Tuesday May 15th, 2012

Monthly Update : The Fullness of Truth

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well and at peace,

After Easter I traveled to Paris do a talk in the Beautiful

church of Saint Sulpice, which is the second biggest in the

city. The event that was was taking place there was to

celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, thousands of people

packed the Church for the Vigil and during the Mass Fr

Daniel Ange got up to speak and it was a such a blessing to

witness the fire and conviction with which he preached.

After the Mass my talk took place and I had a man called

Jean Phillipe translating my words into French. It is the

second time he has done this and I could tell that he was

truly translating the Spirit and not just the words. When I

thanked him for this he told me that he looked upon it as a

ministry for the Lord. It was great to spend some time with

him and to see his love for God and his desire that others

encounter that love.

Paris is a city that I love to visit and has a fantastic history

of great men and women of God. In the Church of the

Rue du Bac lies the in-corrupt body of St Catherine Laboure

to whom Our Lady gave the miraculous medal. When I

prayed in there I lifted up to Our Lady all the young people

to who I have spoken over the years many of whom I have

given miraculous medals. Around the corner to this is another

Church with the body of St Vincent de Paul whose witness

of service to the poor still bears fruit to this day.

A few years ago I had a dream which reminded me just how

important the Saints are in our walk with God. Not only are

they witnesses by their very lives, but they stand before God

and intercede for us and their missions have not finished just

because they are in heaven. Another French Saint, Therese

of Lisieux said "I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth".

In the dream which I mentioned I was surrounded by Lions

and at first I was afraid of them, but then I was aware that the

Lions were in fact protecting me. When I prayed about this I

felt that God was showing me that the Lions represented the

Saints and they are a powerful source of protection and help.

When I returned from Paris I was running Parish missions in

Donnamanagh, Co Tyrone and then in Bohola,Co Mayo.

After which I ran a retreat entitled 'Healing the wounds of

our past' in Knock. During this retreat I felt that God

was showing me that if we really want to be free to serve

him wholeheartedly and to find healing in our lives we must

use the fullness of the truth that God has given us in his Church.

In other words the Sacraments of the Church, The word of God,

The Saints, The Angels and Our Lady. If we use all that God has

made available to us it is an awesome power and the words that

Jesus spoke to Peter should echo in our hearts "You are Peter

and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell

will not prevail against it". During the weekend there was immense

grace and I saw that many people were being set free to complete

the mission entrusted them by God.

Please keep a young man called Anthony in your prayers, he recently

spent a few days with me for the second time and he has gone back

to London and it is very difficult for him at the moment.

Over the last few weeks I have done Talks to secondary school

students in Banagher Co Offaly, Cahir Co. Tipperary and at

Tulla, Co Clare. At Tulla I met my old friend Sister Bosco

who has an amazing gift with young people. She has worked

at the school for 30 years and the teenagers absolutely love her,

because they know she loves them. Not surprisingly she has taken

her religious name from St John Bosco who is the patron saint of

young people, he once said "It is not enough for young people to

be loved, they must know that they are loved!" For me it was a

privilege to spend time with Sister Bosco and I always come away

feeling uplifted. I must say that on reading the emails that some

of the students sent to me after the talks it is clear that like all of us

they are crying out for love and truth in their lives.

I also led a one day school retreat for a group of students from

Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, the highlight of the day was when

they went to confession and you could see the joy in them

afterwards.

I remember a couple of years ago I was doing a talk at a school

in Ireland and it was a Priest who was the school chaplain that

had asked me to come in and speak. I could see that it was a

tough place for him to minister in. I have great admiration for

people like him who keep going faithfully no matter what the

cost to themselves. I felt this so strongly that at the end of my

talk, in front of all the kids I knelt down and asked for his blessing.

As he was blessing me he burst into tears and quite spontaneously

all of the young people gave him a round of applause because I

think it had dawned on them how much he cared about them.

