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Our 500th Meeting is coming up in May 2025
Disclaimer: This a report by one of our members - Stefan Dahmann; however, this was not a Catenian event.
1 July 2024
🕊️ A Holy Spirit Day: A Journey of Renewal and Faith 🕊️
🕊️ A Holy Spirit Day: A Journey of Renewal and Faith 🕊️
Portsmouth Diocese has been running a 'Life in the Spirit' Seminar online via Zoom meetings since the beginning of June 2024. About 15 parishioners have been meeting in the Corpus Christi parish hall weekly to participate in the seminars together, i.e. some kind of hybrid format where we have been watching the online component but then have discussed our feedback with our fellow participants in the room.
The main highlight of that event series was an in-person event in Basingstoke and I would like to report on this fantastically spirit-led and -filled event:
More than 10 of us from Corpus Christi traveled to St Bede's and had the privilege of attending a half-day “Holy Spirit Day” at St. Bede’s in Basingstoke. Let me take you through this transformative experience:
The inside of St Bede's with full-submersion baptismal font - very modern and very beautiful
- Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament:
We joined midway through the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 9 am. The church was already filled with an expectant hush - a sense of the Spirit's presence was starting to emerge very noticeably.
- Mass:
At 9:30 am, Mass began. The pews were busy with well over 100 people - very unusual for a Saturday morning Mass. However, with people having attended Exposition already, there was a sense of expectation and Fr Paul delivered an excellent sermon on the day's Gospel.Â
- Praise and Worship:
For the next 1.5 hours, we immersed ourselves in Praise and Worship. It was more than music; it was an immersion into the Spirit. The room vibrated with an energy that transcended mere notes—it was the Holy Spirit moving among us.
We felt it—the presence, the warmth, the gentle nudges, people started to be deeply moved by the Spirit.
- Sacrament of Reconciliation:
Alongside Praise and Worship, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was offered. Numerous people took up that opportunity—a chance to seek forgiveness, healing, and renewal.
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit:
A short introduction followed—an invitation to explore the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” We gathered, hearts wide open, ready for the divine touch.
One by one, we were prayed over individually. The room held its breath as hands were laid upon us. Tears flowed, burdens lifted, and hearts expanded. It was beautiful—a sacred dance between heaven and earth.
- Renewed Enthusiasm and Commitment:
As the day unfolded, we came away with renewed enthusiasm. Our faith wasn’t just affirmed; it was set ablaze.
I certainly left St. Bede’s with a new commitment—to live my faith differently, to serve more energetically and to love more boldly.
- A Wonderful Time with and for the Lord:
It’s hard to capture in words, but it was a wonderful time—a thin place where the veil between the earthly and the divine grew gossamer-thin.
I stepped back into the world, knowing that I had encountered something beyond myselves.
May this blog post be a testament—a whisper of the Spirit’s touch—to all who seek, hunger, and believe. Â
If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these seminars or similar events then I can only urge you to take it! 🙏🔥
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