Good morning!

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of saints Peter and Paul and as a gay catholic, we had every reason to enjoy this celebration after reading the Pope’s personal and hand written letter to the very well known Jesuit priest and LGBT advocate, Fr James Martin..

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Just as Peter and Paul worked together to spread the gospel so too does it seem are Francis and James working together to bring the gospel into the heart of the gay community.

Like any of us in this area, James has received his fair share of abuse and hate from hard core traditional catholic who believe that LGBT people are the spawn of Satan and yet he continues on and God bless his Jesuit community for supporting him and not bending to the opposition. Of course Francis too is a Jesuit and while people may knock him, we’d do well to remember that the Jesuit charism is all about discernment of spirits and it seems that the discernment on this one is pretty clear!

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Francis doesn’t launch into who’s having sex with who or if the gays that Fr Martin is helping are chaste or having sex, he knows well that they are not perfectly chaste and are probably having lots of sex. He lives in the real world.

But what his letter shows is that he understands the gay community’s need for ‘closeness, compassion and tenderness’.

Francis doesn’t go for the Hitler type of approach that many opt for in this area. He goes for the gentle and understanding approach with the heart of a loving Father drawing close to His children.

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He emphasizes tenderness because he understands. Wounded and rejected people need a lot of tenderness and compassion to heal their wounds especially when many of those wounds have been inflicted on them by people representing God (parents, priests etc.).

Even for me Francis’ letter has brought a tear to me eye. Words could never express how much being catholic and gay has caused me to suffer over the years. From France to India to Australia to Bosnia & Croatia and even here in London, the abuse and hostility from many conservative catholics has never stopped and even poor Fr. Keith here in Notting Hill got so criticised so many times for helping us!

But God bless him because like the Pope his eyes are on Jesus and on showing the love and mercy of Jesus to the marginalised and he has never as much as even flinched as daggers were thrown at him.

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And so today I wake up very thankful to the Pope, to Fr. James Martin and to Fr Keith.

They are forerunners, men of vision, men of faith and men of mercy and of course they too have their own weaknesses but to quote saint Paul God’s power is made perfect in weakness.

So please keep on praying for us and supporting us as we are surrounded by much hatred and hostility, that we may keep on going and shining the love and light of Jesus for all the LGBT community and world to see.

Love to all!

Michael

Good morning from a sort of cold London!

Last week was quite a busy week and between the jigs and the reels I woke up after the Medjugorje evening with a sore throat and a feeling of flu.

Now I haven’t taken antibiotics for at least 15 years so I wasn’t intending to start but I was a little worried and especially yesterday morning when I woke up feeling even worse and coughing up green phlegm.

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And so in prayer I asked Our Lady what I should do and if I needed an antibiotic.

“No, you’ll be fine, I can still use you when you are a little sick” was her reply!

Now this is often where I clash with people because meaning well they say “you’ll need to go to the doctor if it’s not gone in 24 hours” (it wasn’t…it was worse) and “go home and rest” when Our Lady says “trust and follow me and you’ll be healed”.

So here is how it went!!

Woke at 9 feeling rotten she guided me out of the house for a coffee where I got my head together and then she told me to pop into say a quick hello to my friend Louie who who works in another cafe. He gave me a nice tea and a delicious free breakfast!!

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Then she sent me off to the Carmelites for 12.15 mass after which she sent me to say goodbye to a friend of mine, Alex, who works in yet another coffee shop.

Alex is going home to Poland to deal with some health issues and I offered to pray for her. We snuck downstairs and who knows what the customers thought for a quick prayer (gives a new meaning to “quickie”) and then I walked back to Notting Hill where I went into Boots to get a cough bottle. I should add too that I was taking paracetamol! God is not against medicine, just He doesn’t want us to put it before Him!

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At this stage I was already feeling lot better because when we follow and walk obediently with the Holy Spirit, the anointing comes over us and strengthens us and heals us but as I said it only happens if we go with it. Had I stayed at home in bed it wouldn’t have been the same.

So anyway when I got home Our Lady told me to rest for a few hours which I did. Again you see that God isn’t against rest, just He wants us to rest when He knows it’s best!

As I rested I felt a great peace around me and gave thanks to Jesus for the extraordinary life that he has given me and prayed for all the different people in my life.

