Kimi is currently in her third year of serving with Sion Community, and this year she has taken over the role of Events Coordinator for Sion Youth. She recently headed up an exciting venture for the community - our 24/7 prayer novena to intercede for the work of both Sion Community and evangelisation around the world.
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In September as a community we had a 24/7 Novena in our house, leading up to the feast day of our patron, St Michael the Archangel. This means that we had ongoing adoration for nine days, day and night, and members of our community (along with other people) were able to sign up for hour-long slots as and when we wanted, to ensure that there was always a 'watchman' present with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. That was our nine day journey into the heart of the Father God and what he wants for our community. But let’s start at the beginning.
There are two questions in my life that I constantly need to go back to. ‘Why pray?’ and ‘How to pray?’
Why pray?
There are a lot of answers to that one. We pray because God is present and he is listening and because it is good to be in his presence. We pray because the heartbeat of relationship is conversation and all he wants is an ongoing, living and loving relationship with each of us. We pray because the world is broken and we believe that our words can change it and that we can make a difference. We pray because Jesus said “Pray and don’t give up.”
How to pray?
I don’t know. Of course there are methods and ways and saints that can help us and will help us, but at the end of the day we need to discover it for ourselves. And at different times in our lives different things work. In the letter to the Romans, Paul says that the Holy Spirit comes to our help and teaches us how to pray. That is the how! Every time we pray, we can ask once again: ‘Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray in this time?’
You might be wondering what this has to do with our 24/7 Novena. Everything! Because we set out to intercede for the work that we do and for the world. We set out to hear from God and to speak words that will change our world. And we set out to pray and to not give up.
I can only speak for myself but every time we dare to do this I encounter God in a different way, in a surprising way. And He is so good to us all the time. So good.
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