Pray4… Forgiveness

For the fourth consecutive night, we were joined by a larger than expected crowd for our evening service of reconciliation. We gathered in the Lady Chapel, around the Baptismal Font, where we recalled our initiation into friendship with Christ, listened to the Holy Scriptures and renewed our baptismal commitment.

After processing into the main body of the church, priest friars were available for both confession and counsel. At the confessional, we restored, rekindled, renewed and repaired the friendship with God that we received by God’s grace at Baptism.

Oliver James Keenan OP

Confession is the Sacrament of Return to Holy Communion. As we processed into the Church, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the throne of the High Altar. In anticipation of the eternal inheritance promised to us by the Father, we gathered around the glorified and risen Christ, asking his mercy for ourselves and our world.

Many entered church via ‘Alan Cheales Way’, named by the local council after our late brother, Fr Alan Cheales OP (1913-1996), whose ministry of reconciliation is still fondly remembered in this parish.

With the main West doors of the church open, the candlelit sanctuary looks particularly beautiful from the road. Many passers by have stopped to chat, light a candle or offer prayer: for some, this has been the first time they have seen the interior of the austere-looking building that they pass by daily.

Although the evening events have been covered on Godzdogz, they are by no means the only thing the brethren have been doing. Yesterday morning, for example, brothers preached at a local secondary school, and visited those in local nursing homes and sheltered accommodation. This evening our thoughts turn toward the teenagers of the parish, who are invited to join us for ‘Prayer, Praise and Pizza’ at 7.30 p.m.