Mother Teresa often said we are not called to be successful but

Faithful, so let us pray that when we get to heaven we might hear

those words from Jesus "Well done good and faithful servant"

and that the Saints and Angels that we have called on to help us

during our lives would be there to welcome us to our heavenly

home.

You are very much in my heart and prayers.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

Monday April 9th, 2012

Monthly Update:  The Wounded Body of Christ Being Healed

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are well and at peace.

Recently I had the joy to visit Houston in Texas where

I was doing some talks. From the moment I arrived at

the airport I was made to feel totally at home, I was 

met by a man called Phil who showed me around and

gave me my first taste of Texas hospitality, when you 

travel as much as I do you really appreciate when 

people go out of their way to make you feel so welcome. 

After my first talk a 14 year old girl came up to me and 

said that she had never felt God’s love for her and she 

doubted his existence. I asked her would she like me to 

say a prayer over her and she said yes. Whilst I was 

praying I sensed that she had suffered a lot in her 

childhood and I said to her that God had never wanted 

her to suffer. She began to weep and then turned to me 

and said “He’s real isn’t He?” For the first time in her life 

she knew that God loved her.

The person who invited me over was called Steve Bollman

who is the founder of a program called "That man is You!"

which is transforming men and teaching them what it is

to be an authentic Man of God. I must say it was a great

privilege to spend time with him and his wife. Both of them

are living their lives completely for God and not holding

anything back, you can see the joy in them because of that.  

Whilst I was there I spoke in a Parish, a university and at

women's prayer breakfast which was a first for me.

As I got chatting to the different folks at these events they

were so open it was like being with family members, time

and again people shared their struggles and difficulties of

everyday life and I shared my own, but in it all there was

incredible grace. None of us are perfect but God uses us

to bring healing to one another when we come together 

in his name.

Next I travelled to Bridgeport, Connecticut where I was 

running a Parish mission for Fr Peter Towsley. Before

becoming a Diocesan Priest Fr Peter had spent many

years with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

Usually when I do missions there are five of us on the

team, so it was a new experience to do one on my own.

It was great to hear at the end of my time there that many

people had come back to the Sacrament of confession after

years away.

I went to meet one particular family who had seven children 

and both the mother and father were working full time for

God. The mother in natural family planning and the Dad 

for the Knights of Columbus. Once again I felt part of the

family straight away and enjoyed showing the lads that an

Englishman could beat them at pool. 

At the end of my time in Bridgeport my old mate Br Francis

came and picked me up and drove me to New York where 

he had arranged a few talks. I had first met Br Francis twenty

years previously when we were both newly converted to our

faith and we had some great adventures together as God taught

us his ways. At one point he read the story of St Francis of Asissi

and how he had given away all of his riches for love of God,

and the next day inspired by this he literally gave away everything

he owned and decided he wanted to follow in his footsteps. Not

long after he joined the Franciscans of the Renewal where he 

has been for the last sixteen years.

The first talk I did was for a community called the Bruderhof in

upstate New York. They are an amazing group who live a very

simple life just trying to follow the Gospel as closely as they can.

They are a great example to me of charity and hospitality and every

time I have visited them I always come away enriched in some way.

Then I spoke at a place called Children's village in New York city,

most of the teenagers who live there are either orphans or no longer

able to live with their parents. All of them have suffered in their young

lives. As I was speaking to them I knew that God was reaching into

their pain and showing them that they are precious to him and very

important in his plans, the scripture came to me "Even if your father

and mother forget you, I will never forget you."

On St Patricks day I spoke at the associates day of one of the Franciscan

houses, the associates are like third order Franciscans, who help out

with the various ministry's to the poor and young people and they all

come together once a month for a day of prayer. It was a real blessing

to me to meet some of my old friends from the time I had spent as friar 

myself years earlier. Once again it felt like being with family and I had 

some beautiful grace filled conversations.

Next I went to run a Parish mission in Hamilton, Ontario with a great 

priest called Fr William Trusz. One man came up to me and shared

that he had been to confession for the first time in thirty five years and

it had changed his life, and I knew that the whole trip would have been

worth it just for him.