I got up about 4 and went to eucharistic adoration but before going Our Lady said “bring your gym bag with you”!

I smiled! At 9 am I felt so sick and weak that going to the toilet was an effort and now here I was with a gym bag. If I was working in a regular job and had I called in sick they’d surely have thought that I was lying I thought.

So after adoration met another old friend and headed to the gym which I really enjoyed and by the time I was finished my other nurse was home from work and we got a pizza for some and watched a movie together.

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And there you go, that was my ‘sick day’ and this morning I was up early and blogging and going to early mass. The cold isn’t 100% gone but my energy is back and I’m sure Jesus will kill it!

Anyway, all of this isn’t to say how great I am but to say how great God is and a reminder to us all that we must not block God’s ways and flow of the Holy Spirit because it goes against our human way of thinking.

It is in praying, trusting and stepping out in faith that we get healed and grow and not by praying, trusting and doing nothing.

God needs us to be obedient to Him because our healing and protection is hidden in the obedience! As we walk with Him, He is protecting us and He knows just how much we can take and what we need to do in each situation.

Sadly medical people often give very little space to God to work. They tend to take over with ”does and don’ts” and “musts and shoulds” and very often they become mini Gods!

God on the other hand likes medics, after all He made all that too but He liked them to consult Him too and to teach them that there are other ways and means to treat illnesses that include both their knowledge and His grace.

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And so today my prayer is for the healing ministry, that people will put God’s ways first and not slumber into purely human and medical thinking as soon as they get sick!

Have a super day, love and healing grace to all!

Michael

Good Sunday morning where I’m nursing a bit of a head cold and feeling a bit sorry for myself!!

(Rayne, Eddie…the steam idea didn’t work!!).

A few days ago on a social media application I received this message

“Are you the irish guy that writes the spiritual blog”.

Now the last time a stranger asked me that, he was an undercover policeman that threatened to kick me out of Bosnia so I was slightly wary of saying “yes, it’s me”!!

Anyway I replied cautiously and there was silence. “Great I thought, another weirdo or a stalker”.

And then a few days later I got another message and a conversation opened up!

The guy explained how we met when I was in Split and that he remembers me because I had this electric energy about me (he obviously met me on a good day!).

Eventually he sent me his picture and embarrassingly I had no idea who he was! Rather than pretend I simply told him. Seamus and I met so many people in Split that it’d be impossible to remember them all.

The next day he mentioned that he was from South Africa and then it clicked, I remembered him.

He has moved from South Africa to London and is now living in my area and he was utterly astonished that he should meet me again. He saw it as some sort of a sign from God!

And to be honest so did I. And here is why:

You see I don’t have a conventional ministry. I don’t have books and fliers nor do I go along to gay pride events etc. Instead Jesus calls me to meeting people off the beaten track on quite a casual and informal basis. I share, I pray and I trust.

So where are the fruits? How many books have I sold? How many followers do I have?…Some people find it hard not to go down these roads of human measurements.

How can I measure the hearts that I’ve touched or the blessings that have come from my prayers? I simply can’t.

And so as you can imagine it was very encouraging when this person remembered me and was delighted to get in contact again.

He was also positively touched when I told him that I had found a gay friendly and accepting catholic church and I’m sure that this simple fact has confirmed for him that God both loves and accepts him as gay.

At times in the process of evangelisation people can get too caught up in the doing and forget what is the most important. To listen and love people with the heart.

This guy did not remember me for my dangerously good looks or muscles nor did he remember me because I gave him a bible and a rosary beeds.

He remembered me because during the short time that I spent with him, I gave him something else. I listened to him and engaged with him with my heart as we shared our life experiences at quite a deep level.

Our Lady in Medjugorje calls us to pray with the heart and to be her apostles of love. Let us love everyone we meet as best we can with our hearts and who knows, maybe one day a total stranger will come up to you too and say “I remember you because I was going through a hard time and you gave me a piece of your heart to lean on that day!.

Our Lady, our mother, teach us to love with our hearts and to be Jesus for others who haven’t met him yet.

Michael

Good morning all!

I’m up early and nursing my prayer and holy spirit hangover with a coffee before I go for a swim.

