FROM THE VICARAGE
MARCH 2010  

Soon we will be in Holy Week, that special week when the church remembers Jesus suffering on the cross. This is the central mystery of the Christian faith. We believe that Jesus, the Son of God, was born to die this cruel innocent death to break the power of evil in this world, to show the extent of his love and forgiveness for us, to free us to live the life God intended for us.

This death means so much and speaks to us in different ways. One thing it reveals is how close God is to us. In Jesus, God lived as man and died as a man. He experienced the pains and struggles of ordinary human life. He suffered the worst that human beings could do to him. He willingly died for love of us.

And the power of his love triumphed over death. He rose again to be seen in bodily form by those who had been closest to him on earth. He came to comfort and encourage them. After his Ascension, when he was no more to be seen in the flesh, the faithful followers of Jesus knew the presence of God close beside them through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God is close to all of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ. We do not always know it. We often live our lives with our own resources, in our own strength and we get by. We believe, but our faith does not always seem to give us that extra richness of life which a close relationship with a loving God should give.

Prayer is the clue, listening to God in the midst of your ordinary life and sharing your concerns with him. But that is not always easy.

For me a real breakthrough was when I went on my first individually guided retreat. I was amazed; learning to pray with the Bible under the direction of an experienced guide. The stories of the bible came alive for me in a new way. The bible spoke into my life and I knew the presence of God. I heard him speak to me. Now I make such a retreat most years. And always, I experience the joy of his presence close beside me. Sometimes he challenges me; always I am refreshed by his love.

After Easter, between 28th April and 19th May we are offering an Individually Guided Retreat in Daily Life at St. Bernards. This is a chance for all who take part to be assisted in a discipline of daily prayer, tailored to their individual needs and circumstances, to discover the bible scriptures revealing God to them with new richness.
See the notice on St. Bernards notice board. Sign up if you can. The commitment is seven half hour meetings with a prayer guide on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons and a time of private daily prayer with scripture in between.

The more we meet with God in prayer, the better equipped we are for fuller Christian living in our daily lives.

We ran a similar retreat at St. Bernards a few years ago. Others can testify to the value of the experience. If you are not able to manage this retreat and you have the time and money, you may also be interested in one of the residential individually guided retreats which I organise in the summer and autumn.