I got back to Ireland on the Wednesday of Holy week and myself and 

Niall who is in community with me, went into one of the local pubs for 

a pint of Guinness and a game of pool, after having gone to confession at

our Parish reconciliation service. The barmaid asked us if we were in

Ireland on holiday, so we told her that we actually live here and run 

missions in parishes and schools, as we told her this tears began to 

well up in her eyes and she said that when she was younger she wanted

to join the nuns and she actually helped run retreats for young people

but she had become an alcoholic and had stopped going to Mass a long

time ago. I told her that Jesus misses her and she said she knew it was

true. I gave her one of my books and she said she was definitely going

to read it. 

Unbeknown to me one of the men sitting at the bar had 

overheard the entire conversation and had asked the barmaid if he could

look at my book, then he came over to me and told me that he had spent

a lot of his life in prison for various crimes and he was so happy to hear

that people could change, he said he wasn't a religious man but the 

barmaid had promised to lend him copy of the book and he was looking

forward to reading how I'd changed. I thought I was going in the pub

just for a pint of Guinness but God had other plans. At every moment

of our lives he wants to bring his healing and his gentle mercy to all

those we meet and often it is through our very weakness.

I pray that you have a truly Blessed and joyful Easter Season.

You are very much in my heart and prayers.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

St Therese (as painted by Br Francis Edkins CFR)

Thursday March 1st, 2012

Monthly Update:  God's Light Can Break Into Our Darkness

Hello everyone

I hope you are well and at peace,

A few weeks ago I was running a Parish mission in

Glenties in Co. Donegal. On the Tuesday night I gave

the talk on confession and then I left the Church early

because I had to be in Knock that same night. I had parked

my car in Fr Shane's driveway to make a quick getaway.

But when I got to the driveway it was full with the cars

of the priests who had come to hear confessions. Instead

of waiting patiently until the end of the service I made the

mistake of trying to drive across Fr Shane's lawn to slip

out a little gap that was there, to my horror my cars

wheels became deeply embedded in the turf and after

much wheel spinning  it became clear I was going to

need help to get out. In the end it escalated into about

10 strong blokes and a tow rope attached to another

car being used to get me out. Of course these men had

a great laugh at my expense, and rightly so.

As I was driving to knock after this episode I was thinking

how the whole situation reminded me of what the results

of sin are in our lives. First we go off the path God has planned

for us thinking that we know a better way and then when it is

too late to turn back we find ourselves completely bogged down

in our sin and unable to escape on our own strength. It is then

that we reach out for help and Jesus is always there to not only

forgive us but to put us back on the right path when we turn to

him in the Sacrament of reconciliation.

Of course the car had left a couple of massive holes in Fr Shane's

lawn, which I felt bad about, when I apologised to him he laughed

and told me he was now thinking of turning the holes into a fish

pond.

Last week I went to Waterford to speak in the De La Salle School

and the RE teacher Dermot managed to put 500 young people together

for the talk and it was so refreshing to see their openness. Afterwards

I received some beautiful emails expressing how some of the students

were going to return to mass and really try to make God an important

part of their lives.

One thing that I have noticed more and more lately is that God can

reach out and touch lives at a very young age, recently a teenage

girl called Sarah came to stay with us for a week to do her work

experience from school. Five years ago she came to one of the

Masses at a retreat we we doing in her Church, even though she

was only ten years of age, she felt a deep sense of Our Lady's

love for her and not only did it transform her own life but her

whole family have come alive in their faith. She is fearless for

God and has spoken in Churches all over Ireland and she is

not yet sixteen, to me that is amazing!

Whenever we truly meet the love of God, he changes us and

he shines his light into our darkness, to those places where

we don't feel we can be loved. I used to be addicted to

gambling, but seven years ago I made a promise to God never

to gamble again. I had a priest offer up a Mass for this

intention and even presented my promise at the offertory.