Well as you know we had our Medjugorje evening last night and it was a great success. Hats off to Brenda Walsh who did all the organising and who works tirelessly for Jesus and Mary. Even with a dodgy foot she soldiered on and she brought a piece of Medjugorje to us all!

Thanks Brenda, we all love you here in Notting Hill and we’re looking forward to more blessings and more craic.

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“As soon as I came into the church I just started crying” said one lady who told me how she’d been strong all throughout the pandemic but as soon as she came to the church, the stress and the pain erupted.

“Father, I just want to tell you that I don’t want to go home” said another old lady.

“You saved us the price of the flights, it was wonderful” exclaimed another!

Séamus did a fantastic job with the music so we had all the same songs that you’d hear over there and Fr. Keith did a wonderful job between the mass, eucharistic procession, confessions, prayers all on his own! Superman!!

And both Toni and I were so delighted to serve the mass with Thai and what was particularly moving was as Brenda asked Toni to give out the rosary in Croatian, his native language and the language Our Lady speaks in at the apparitions!

As I stood beside him I felt quite emotion as my mind flashed back to meeting him for the first time and offering to take him to London with absolutely no idea how it would work out. It was blind faith and a lot of responsibility too as numerous people told me that if something happened to him that I’d be blamed. Yet it was a risk that with Séamus we had to take!

And so there we were up on the altar beside Jesus and Mary participating in the celebrations in every way. Not bad for “fake missionaries being deceived by the devil” I thought!!

Our Lady really does have ways and means of working things out and I have no doubt that one day we will return to Medjugorje and be welcomed there too. The past will be aired out and the people will get behind our extraordinary mission to the LGBTQ community.

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After the 3 hours of prayer we had a little party and wine and refreshments were enjoyed by all.

Of course in reality we don’t know the full extent of what Our Lady did last night in our hearts because prayer is like that. We only see the tip of the iceberg but it’s as we look back that we see the answers and blessings both for our own lives and in the lives of others.

Every Hail Mary counts, every prayer for priests counts, every minute adoring Jesus counts, every mass and confession counts and every little hidden sacrifice of love counts. In heaven we will see that it was all these things accumulated over time that pleased Jesus the most and allowed Him to bless others.

So thank you Our Lady for everything, for the gift of Medjugorje, for the gift of Jesus, for the gift of your intercession, for the gift of your motherly love and may we be your ‘apostles of love’ today and every day as we bring heaven to earth through the power of prayer and obedience to the Holy Spirit!.

Blessings of love and peace to all!

Michael

Good afternoon from Westminster cathedral where I’ve just had an amazing “divine appointment”.

As I queued for confession an elderly gentleman came after me. A little nervous he began to make small talk and anybody that know me knows that I’m not short of a few words myself.

It was obvious that he was probably gay and was nervous about confession so I did my best to put him at ease by cracking a few jokes. Good job Padre Pio wasn’t hearing confessions, he’d probably have me thrown out for distracting pious catholics as they examine their consciences.

Yet rest assured, I don’t talk all of the time…when I’m sleeping for example!!

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It’s ironic that I should mention this because one place where I used to get severely reprimanded for chatting as we queued for confession was in Medjugorje. There used to be an Italian man patrolling like a guard outside Buckingham palace shouting “shhh” ….which in itself is ironic in light of the Italian’s reputation over there!

Personally I couldn’t see what the big deal was. My sins were so indescribably clear to me that I was very unlikely to either forget them or think of more! A bit of chat killed the boredom and reduced my anxiety as I waited to discover if I’d find Jesus or the devil listening to my confession.

Anyway after mass I stayed for a little bit until the Holy Spirit told me to leave. I left the church and went for a walk and the man chased after me!

“Lord, maybe I’m supposed to talk to that young man but I’m not going to go out of my way. If you want me to talk to him then make it happen”

Was the mans prayer.

And seeing me outside the church at the same time was a good enough sign for him!

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So we got talking and he offered to buy me lunch…thank you Jesus!

He proceeded to tell me about his life as a gay catholic. “Good job I have a coffee” I thought as I dreaded hearing another story of misery and scruples.

However I was in for a surprise!

It started off as they all do, a young pious boy that didn’t know if he was gay or not or what to do. He was 73 so I was worried when he began at age 15 because I simply wasn’t in the mood to hear of almost 60 years of his life.

