Eamonn Diffley
Eamonn shared the following prayer to St Peregrine. This prayer dedicated to sick relatives and friends brought Eamonn great hope and peace as his daughter underwent treatment for serious illness.
O great St. Peregrine, you have been called ‘The Mighty’, ‘The Wonder Worker’ because of the numerous miracles which you obtained from God for those who have turned to you in their need.
For so many years, you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being.
You turned to God when the power of human beings could do no more, and you were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His cross to heal your affliction.
I now ask God to heal these sick persons whom I entrust to you:
Aided by your powerful intercession, I shall sing with Mary a hymn of gratitude to God for His great goodness and mercy.
Amen.
Emma Wynne
‘Christ for me…a source of Hope’ is very much associated with the scripture passage ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ (Phil. 4:13) At the retreat, I shared my first personal encounter with the Lord, at the age of 12 years, when I made a terrible decision to attend boarding school and subsequently run away from it! It’s a long story – and I caused a lot of bother. However, in the depths of childhood despair and feeling entirely alone for the first time ever, my dad sent me that scripture passage on a little prayer card through the post. Holding onto and reading those words over and over became the first time I truly realised that I would never be alone. Through the joys of life and through its challenges the Lord is always there, by my side, giving me the strength to move forward and also grow stronger in my faith. The path I take may not always be the obvious or easy one but, time and time again, I return to those encouraging words and place my hope and trust in the Lord that He will give me the strength and fortitude He knows I need.
Fr Jeff Dodds
My favourite scripture quotation is from St John’s Gospel 3:16.‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’
At the retreat, I shared how, at the age of eighteen, I nearly signed up to join the Royal Navy! At the final stage of the application process, I decided I couldn’t go through with it. I was searching deeply for meaning in my life; maybe I could find it by travelling the world! An invitation to attend a charismatic retreat later that year helped me to realise that God was a personal God – someone with whom I could journey with each day to discern what I should do with my life. I sensed that I knew God had a definite plan for me. But, what? The journey towards priesthood really began then and was strengthened by four fantastic years as an apprentice design draughtsman at Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend. It became the training ground not just for me but also for Robson Green, the local North-East actor, for us to discern the paths that we might take in life. You could say that we now have a lot in common!
Over the years, Jesus has become a constant hope in my life. A hope that is real and becomes flesh in the daily events I and others find ourselves in. An inspired quote from Thomas Merton has always encouraged me for decades to grow in the calling and giftedness of holiness – ‘For me to be a Saint, I must be myself…’
I ended my reflection with those on retreat by reminding them and myself once again that God’s grace is always there for us to seek and receive. The guiding power of the Holy Spirit will always encourage us to grow and meet the challenges of life with an ‘attitude of gratitude’. After all, it is God’s Kingdom we are building each day – and it becomes real and ours whether we realise this or not.
Minnie Fraser
At the staff/clergy retreat, I spoke about how Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’ has led me in my journey of faith. I first heard about LS in a Curia Comms session but learned more about it when I was appointed to be Diocesan Environmental Lead. I explained how I had tried to resist the call to train as a Laudato Si’ Animator, but eventually did the training and I haven’t regretted it. Since then, I have found that I see aspects of my faith and the Liturgy through a lens of Laudato Si’. I spoke of my frustration of the message falling on deaf ears, my grief for the damage we have done to our common home and the effect on those in the global south. I also talked about my hope that I can inspire action in others and how I now find the Lord’s presence in the beauty of nature. I shared St Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures with everyone.