Four years after this I was giving talks in Phoenix, Arizona,

and not far from Phoenix is Las Vegas, the gambling capital

of the world. A thought came to me "You've overcome gambling,

why not go and visit Las Vegas?" Looking back I know that thought

wasn't from God. When I got to Vegas I lasted about half a day but

then I blew $200 dollars on a roullette table, and to justify my sin I

gave the croupier a miraculous medal and said to myself that's why

I came to this place. Then I felt God say to me "who are you trying

to kid?"

I felt absolutely devastated at this betrayal of God and breaking the

promise I had made to him. So I found a Catholic Church and I knelt

down before a statue of Our Lady and said to her that I was going

to pray a rosary to make up for my wretchedness, but I felt her

say "NO, Let me pray over You!" Then I felt she reached into my

heart and touched the place where no one else knows about and I

don't want anyone to see, the place which I would hide even from

myself and she showed me in a deeper way than words can express

that I am totally loved and accepted. Since that day I have never

again had the desire to gamble.

I think God calls us to bring that utter mercy and acceptance to

everyone we meet and to show people that no matter where they

have been or what they have done he has a heart that burns

with love for them and he has healing in his hands. St Therese of

Lisieux is the patron Saint of missions and I feel she is so powerful

a helper in this work. She said that "I will spend my heaven doing

good upon earth!" and I never do a talk now without calling upon

her to bring down the fire of the Holy Spirit from Heaven. Imagine

my joy when my great friend Br Francis who is now based in

New York, sent me as a birthday present the picture of Therese

(that I have attached to this message) which he painted himself.

It is even more incredible when you consider that until he joined

the Franciscans brother Francis had never painted before.

Please keep us in your prayers that God will reach more and more

lives with his mercy. As I was leaving a mission a few days ago a woman

in her fifties came up to me and said that this week she had made

the first real confession of her life and her best friend had also gone after

being away from the Sacrament for twenty years, she told me she

felt so happy it was like being innocent as a child again.

This week I am travelling to Texas, then Connecticut, New York and

Finally Toronto to give talks. It is always good to go back

to New York. A few years ago I was in the Bronx and I was taking

part in a retreat and because I used to smoke I went outside for a

cigarette, now this particular area was well known for prostitution

and one of these ladies approached me and asked me for a light,

as I looked into her eyes I could see a real deadness, she had given

up on anything good ever happening to her. So I told her that there

was once a fifteen year old girl who fell in love with a man, but he used

her abused her and dumped her and her heart was torn within her.

Soon after she met another man and once again she fell in love only

for the same thing to happen to her again.

This pattern continued until eventually the girl was selling herself

for the money she needed to survive. Everyone looked down on

her and judged her, but one day she met a man unlike any other,

he seemed to see deep into her heart and accepted and cherished

her for who she was, she fell to her knees before him, washed his feet

with her tears and dried them with her hair. The man was Jesus, the

woman was Mary Magdalene. As I finished the story there was a

light in the Lady's eyes, the light of hope, and I knew that she had

remembered the story perhaps from her childhood, then she said

to me "Will you please pray for me?" I have prayed for her every

day since and one day I hope to meet her in heaven.

You are very much in my heart and prayers.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

Just before Christmas I was running a Parish mission

at Ayrfield in Dublin. There I met a man who had been

very badly betrayed by some people he trusted, because

of this he found it very hard to trust anyone again. But

because he had read my book he was willing to open

up to me, he wanted to go to confession but he was

who has an incredible gift of loving, he was able to unload

all the burdens he was carrying to him and afterwards he

was deeply touched by the love of God in the healing service.

Fr Tom said that the whole mission was worthwhile just

for him.

border control entering the United States, the man who

was checking my passport said "You seem to have visited

a lot of different countries, for what purpose" I told him that

I am an evangelist and I write books. "What kind of books?"

was his reply, so I told him I used to be a Gangster in

London until God changed my life.  He then asked "did

you spend time in prison?" I said "I'm not going to tell you!"

