Hello again from London,

Last night Rayne and I had a very pleasant evening as we visited our friend and priest, Paul.

Since coming to London Paul has been an amazing source of support and wisdom and even more so since I met Rayne. A little medical problem stopped him from coming to Notting Hill yesterday so we decided to go to him instead.

As you know this week the Vatican wrote a not so friendly letter concerning the LGBT community and it has caused a lot of hurt and quite a stir. Today as I was reflecting on it all I was reminded of the words that Jesus spoke to mother Teresa at the start of her calling…..”I thirst”.

As Rayne and I continue the 33 day consecration to Our Lady, we are now on the section with mother Teresa and in light of the hurting LGBT community I think that it’s most relevant.

As I sit here in St. Mary of the Angel’s chapel in front of Jesus and ask Him how He feels I keep hearing these same words in my soul. I THIRST.

Jesus thirsts for souls. It doesn’t matter whether they are black or white or gay or straight or trans or whatever. A soul is a soul.

He has a special thirst for the weak, the lost, the misunderstood and the rejected and there are lots of that kind to be found in the LGBT community.

Can we imagine for a second the joy it would bring Jesus to bring these souls to His heart? To bring these souls to the sacraments, to adoration, to Our Lady, to mass, to prayer, to community, to Medjugorje, to Lourdes….

Maybe you can’t but I certainly can because I’m one of them and my experience of Jesus’ thirst for me has given me a special insight into His thirst for every gay person.

And so as I reflect on this last week and the hurt caused to the gay community by the hardness of the Vatican, I hear Jesus cry even louder:

“I thirst, bring them to me, not to the Vatican”

Of course we all know that the Vatican has no shortage of gays at every level but that’s beside the point. The point is that Jesus does not work at the Vatican and is in need of no permission from Rome to love LGBT people and to pour out His Graces on them.

The Vatican is like a slow moving ship that might catch up with Jesus in 100 years time but Jesus isn’t bothered about that! He’s had 2000 years experience with them and He’s still the boss!!

And so this evening as Séamus interviews me again for His prayer meeting I think that’s my message: “to hell with what the Vatican thinks because Jesus loves you and HE THIRSTS'”

Have a great evening, keep our mission in your prayers and every time you meet a discouraged person around this issue point them to Jesus!

Michael