Processional Prayer Vigil Led by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal
‘The Helpers of Gods Precious Infants‘ are an international pro-life group founded by Msgr. Philip Reilly on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 1989. Their main apostolate is prayer vigils at abortion facilities and our Spiritual Directors are Msgr. Reilly and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Our Lady of Guadalupe is our Patroness and is also the Protectress of Life.
Their trained pavement counsellors are available to speak with those who are considering abortion or to offer healing to those who have had abortions, to evangelise and most importantly are supported by prayer groups at the sites.
Seven Cardinals and over 100 Bishops participate world-wide, including: Bishops Thomas McMahon, Brentwood, John Hine, Southwark, Arthur Roche, Leeds and Alan Hopes, Westminster.
Reveiw of todays proceedings 09/06/2012
To say today was awsome would be an understatement.I’ve tried to find some pics of the fresco at the back of the Church (Our Lady of the Rosary, Brixton) online but haven’t found any…it was amazing, the best frescoe I have ever seen in a Greek orthodox style. It was simply breathtaking.The Mass was well attended with a really moving homily by one of the brothers and you really need to be there to appreciate a Franciscan Friar homily.I was nearly overwhelmed when on looking up from kneeling in the pew after receiving the Holy Sacrament I saw a lady wearing the mantilla and then after that others on both knees receiving the transubstantiated host.I was in the role of steward for the first time today helping the the faithfull procede through the streets of Brixton in safety We had some very vocal and at times obscene objection to our presence which was not suitable behaviour in front of our younger members and evetually the police came to move the offenders along but also a lot of Catholics off the street joined us and plenty were visibly seen crossing themselves when the Guadaloupe image approached them.
Afterwards I hooked up with my freind I met last time in the church upper room and exchanged email and numbers.He has a Philippino wife and I was telling him about my recent investigations into the Philippine Governmental structure and the how the Catholic Church works in union with it as a shining example of Catholic social teaching after being inspired by a Philippino speaker recently at a CAFOD function at Westminster.
I also met a young Friar who is training to be a Preist.Talking to him was a very humbling experience…wow!
stefangillies.wordpress.com 
July 17, 2012 at 6:00 pm |
Reveiw of vigil proceedings 14/7/2012
On the journey to saturdays vigil whilst on the train I finished the Holy Fathers book Verbum Domini which has had truly strengthening effect in the way I see my role within the Church.St Margarets is a modern Church of simplistic construction, not at all what I’m used to and I found this a humbling prompt to accept Christ’s presence in the poverty of minimalistic architechture starved of the usual ornate splendure seen in most Churches.I was delighted to be asked to help carry the Guadaloupe image to the abortion clinic through the rain – Rorate caeli desuper et nubes plant justem (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above and let the clouds rain the just).
Saturdays reading from Isaiah 6:1-8 had a powerful effect on me…
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Once back at the Church I had a very interesting chat with my freind Brendon and Brother John Boscoe who plays the organ for the Friars.Turns out he used to sing with Westminster Choristers who I saw and thoroughly enjoyed recently at a Solemn Mass for the repose of the soul of Phyllis Bowman.The next Vigil is at one of my favourite venues St Thomas’ at Woodford and Bishop Thomas McMahon will be there.
http://www.stmargarets-church.co.uk/
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093) was an English princess of the House of Wessex. Born in exile in Hungary, she was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Margaret and her family returned to England in 1057 but fled to the Kingdom of Scotland following the Norman conquest of England of 1066.
Margaret grew up in a very religious environment in the Hungarian court. Andrew I of Hungary was known as “Andrew the Catholic” for his extreme aversion to pagans, and great loyalty to Rome, which probably could have induced Margaret to follow a pious life.Still a child, she came to England with the rest of her family when her father, Edward, was recalled in 1057 as a possible successor to her great-uncle, the childless Edward the Confessor. Her father died soon after the family’s arrival in England, but Margaret continued to reside at the English court where her brother, Edgar Ætheling, was considered a possible successor to the English throne. When the Confessor died in January 1066, Harold Godwinson was selected as king, Edgar perhaps being considered still too young. After Harold’s defeat at the battle of Hastings later that year, Edgar was proclaimed King of England, but when the Normans advanced on London, the Witenagemot presented Edgar to William the Conqueror who took him to Normandy before returning him to England in 1068, when Edgar, Margaret, Cristina and their mother Agatha fled north to Northumbria.
Margaret’s biographer Turgot, Bishop of St. Andrews, credits her with having a civilizing influence on her husband Malcolm by reading him stories from the Bible. She instigated religious reform, striving to make the worship and practices of the Church in Scotland conform to those of Rome. She was considered an exemplar of the “just ruler”, and influenced her husband and children, especially her youngest son, later David I, also to be just and holy rulers.
She attended to charitable works, serving orphans and the poor every day before she ate, and washing the feet of the poor in imitation of Christ. She rose at midnight every night to attend church services. She invited the Benedictine order to establish a monastery at Dunfermline in Fife and established ferries at Queensferry and North Berwick to assist pilgrims journeying from south of the Forth Estuary to St. Andrews in Fife.She is also known to have been an intercessor for the release of Anglo-Saxon captives.
Saint Margaret was canonised in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Church, work for religious reform, and charity. On 19 June 1250, after her canonisation, her remains were moved to Dunfermline Abbey.[4] The Roman Catholic Church formerly marked the feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland on 10 June, because the feast of “Saint Gertrude, Virgin” was already celebrated on 16 November, but in Scotland, she was venerated on 16 November, the day of her death. In the revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969, 16 November became free and the Church transferred her feast day to 16 November.[5] However, some traditionalist Catholics continue to celebrate her feast day on 10 June.