(there was always the possibility that he wouldn't let me into

the country with my record) we both laughed and he said

"I love books like that!" so I gave him a copy, and he cleared

me to enter country. I had to smile because only God

could have arranged such an incident.

We arrived in LA on Christmas Eve and we where driving

around looking for a place to eat, but of course everywhere

was full, I pulled up outside a Polish restaurant, Niall

went in to see if there was any tables free and while he was

waiting he felt inspired to give one of the waitresses a miraculous

medal and she was so delighted, it obviously meant a lot to

her. Even though it was very busy they cleared a table for us

and we had a lovely meal and despite being half way round

the world they made as feel like a part of their family in the

restaurant. At the end of the meal I gave the same waitress

my rosary beads and she was very moved and just gave

me a big hug, she had a deep faith in God and he seemed

to be showing her on Christmas Eve how precious she was

to him.

Even though we were on holiday there were many occasions

where the Holy Spirit asked us to be available to him and

as Mother Teresa used to say "Give until it hurts"

Whilst in Los Angeles I spent some time with Paul Kelmenson

who you might remember is a big producer that would like

to turn my book into a film, his mother who is an actress herself

joined us and we had a blessed time together. We discussed

how difficult it is to give witness to God in an environment like

Hollywood. In my opinion he is a great witness as is his mum.

We went to Mass together in Beverley hills in the Church where

Frank Sinatra's funeral took place and where many of the stars

have worshiped God.

We then traveled to Mexico City to visit the shrine of Our Lady

of Guadalupe, years previously I had consecrated my heart to

Mary before this very image and it was always my desire to

visit the shrine. During Mass in the Basilica, a family sat beside

me who were obviously very poor and had probably walked

a long way to get there as they were covered in dust.They had

a young son, I felt Our Lady ask me to give the little boy some

money, as I did so I told him "this is for Christmas" and he lit up

and he gestured that he would pray for me, I said I would do

the same.

After flying back from the States, we departed directly for

England to run two weeks of  retreats at a school

in Canterbury, even before we started we were jet lagged.

It was a hard slog and we had to be up at 5am each morning

and there were also talks in the evenings, after having been

in the school all day. We had a day off scheduled, but lo and

behold talks were arranged on that day also. By this stage

we all felt tired, but then the words of Mother Teresa came

back to me once more "Give until it hurts". God asks us to

be generous, especially when we don't particularly feel like it.

Each day of the retreat the students had the opportunity

to go to confession and over the two weeks literally hundreds

of them took advantage of this sacrament of forgiveness and

there were a lot of tears during these services. Many of them

emailed me to tell of there experience of meeting Jesus in a

very real way and they said it had changed their lives. Some

days the demand for confession was simply too great for the

number of priests we had.

On the final day of the retreat we had a school Mass and

Bishop John Hine presided and eight other priests concelebrated

with him, these had come because they had been so moved

by hearing the young peoples confessions and by the retreats

during the fortnight we were there. This was a truly joyful end

to the mission and the words of scripture came to me "Those

who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap."

Here are a couple of the emails the students sent after the retreats;

one young lad wrote "Thanks for what you did at the school today,

I felt a big emptiness in me for a long time but I was afraid to tell

anyone, God has filled that emptiness and made me feel loved."

one of the girls said "I just wanted to email and say thank you for

the mission it really made me feel better about being open about

my religion, I used to get teased but your retreat helped me realise

I shouldn't hide who I am, so thanks." Finally another girl expressed

"After I went to confession at the retreat today I felt a wave of relief

pour out over me, and I realised what a good day it had been as I

had found a way back into Jesus. The miraculous medal you gave

us is on me, and I doubt it will come off, and I have just done a decade

of the rosary, I haven't done one in years, again after it an overwhelming

sense of peace came over me, I'm also going back to church on Sunday.

I've realised what a beautiful place the world is and how everyone fits

into that beauty."

I really believe the more we give the more we receive and God is never

outdone in generosity, even though I'm tired I know how much God has

used his broken instruments.