We got to age 19 and then it jumped to 73!! Watch how!!

“So at 19 I met this other boy and we became partners and we’ve been together ever since…54 years”.

I was deeply moved, not just because I could now enjoy my coffee but because this man has a partner of 54 years and they are still happy!

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Immediately I thought about Rayne and smiled. In the catholic world we are so used to hearing negative stories of how same sex relationships can never make people happy and will never last. I was certain that God had put this old man beside me today to say to me “you keep on going Michael and I’ll show them”.

And with a little glint in his eye he told me how his 3 sisters had been married and divorced while his relationship was the only one that lasted!

At times God has funny ways of delivering messages to us. He joked to me and said that never in all his life had he chatted to someone in a confession line before and as he left he said “that’s the nearest I’ve got to picking someone up at confession”.

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Anyway with a smile on my face I must now cycle home to Notting Hill where we have a big evening of prayer for Our Lady’s 40 years in Medjugorje and while many of the people that this attracts may not be so LGBT friendly I now don’t care as I feel the encouraging hand of God leading me on and showing me that I have just as much right to be there as they do!

So thank you Jesus for this sign. I will keep you all in my prayers this evening and may the peace and understanding of Our Lady of Medjugorje melt every heart this evening, especially the most hardened and tormented.

Bless,

Michael

Good morning!

A few days ago as I sat in church late at night I was drawn to the altar like a fly to the light. It’s hard to explain but I was flooded by an inner knowledge of the sanctity of the altar where mass is celebrated every day.

Simultaneously I felt a draw, a pull to be on the altar close to the action so to speak as I reflected back on my serving days in France.

Immediately I knew I had to ask Fr. Keith if I could serve mass again, something I haven’t done for 10 years really.

I started serving mass as a child and like most children I had no clue what I was doing only that I needed to give the priest things like water and wine, ring the bell at four spececif times and carry the patten around as the priest distributed communion.

As nobody ever really explained what or why we were doing these things, I made up my own fun!

I’d ring the bell ridiculously loud to wake everybody up, I’d be counting people’s fillings as the priest gave out communion and my secret hope was that one day a communion would fall and I’d have to catch it …perhaps the years of hurling training may have paid off!

I remember once getting into terrible trouble after a funeral mass when the school principal noticed my giddy behaviour and went at me. Somehow everyone, including my parents thought that because I was intelligent that I should be well behaved …I think the years have taught them to let go of that idea.

My problem was that I’d get bored so easily and while I would do all the tasks appointed to me I needed a bit of craic or fun as well to keep me awake. Nobody seemed to understand that part and I’ve spent my entire life getting into trouble.

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However there was one way to tame this child and it wasn’t the stick or a beating or a telling off….education!

Ironically Our Lady was the first person that seemed to get it and so when I was converted all those years ago I spend endless hours sitting in churches learning about the mass using both books and visions.

At times she’d show me the angels gathering about, I’d see Jesus’ body being laid on the tomb as the priest would move the host, I’d see Jesus’ agony as He died and yet the supernatural love gushing forth on the people…it was amazing!

So when I moved to France and was asked to serve mass I jumped at it! The wild child was now a focused child and the grace of God was assisting me.

Slightly annoying was why I’d be crying during mass and people looking at me wondering what was wrong. I was in 2 worlds, they were in one. It seemed best to say nothing and let them think I was weird than to try to explain the unexplainable!

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But these things don’t go unnoticed and so I was sent off to a psychiatrist for an assessment to see if I was schizophrenic.

In a way this amused me because when I hear and see spiritual things it’s actually far clearer than when I hear and see things in the physical world. I was more sure of the reality of Jesus and the angels around me than I was if the people. Sadly there was no test for that!

Needless to say the psychiatrist found nothing wrong with me rather to the dismay of some I may add. I felt like a horse at the races with people gossiping and talking about me and trying to predict the outcome.

Yet all that aside I continued to serve the mass and to learn more and more about the spiritual realm and of the love of Jesus in the sacraments.

But once I left France the season of serving mass left too and besides an odd time here and there I was never part of the serving team.

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I guess people were afraid of the consequences and the trouble that they felt that they may get in if this gay spiritual person was allowed on the altar. Living as an outcast became part of my life for many years as I struggled to cope with it all.

