intentions were surely good but hold off pressing ‘send’!

Ask yourself a few more questions!

Am I the right person to correct this person?

Is it my business?

Am I sure that I’m correct?

Can I see, acknowledge and put in writing the others point of view?

Can I show humility in how I came to my truth?

Am I able to bless the other?

Have I prayed?

If the answer is still ‘no’ then you definitely shouldn’t get involved and God is calling you to looking at your own heart!

If it’s too late and you have already sent the message then you may need to apologise to your brother or sister and send a new and more loving one!!

And if like me you have received such messages then once again it is a call to forgiving and praying for a softening of heart and understanding for the sender!

Don’t get bitter, get better!!

Surely priests are the greatest victims of this type of correcting behaviour and as lay people we must be very wary not to fall into it!

And so this weekend let us pray and reflect on how we can encourage others and how through our love and example we may love and encourage people into a personal relationship of love with God, with prayer, with the sacraments and with the church!

May we be full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit:

And may more and more people come to know in their hearts the joy to be Christians!

Our lady of Medjugorje, pray for us!

Have a blessed day!

Michael

Good morning and I hope you are all well!

As it’s the first Friday of this lenten period I thought that it’d be a good day to write about praying for priests like Our Lady asks time and time again!

The first attitude we must have when praying for priests is love and humility!

If they were already perfect then they wouldn’t need our prayers in the first place so we must be aware of that!

The second attitude is mercy and forgiveness!

Which one of us hasn’t been hurt or let down by a priest at one stage or the other for what he said or did or forgot?

I for one could write a best-seller!!

And the third attitude is justice. The priest has a tall calling that influences many people and we must do our best to love and encourage him to better (as he does also with us) and help him to heal hurting communities!

With these 3 attitudes of love, mercy and justice we may begin!

If you find yourself or others saying

“Father should do this and Father should do that” without acknowledging the good things that Father is doing and perhaps his weaknesses then your prayers will not be heard!

You are judging!

We all have ideas of what Father should be doing but we are not God and even if Father is not doing certain things, who are we to judge?

Now of course we can discern and say “in my opinion….”

If you find yourself forgetting that every priest is a man and when you see his faults you forget that he too may have had a difficult childhood, a bad relationship with his father, a deceased mother then once again you’ve fallen into the trap of judging!

“But he’s a priest” some say to justify their pious accusations!

But so what! A priest is just an ordinary human being too and often his training wasn’t the best and the pressures of ministry were enormous! Give him a break!

(In case you are wondering, KitKat is not sponsoring my blog)!

And then of course there is the other attitude which disturbs me even more! Priest-worshipping!!

One sees them hovering all over priests almost lusting over their every need!

“Would you like more tea father?”

“Yes Father, no father, 3 bags full father, how high father?”!

There is nothing humble about this type of attitude as it’s totally fake and attention seeking!

The humble priest expects us to respect him, not to worship him! You can use your own brain too! It’s not a sin!

And this attitude when pushed too far seeks to cover up all the mistakes of priests in an effort to protect them!

We have seen this in Ireland where years of cover-up cases of abuse have come to the fore and all but destroyed the church.

So what then?

Well when and if a priest makes a mistake we must encourage him too with humility and mercy to be honest about it, come clean and do what he can to make it up.

We do the church or priests no favours by covering up their sins and it is probably the biggest blockage to evangelisation because if people don’t see honesty and transparency in the church then they will run a mile!

And so today dear friends let us pray for our priests and our pope who are very ordinary human beings called to serve God in very difficult times both in the church and in the world.

Let us pray for their perseverance and their humility and that they may be renewed in their love for Jesus and healed of wounds inflicted on them through gossip, over-expectations and burnout!

(Tomb of the Cure of Ars, patron saint of parish priests).

May we also pray for ourselves and for the healing of our hearts where we may have been wounded by priests!

God bless all priests today and thank you Jesus for the priesthood and for every man who said ‘yes’ to this call!

Michael

A very good morning to you from Notting Hill where it’s raining cats and dogs!

Last night at our prayer meeting the topic was peace and the question arose; what do you do when people don’t like you?