Rich Mullins the famous christian singer/songwriter once said, "Unless we

fall into bed each night exhausted, from bringing souls to God, what right

do we have to say we are christian?"

You  and all those you love are very much in my prayers

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore 

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well and at peace

I have just returned to Ireland after a tour of England

and Scotland running parish missions and speaking

in schools across the country.

The last day of the tour I got up early in the morning

and drove two hours to speak in a school at Barrow

in Furness, Cumbria. After the talk was finished I

then drove four hours up to Cairnryan to catch my

ferry to Belfast and by this stage I was looking 

forward to getting home. But when the ferry got to

Belfast and I was in my car ready to drive off, for

some reason the ramp wouldn't open and I was

stuck for two hours, I felt like Jonah in the belly

of the whale. When I eventually got back to our 

house I must admit I was pretty tired and 

discouraged and moaning a bit to God. I went to 

check my emails and the first one I read was the

following,

"Hello, I was at the school today when you did the 

talk. Before you came I was a strong athiest, I 

believed God did not choose me as one he will 

love. But today when you told us to say the prayer 

in the silence of our hearts, my heart felt warm and 

I had such a strong feeling inside me that Jesus was 

very close to me. I now believe there is someone

looking down on me and protecting me. I want a 

crucifix like the one you had today to show God 

suffered out of love for us."

I can honestly say I was blown away by God's 

goodness at that moment, the way he shows us

his grace when we least expect it and when we 

don't deserve it.

Next week I will be meeting a woman called

Betty Brennan, a few years ago I heard her testimony

and it made a deep impact on my life. The thing that

hit me was when she said before she did a talk she was

always very honest with God, and she would give him her 

desire to be loved and accepted by the people she was 

speaking to, also her pride and ego and all the secret 

emotions that we all have. In other words being open 

and vulnerable before God and not pretending that these 

things are not in us. Since then I have always tried to do 

the same. I had a spiritual director called Fr Denis Herlihy 

and he said that all spiritual growth depends on honesty with

ourselves and honesty with God.

One time I was asked to come and help run a youth

retreat and the organiser of the retreat kept telling me

that he loved what I  had done and was going to get me to

speak in many different places where he had connections.

As the week of the retreat went by I noticed that it could

have been run in a way which the kids would have a much

greater chance of a personal encounter with God. I had

a dilemma, should I say something or keep quiet? I went

into the chapel and began to speak to God about it, the

more I prayed the more I felt I should say something, then

I said to God, what if I say something and because of that

I won't be asked to do all these other talks? I felt God

responded, Who do you serve? Who do you think arranges

your schedule, him or me?

I knew what I had to do, I spoke to the man about the changes

that I felt would help and there really was great grace because

of them, but sure enough there was no contact from him from

that time onwards about the talks he had promised. But just a

few weeks later my phone rang and I was invited to come and

speak at the World Youth Day in Sydney to nearly half a million

young people in one talk. I knew that only God could have

arranged it, and he was showing me that when I serve him he

will take care of everything else.

Shortly before that talk took place, I was in a gathering of youth

leaders and we were singing praise to God, around that time I

had been doing a lot of media work with TV and radio and there

was a loads of hype connected with World Youth Day. But during

this time of prayer I felt like a little child kneeling before the throne

of God, naked with nothing between me and that gaze of the Lord,

he could see straight past all the outward things and I felt him say

"It is you that I love!" All I could do was thank him that he would

give someone like me the privilage of speaking on his behalf.

As we approach Christmas and the birth of Jesus, who humbled

himself to come to us as a helpless child and entrusted himself

into the safe arms of Our Lady, I am reminded that every time

I feel down or crushed by the difficulties and pressures of life,

I can go to Our Lady and ask her to hold me in her arms and it 

is there we can always find the peace and strength that we all need.

You and all your loved ones are in my heart and prayers this 

Christmas.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

Tuesday October 11th, 2011

Monthly Update: Do You Live Your Life For Jesus Christ?