“You’re too spiritual” they’d say and then leave me alone with no friends so the only place I could go to have company was to the church and to Jesus and Mary!

“Jesus, they are giving out to me for praying too much yet they barely talk to me, won’t let me get involved and the only person I have to talk to is you!”

Was my frequent prayer. “Forgive, forgive, forgive, offer me the pain” was usually the Lord’s answer.

Anyway all that to say that as I served mass yesterday I felt a new sense of dignity, completion, acceptance and integration and it was a true blessing to find myself once again on the altar serving the mass and helping the priest.

If 8 year old Michael could talk to 38 year old Michael I’m sure they’d both have a good laugh at how things have changed and how God can tame and teach even the unlikely ones!

And so my prayer today is for all who serve mass or assist in any way whether adults or kids. I pray for them to come to know and appreciate with their hearts what it is that they are doing, that they experience the love of Jesus and that their love for the mass becomes like a burning fire passing to each and every soul that they meet.

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My deepest thanks to Fr. Keith also for giving me this opportunity again and for not being afraid of the madness of God to pick someone like me to be His helper and friend!

Have a perfect day!

Blessings to all,

Michael

Good morning all! I’m in a good mood because I’ve just got a free cappuccino at Caffè Nero (collecting stamps).

Another reason to be in a good mood is that I will be getting yet another bike. You might recall that my bike was stolen and that Rayne went and bought me a second hand bike. Turns out that the bike he bought me was a stolen bike from a rental company with a specific number and lock and as I came out of the gym a few days ago it was locked and a man stood beside it asking me ‘are you Mario?’

But praise God that there is still some goodness in the world because after explaining the situation to him, he contacted his manager who has offered to give me one of their bikes!!

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So anyway that aside last night Rayne and I watched a film ‘Rocketman’ which was the story of Elton John. I thought it was going to be some sort of a boring documentary but not at all, it was a really good movie and before talking more about it, another budding star made his debut yesterday morning at St . Mary’s Hospital with his manager!!

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Perhaps it was providential that only a few days ago I wrote about ‘hnh’ or chem sex because the movie starts off with a broken Elton saying:

“I’m an alcoholic, a drug addict, a sex addict….”

Things then flashed back to his childhood where his dad was an emotionless man who was in a very unhappy marriage with a narcissistic wife.

Despite all the fame the young Elton was simply looking for love and in this times he was told to hide being gay as it would have ended his career. He turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with the pain of rejection and the pressure of being a star.

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Suicide attempts, a marriage to a woman…He tried it all. Honestly if you’re looking for a movie that packs the all the pain and confusion of being gay into one life, this is it.

One of the most painful lines of the movie came when Elton told his mum that he was gay. Full of self hatred it went something like this…

‘Mum….mum,….I’m a….., I’m a homosexual, a queer, a faggot, a poofter ..”

And her response wasn’t much better…. I’ve always known but if you choose that type of a life know that you will never be loved properly”.

This haunted him and not only him, these very words haunt every LGBTQ person. Will we ever be loved properly?

And this statement haunts nearly all of us LGBTQ people. Will we ever be loved properly? Will we ever be happy?

And is it really a choice?

At this point a tear rolled down my face as I pondered on the tears of breakdowns and fight with suicide that I’ve had and with our Medjugorje evening coming up on Friday, the bitter rejection and hatred that I received over there from so many for just being myself.

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But when Elton’s mum said this, she was actually speaking more about herself than him.

“You will never be loved properly” could be reinterpreted as “I will never love you properly” and indeed this too is what I experienced in Medjugorje! A group of people with a love for God who were unable to love me properly and who bullied and abused me in the name of religion.

Yet this seemed to be the turning point for Elton who eventually realized that it didn’t matter if his mum didn’t love him properly, he had to love and accept himself properly!!

This my friends is the journey that we are all on…”love your neighbour as yourself” and I for one am still not at the end of it as I still battle with periods of shame and fear especially when I’m in religious environments where my past wounds get triggered.

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But Elton found happiness and love in the end and so did I even if in very different places!

Our Lady has always loved me properly and she brought me to Jesus and the father, both of whom love me properly too!! They brought me to London and surrounded me by friends like Séamus and Toni and brought loving understanding priests into my life before then bringing the biggest surprise of all…Rayne!