Should you run away and only surround yourself with people like you or should you challenge yourself and stay?


Modern day psychology would tell you to run away! Treat yourself to a new haircut and the spa, get a divorce if it’s your spouse!

Yet Our Lady of Medjugorje who never tires of talking of peace never also tires of talking about prayer and penance!

Peace, prayer and penance!! No thanks! Many will choose fun in the sun!


The trouble with this is that the peace is temporary and people who live like this will never find true peace as that requires the hard work of spiritual transformation and personal reflection and honesty!

Often the people we dislike the most are like giant mirrors being held up in front of our wounds!

We see the charity of mother Teresa, we think of our selfishness!

We see our neighbour happily married, we think of our miserable marriage!

We see a beautiful looking man or woman, we think of our own ugly face!

We see others success, we think of our failures!


However during this time of lent each of these opportunities are an opportunity to die to a superficial way of thinking and being!

Regardless of our looks or successes or failures we are loved by God no less than these other people!

There is no need to be bitter, no need to be jealous and no need to lose our peace about it and there is no need to run away!

So may this lent be a time of true interior peace for us all and if we are aware of people avoiding us (happens to me quite often!!), let’s pray for them that they get the inner insight to face their demons and find the true inner peace from God that lasts!


If you find this blog useful and would like to contribute to my ministry financially even if only a very small amount, please do! I have no other source of income!


If you are receiving this blog and don’t like it then I’m afraid that I can’t offer you financial compensation for the trauma caused but I can take you off the list!! Message me!

And if you’d like to meet me or talk over phone for spiritual advice or healing prayer then get in touch!

Have a peaceful day all of you and may this lenten period be a time of inner peace and personal conversion for us all!

Blessings

Michael

Hello friends and thank you for all of your prayers yesterday! It went really well!

As today is Ash Wednesday and we talk of fasting it’s good to consult the bible and remind ourselves of the real fasting pleasing to God and its promises!

So many people are caught still in the snare of addictions and depression and do not know Jesus!

They feel condemned and judged and have no idea how much He loves them and of the potential healing available to them in the church and through prayer and the sacraments!

Sadly often the reason why is partly due to us!!

As church goers and those of us who receive the sacraments regularly we must ask the question:

Are we good examples of love, mercy and justice or are we self-righteous hypocrites?

In reality we all fall a bit into the hypocrite box as we fall short of perfection but what are we doing to get out of it?!

Yesterday I had a wonderful opportunity to share about the transforming power of Jesus on pinknews. It’ll be later sent on Instagram, Snapchat and other media outlets!

I spoke of my spiritual experience of Jesus, I spoke of the wonderful initiative here in London for gay catholics called LGBT Westminster and other ministries such as courage and quest and the wonderful support we have received since coming to London from a few special priests (you know who you are!!).

I mentioned about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, miracles and the dangers of pushing it too far with conversion therapy!

But the most significant thing I mentioned was my parents!

Just before the interview I spoke to both my mum and dad and asked them to pray for me. Only last week did they send me €50 each to help me.

I spoke of how they are now 100% supportive and behind me and how the power of prayer does indeed heal families!

As I reflect on the prophet Isaiah words about undoing the heavy burdens and letting the oppressed go free my prayer is that those burdened, shamed and estranged from God and the church in the LGBT community will find hope and inspiration in my story and will find their way back to the loving hands of God our father!

Of course some people were horrified that I was sharing my story and I was accused of all sorts!

For them they’d like me to give the “convert now from your filthy lifestyle or burn in hell” message under the banner of charity!

But what would mother Teresa do? Lecture people or love people?!

She cared for and looked after devil worshippers and all sorts and she let her actions do the preaching!

And so fittingly I visited the sisters of charity here in London yesterday whom I visit regularly and asked them all to pray for me at 4pm, the time of the interview!

I was particularly inspired by their ‘litany of humilty’:

A wonderful prayer to be delivered from both unhealthy desires and unhealthy fears and to grow in humility and purity of intention!

And so as lent has arrived maybe our real fast needs to be this interior one so that the Lord can use us more effectively to give hope to others even if that means an interview with the pink news!!

