To help us prepare for our upcoming Healing Service, please find below some points of reflection. The celebration is not a Holy Mass but an hour of prayer which will involve a testimony, music, scripture readings, reflection and a concrete sign of our reconciliation with one another. We shall have a Cross and a Baptismal Font. We shall touch the Cross and leave everything there (burdens, hurts, wounds, shame, regret etc) and take whatever we desire for own spiritual growth, for our families, for our parish and for our city. We will have the opportunity to renew our baptismal promises – to once again choose God and to ask Him to renew us. We shall renounce the evil one and all his empty promises. The evil one desires to see hatred, division and indifference. By renewing our baptismal promises, we shall ask the evil one to pack his things and leave town, for we belong to God. EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE: R/: Lord, we ask for forgiveness • For our failure to seek our neighbor especially in those in need of help • For carrying animosity against a family member, a parishioner, a friend that has lasted for a long time • For our lack of tolerance and charity towards those who do not share our views and opinions • For having injured others by gossip and criticism • For our failure to listen to people • For having expected too much of people without trying to understand the circumstances of their lives • For these and for all the many ways we have sinned against God and neighbour. Response: God, surprise Us Again • When we miss the beauty and the joy of earth’s goodness • When the goodness of others gets lost in the rush • When our frailty outruns our strength • When the hope in our hearts fade away • When the call to serve others loses its flavor • When we search for the way home to you • When loneliness pursues us • When the ache of the world wears our compassion thin • When the trouble of others seems more than we can carry Response: Walk Closely With Us God. • As we strive to live our lives well • As we hurt in the process of loving our enemies • As we learn to accept our weaknesses and strengths • As we discover you in those whom we serve. Have a blessed weekend. Your brother, Fr. Obi