And so while I’m still healing from some of the trauma, my life too is the story of a survivor and while I’m not as famous as Elton John nor is there a movie about me, I hope and pray that I too can give as much inspiration and hope as possible to the hurting LGBT community who at the end of the day just want to be loved properly…..

Bless

Michael

Yea I know, it was Sunday and I missed it ..no, not quite!

Last night as I prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament what hit me was the love of the Father, God our father and how Jesus brings us to know the father.

I contrasted this with our world and how and where we use the word ‘father’.

Obviously we use it for our dads and for priests and yet many of us have been wounded by these same fathers.

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Last Sunday we had Father’s Day and it was very striking how different it was from mother’s day. On Facebook there were far less ads, in the shops far less cards and gifts….it seemed minimalistic to say the least.

And yet is God the Father less gentle and less loving than Our Lady?

Is He a kind of a macho God with a gym up in heaven doing weights as Our Lady worries about her children?!

Obviously not!! And yet we still live in this society where fathers and men are somehow supposed to be strong and strong means ‘hard’ in this context.

Yet the Father is none of these things. He is both strong and weak in our worldly understanding because He has the strength to love.

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Society often teaches men to close off their hearts, to mortify and ignore their emotions and to just keep on going but this isn’t true strength.

The Father on the other hand calls and teaches us to love from and with our hearts and this requires enormous strength because when you genuinely love others with your heart, their pain becomes your pain, their suffering becomes your suffering and you are moved out of yourself and out of your comfort zone to help.

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And referring back to Medjugorje and to the sacred heart and to the divine mercy messages….they all have one thing in common…the heart!

Our Lady calls us to pray with the heart? To pray the rosary with the heart, to attend mass with the heart, to go to confession with the heart, to read the bible with the heart ….

The sacred heart is all about Jesus’ heart pierced for us and again the divine mercy highlights the blood and water gushing forth from the heart of Jesus.

So you see, we are called to expanding our hearts and to allow Jesus’ and the Father’s love to well up in our hearts and push us into action to help others and to love God!

Yet God knows that we can’t do it without Him which is why He wants us to meditate on Him and on His love for us and to allow Him to love us!

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My own experience of the Father’s love is that it is beyond all human love. It’s so pure and tender and powerful and yet light and playful and no matter how my day is going it somehow brings out the child in me…the ‘adult child’ you could say!.

The Father likes us to talk to him, share with Him, think about Him and joke with Him and He likes to reveal Himself more and more to us at times through very ordinary things.

Last Sunday for example as I ate my lunch with Rayne I found myself seated across from a dad and son. The dad was so gentle and kind with his child of about 7. As soon as I went out I gave my own dad a call and wished him a happy Father’s Day and while he might not have been the most gentle dad in the world I’ve never doubted that he loves me and that had his own life been different he may well have been the world’s best dad!

Other places I often feel where the love of the father is reflected to me includes the gym, church etc. and when I meet men in the caring professions such as nursing. For some reasons male doctors often seemed stressed and often fall short of the love one might hope to receive …at least in my experience.

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Yet all that aside, the question I must ask myself today is how much of the Father’s love do other people see from me and experience from interacting with me?

And you must ask yourself the same question!

Only to the degree that I know my heavenly father from my heart will I be able to love others with His love and it’s the same for all of us.

And this is why He is calling us to Him so that He can heal our hearts of the fears and wounds and traumas that block us and hold us back in both our own relationship with Him and in our ministries.

Personally I thank God for the gift of being gay because I think that I’ve learnt more about the gentleness and sensitivity of the father from gay men than from any other group of men. Perhaps that is our mission as gay men, to show the heart of the Father and break down these silly stereotypes that misrepresent Him and portray Him as distant and aloof.

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And so today no matter how busy you are, take some time to spend with the Father and allow Him to work on your heart and the areas of hardness and pain.

As for me, I’m off the the gym now agree then to St. Mary’s Hospital where Rayne is in the finals of a talent competition for NHS staff! Will let you know how he gets on!

Happy 41st ordination anniversary to Paul as well today and may the Father pour heavenly blessings on Him!

Have a super day and may we all grow that little bit closer to the Father’s heart of love and mercy each and every day!

Michael

Good rainy Monday morning!