So once again, thank you all for your prayers and yes, very soon you’ll be wondering like Father Jack!

“What is that #*#*###* doing on the television?”

Abundant blessings of love, mercy, justice, peace, prayer and forgiveness on you and your families this lent.

St. Mother Teresa, pray for us!

Michael

Yesterday was my turn to read at the Carmelite monastery in Kensington!

Over the years I’ve often read but one thing I’ve never done is sing!

So after the first reading and psalms came the moment that we sing ‘Alleluia” to welcome the gospel!

Before mass I told Seamus and Toni that I was going to sing it ….but was I going to carry my words to actions when the moment came?


Well if I was to tell you immediately you may not read the rest of my blog so while I leave you waiting I will remind you that today is the day that I’m being interviewed by ‘Pinknews’, a significant LGBTQ magazine in the UK but also internationally!

I hope that it will be a golden opportunity to highlight the issues gay people face in church circles and to take a firm stand against things like homophobia, transphobia, gay conversion therapy and discrimination against gay people from some Christians.


However I hope also that it will be an opportunity to talk about the positives also!

About the unconditional love of Jesus and of all the fantastic people that exist in the church too that do not condone the behaviour of their fellow church goers!

Indeed London has been very good to us and we are very blessed indeed to have met some very supportive people and priests who have helped and encouraged us enormously as we move forward in this ministry!

Times are changing and theology is catching up and in the future our hope is that our catholic church will be a loving, safe and inclusive place for people of all sexual orientations and genders.


And so today at 4 PM I will be filmed. Toni and Seamus are coming too and my hope is that this is only the beginning of our media exposure to bring the love of God to all!

And so going back to my original question! Did I sing ‘Alleluia’ at yesterday’s mass?!!

You bet I did for I am no longer shy or ashamed of who I am!

So join me today in prayer and support as we sing alleluia on behalf of the gay community and blast open the doors of God’s love, mercy and justice to those who have been excluded for so long!

Love to all,

Michael

https://youtu.be/Bmx–WjeN7o

Another week has begun and this week marks the beginning of lent with Ash Wednesday on Wednesday…obviously!

Perhaps we are still wondering what we will give up for lent and like Father Ted on craggy island it might not be so easy!

However the real spirit of giving something isn’t to grow in will power but to grow in grace and strength in God’s power!

If we over focus on giving something up then that becomes the God and the ‘why’ behind it is soon forgotten!

With such an attitude we are bound to fail like poor Sister Assumpta did with the chocolate!

So what is a healthier approach!

Well focus on what you want! Suppose you are praying for somebody’s healing, imagine them healed and every time you are tempted to break your lenten promise bring your mind back to your goal and ask God’s grace to help you!

As you make a lenten sacrifice you will see your own weakness and how tempted you are after a few days or even a week to give up!

Rather than see this as a bad thing, learn to see it as a good thing and counterbalance it with more prayer!

In other words! Don’t just give up something for lent! Take something up too! Prayer!!!

Maybe this lent you could go to church a little more often or incorporate daily prayer and meditation into your life.

For those of us who are catholic we are spoilt for choice over lent with so many masses and prayer meetings so regularly available to us! Praise God!

This time can also be a time of discernment and self-reflection.

Am I happy with my life?

Where is it all going?

What do I need to change?

Where do I need help?

These are all good questions to ask and remember the church is full of priests and people of prayer to help answer these questions. We don’t have to do it alone!

So let’s not give up like Father Ted!

Rather let’s help one a another to grow closer to God, closer to one another and closer to the plans for happiness and wholeness that He has for our lives!

United we are stronger!

Have a blessed week and keep us in your thoughts and prayers over this lenten period that we may touch more and more people all over London and the world through our prayers, our lives and our witness.

Michael

Good morning!

Yesterday Toni and I were at a volunteers day for St. Patrick’s church in Soho where there are an impressive amount of services for the homeless!

There is a breakfast club, a dinner twice per week, film club and more!

One of the leaders pointed out that being homeless isn’t just about sleeping on the streets, it also includes those who are in temporary accommodation, crashing on sofas etc.

Toni looked at me and smiling said:

“We are homeless”!

Indeed after 12 years of travelling with Jesus as I do my life is similar in some ways and very different in others to the homeless …..my homelessness being a calling where as theirs being by force!

Nonetheless we both live the uncertainty, the constant moving, the exhaustion, the lack of help from others, the gossip and mockery etc.

As the presentation continued they highlighted the link between mental illness and homelessness.

It’s obvious really, depression and anxiety and other diseases of the soul hamper one’s ability to work and function in society. Miss your rent and bang you’re out. Not everyone has a supportive family to fall back on.

And yet at the gathering I wondered what more we could do!

Sure St. Patrick’s has daily mass and adoration but the inner-healing these souls require goes far beyond that!

Having spent years in charismatic circles I’m fully aware that wounded souls need ongoing inner-healing prayer, deliverance prayer, the sacraments, teachings on forgiveness, community, friendship, support, counselling and more.

At times it is much easier to play Martha rather than Mary and yet how the world needs more like Mary.

Yesterday Seamus was at a charismatic healing conference by Damien Stayne.

He’s going again today and he said it was brilliant!

‘A charismatic healing ministry for the homeless’ I thought!

I’m sick of hearing about “referring them onto professional services” after a cup of tea!

What about the power of Jesus to heal and referring them onto ‘prayer services’?!!!

Jesus left us power in the church and He is calling us to use this and to provide an alternative to professional services where there is usually no talk of God or prayer!

I know, I’ve been there! It becomes a revolving circle of doctors appointments, medication and misery.

And so this morning I ask myself:

“What would mother Theresa do?”

And so once again I feel the same calling as I have for 12 years to bring the supernatural love and healing power of Jesus to the people who need it most and offer them hope and healing together with food, breakfast and a shower!

“Lord Jesus, help us to do more, to forget ourselves and to love until it hurts for the sake of others.

Help us to love beyond boundaries of professionalism, help us to love beyond what is natural, may you love others through us and heal their broken lives.

Stir our comfortable souls to loving more, to giving more, to giving all”

Mother Theresa,

Pray for us, pray for Soho, pray for the homeless!

Bless

Michael

Good morning!

Our mass readings this morning were very strong on the notion of having both faith and good deeds to please God!

As the readings were read I couldn’t but think of mothers and fathers but especially mothers.

Of course times are changing and now more and more mothers find themselves juggling motherhood with careers but even at this I think the ‘good deeds’ of mothers are immeasurable!

I recall my own mother who reared kids, looked after my grandparents and was certainly in full time employment!

We were not rich and her employment was not renumetared as with other mothers!

And so every meal she cooked, basket of clothes she washed was done out of love for her kids and a dying to herself!

She gave us everything and went without herself and often wore clothes her sister who worked in a bank gave her!

As her employment wasn’t paid she was very often bullied for her invisible mission particularly by her sister for whatever reason chose a career over motherhood.

And yet she persevered and forgave her sister a million times over!

My mother suffered enormously but she had great faith you see!

She’d tell me stories of working in the hospital when she was young and washing old men before they’d die that even the nuns would run from because they were so dirty but she ‘saw Jesus in them’!

When she got sick and even had a breakdown she simply saw it as a “part of life ” and never did I see her bitter towards God!

Another person could throw in the towel and say “forget it” to God but her no!

She told me once that those who God loves the most suffer the most but her eyes were fixed on eternity.

Suffering didn’t frighten her and her faith and good works were astounding even in the darkest of trials!

Even when my life fell apart she didn’t break and growing up it was well known that I was her favourite!

I got away with murder so to speak but she saw my good heart behind my mischief!

Her faith certainly inspired mine and her example of perseverance in good deeds despite untold bullying and financial struggles has been a major source of inspiration to me!

And so today let us pray for the grace of perseverance and gratitude.

As we follow Jesus day by day we too will be mocked and ridiculed and often betrayed by our own family and even church community.

Temptations to give up on God and to give up on our good deeds will rise up!

We”ll be tempted to harden our hearts and to say “enough is enough”.