I’ve just been to the gym where I had a great chat with one of the trainers about Jesus and the bible and got to share about the power of prayer and of Medjugorje.

It’s exciting as new avenues of evangelisation are opening up and with the different events on in our church, there are things to invite these people to! Praise God!

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And as my ministry of outreach continues in the gay scene, this morning I’m writing about what is called ‘hnh’.

And no, it doesn’t mean “Holy and happy’ or ” holistic and healthy’….it stands for ‘high and horny’.

Also known as ‘chems sex’ it’s basically the mixing of drugs and sex.

As I’ve never even smoked a joint in my life I’m really not sure what exactly happens but from what I hear some drugs make people more sexual and they can stay going all night if you catch my drift!

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Now you might from in disgust at these sodomites at it all night like rabbits on cocaine or your heart might break and you might ask why?

Well a lot of gay people take drugs at an early age to numb the pain. From bullying in school to rejection by religious families to the lack of hope and outreach in the church, at times ‘hnh’ is better than the alternative…suicide.

The drugs like alcohol loosen people’s inhibitions and the need for love and intimacy gets expressed through sex.

Even St. Augustine who loved sex recognized that even when he was craving sex that it was actually God that he was looking for. The same could be said for many if not all in the gay community.

That’s why Our Lady in Medjugorje never says ‘pray for those horrible filthy sinners’ but rather ‘pray for those who haven’t yet experienced the love of God’.

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And no better witness to this than our very own Séamus who happens to be visiting Manchester for a few days, the place where he spent ten years on drugs, sex and what not!

How did Our Lady treat him in Medjugorje? With love, mercy, dignity, understanding and patience. A model to us all as to how to treat others from these type of backgrounds.

Our Lady never judges because she sees the wounds and hurts behind the actions and she understands that the journey of transformation and healing takes years.

Without adequate support both spiritual and psychological, these people stand no chance of ever finding God and breaking free of these worlds of pain and that is why we are all called to be Our Lady’s ‘apostles of love’.

And so today as I pray for Seamus who will most certainly relive some of the pain and trauma of his past life, I also thank Our Lady of Medjugorje for touching him and I pray that Our Lady of Medjugorje will open wide her heart of love and mercy to the entire gay community and that healing ministries of love and prayer and acceptance will pop up in the catholic church all over the world including in Medjugorje itself where it is badly needed (speaking from experience 😉)

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Have a super day!

Michael

Top of the morning to ye all!

As a lot of you know this year will be the 40th anniversary of Medjugorje and while lots of us would like to go there to pray and to thank Our Lady, with the travel restrictions etc. this won’t be possible.

So what to do? Throw a pity party or make the most of what we’ve got?

Make the most of what we’ve got obviously and thanks to Our friend Brenda and Fr. Keith here as Mary of the Angels, we are going to have a fabulous evening of prayer and celebrations.

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And indeed this has always been the message of Medjugorje. Not to get attached to the place but to bring Medjugorje home in our hearts and parishes and to share the messages and the graces.

We will have an evening quite similar to an evening session in Medjugorje starting at 5PM with prayer (rosary I believe) followed by mass at 6P.M. with adoration of the blessed sacrament afterwards and also some little talks and testimonies and of course confessions will be available as well and hopefully throughout if we get enough priests!

Naturally these events couldn’t take place without some organisation and so we are extremely grateful to Brenda Walsh who’s not only a great prayer warrior but is also great fun too and of course to Monsignor Keith Baltrop who has kept our church as a beacon of light, hope and prayer throughout all the lockdowns etc. and continues to make it available for more prayer in these challenging times.

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A dynamic duo for Jesus and Mary!!

Anyway, that aside the biggest gift we can give Jesus and Mary is the gift of our hearts and prayers and to share their love with other people.

I’m sure Jesus would love to see our church filled and yet what He’d love even more is to see as many people as possible touched by His love and mercy. Especially those who haven’t experienced it yet!

So I’m not going to rabbit on today! If you are in central London and are free next Friday, June 25th, come along to Mary of the Angels for a great night of prayer and fellowship and don’t be afraid to invite a friend because you just never know what Jesus and Mary might do for them on this celebration of 40 years of Medjugorje.

Here is a little video promo I did….share it!!

Peace to all,

Michael