We’ll be tempted to abandon our prayer life and to just settle for being mediocre like “everybody else”.

Satan will whisper nicely and “humbly” in our ears that we are wasting our lives and time and that God isn’t listening to us.

Jesus will seem to abandon us like in the book of Job and yet we are called to persevere!

Let us persevere anyway in faith and in good deeds remembering He who walks on the water!

Let us come to Jesus truly present in the eucharist, truly present in and through the priest and in our brothers and sisters!

Let us pray for one another, encourage one another, love one another.

Let us look to the lives of the saints for inspiration!

And let us look up in confidence in faith to that day we will meet Jesus and He will say to us:”When I was hungry you fed me”.

And so today let us be people of faith, good deeds and love and as usual if anyone would like to help me in spreading this message of love through prayer or financially or other please get in contact.

We would love to expand and to reach more people with the good news of God’s love!

Have a blessed day and thank you Jesus for the wonderful example of faith and good deeds of my mother and indeed many other mothers too!

Mother Teresa, pray for us!

Michael, Séamus and Toni

Good morning!

Last night we were at a prayer meeting called ‘pure at heart’. We have been going now for ages after we “accidentally” found it one evening (thanks Beth).

It starts with a beautiful hour of adoration and rosary followed by 30 mins break for tea and then concluded with a talk!

By the name (pure at heart) you might be fooled into thinking that it was a group of sexually repressed Catholics huddled together in fear with their rosaries afraid to meet the outside world much like a hen sitting on her eggs!

But nothing could be further from the truth! This group is young (yes mostly under 30), with it, vibrant, real and fun!

The talks are very varied and the goal is to grow people in wholesome and holiness without over-focusing on sexuality which is a breath of fresh air in these times!

Last night the talk was on speech and the dangers of slander, gossip, criticism etc.

If it were to stop there it’d have just amounted to another bible-bashing with a cup of tea to ease the blows!

However the talks at this prayer meeting are not lectures but are teachings and are as much practical as they are educational!

There is ample room to ask questions and to wrestle with some of the teachings without everybody looking at you like a misplaced heretic!

Once per month we have mass and every week we also have a priest there to hear confessions or to just talk!

Attendance is usually about 30 and immediately you find a friendly group of international young adults more than willing to get to know you over a cup of tea!

The group is open to all and as catholics who are also in the LGBT bracket we have never felt an ounce of discrimination but just acceptance, love and a general interest in us and encouragement for our mission!

They even invited the priest appointed by the cardinal who helps the catholic LGBT community here in London and they were extremely open to what he had to say!

Now you might be thinking that I’m getting paid to market this prayer group! How did you guess?!! Wishful thinking I’m afraid but the reason I am mentioning it today is number one to give thanks and number two with lent on the way to encourage more people to come!

So what are the details?!

Every Wednesday at 7pm at Heythrop College, Kensington, London!

Next Wednesday is ash Wednesday and we will be having a mass in place of the usual hour of adoration!

Perhaps the Lord is inviting you as a great way to start lent! As we say in the irish language:

(a good start halves the work)

So thank you guys to all of you who make pure at heart what it is and for those of you thinking about coming.. ..

Have a great day !

Michael

P.S. Please keep us and our needs in your prayers too.

Good morning!

This morning I was out and about early and the train was choco-block with people in suits going to work!

It reminded me of something someone said yesterday!

“You still look successful, like you are still an actuary”.

He said it with confusion!

After telling him of the train wreck of my life how come I still look successful?!

So of course I said to him!

“Of course I still look successful! The biggest success is following Jesus and allowing Him to use me and heal me and help others! That’s far more successful than an actuary.”

Sometimes it seems that one doesn’t have to do much to evangelise! A simple smile at times speaks more than a book!

And so today! Ask yourself if you are successful and why or why not?

Ask God to readjust your value system on how you measure success and then ask yourself the same question but through God’s eyes!

“Am I successful in God’s eyes’!

If not then remember that it is never too late to change your life and your value system and to begin again!

Have a great day!

Off to my very important business meeting with the chief executive officer of the universe! Yes, I’m going to mass!!

Bless!

Michael