Hello everyone 

I hope you are well and at peace,

Recently I did a talk in Ireland and whilst I was speaking

I really felt called to challenge the people to put God first

in their lives and afterwards as I was reflecting on what had 

been said I received the following email which the girl who 

sent it asked that I might share with others.

She said "Around ten years ago I attended my first ever

retreat. You were one of the main speakers. I was 24 then 

and never, ever in my life before had I heard the 

Truth spoken with such conviction and courage than I did 

the day I heard it from you that weekend. It was like Jesus 

himself was speaking not you!!! After your talk, although I 

was somewhat a shy person back then I wanted to speak 

to you. At the lunch time (even though I was a wee bit 

scared of you) I sat myself in the seat right beside yours 

at the dinner table and began to ask you lots of questions. 

In mid sentence you stopped me and asked me a question 

I shall never forget, nor the look on your face when you 

asked me: " Do you live your life for Jesus Christ?". I 

couldn't believe the brass neck of you at the time and I think 

I was a little embarrassed as I muttered something like 

"eee yes of course i do..." rather defensively. Enroute to my 

room that evening my heart was challenged like never before. 

I was thinking to myself how dare he be so rude. I don't think I 

like him any more.  He's judging me because I'm wearing nice 

clothes and make-up etc. shortly after this thought, I heard a 

very still inner voice saying "well do you?" I knew, up until that 

point that I didn't because I was afraid, but then I said to myself, 

I want to let the yes that I told him become true, I really do want 

to live my entire life for Jesus Christ and nobody else. 

I believe without a shadow of a doubt that The person of Jesus Christ 

became real to me during that weekend in a moment of grace 

through encountering you. That was it. I met Him and my life 

has never ever been the same,and it never will it be the same!  

To give a person Jesus is to give them EVERYTHING!! You 

told me my Saviour's name and that He existed and that he 

loved me and that he wanted to share his life with me !!! This 

was worth more than gold!!! His love is so powerful that I had 

a permanent smile on my face for a whole year after that. No 

doubt people knew I was happy because I could not hide it 

even if I wanted to - I had truly fallen deeply deeply in Love with 

Jesus.  The truth you spoke turned into Joy for me and it was 

completely transparent!" When I read this email I knew that

God was showing me that it is always our responsibility to 

speak the truth in love.

Several years ago We were running a retreat in London and

all the way through the weekend I couldn't help but feel there

was something missing from the message which was being

proclaimed, it was nice but nothing more than that. Then during

the final talk of the retreat the Priest said if you want to know

what Jesus wants, the answer is simple, he wants everything!

He gives us himself completely and he wants us to give him

everything in return, it is only then that we truly experience the

joy which is his plan for us. It was than that I realised that what

was mussing was feeling challenged by the talks. God's message 

to us can sometimes be challenging but it always sets us free to 

know his love and friendship in a deeper way.

I have just returned from Italy where I spoke in many schools,

and Parishes. It was a grace filled time and I was very

impressed by the priests and sisters that I met there who had

a deep love for God which shone through. Also Augusto who

was my translator who organised the trip was a great 

witness to me of faith and service.

Over the next few weeks I will be speaking to many thousands

of young people in secondary schools across England and

Scotland, please pray for them that they might experience

God's love and plan for them.

I remember one time I was struggling with my own brokenness

and wondering what Jesus was going to do with me, because even

though I was trying sometimes I would say things I wished I hadn't  

and I was feeling a bit down that I couldn't be a better person. 

That day I went to Mass and the Priest got up and said there are

some people in this Church who when we stand before 

Jesus will feel ashamed and like total failures, then Jesus will 

say to us "look behind you" and there will thousands of souls

who are there because of what we have done with our lives.

Sometimes when we serve God we may not feel popular but

we live to hear those words "come in good and faithful servant".

I will never forget a sermon I heard from Fr John Armitage who

said unless we are willing to be converted every single day we

are spiritually dead. A wise friend of mine once asked me what 

is the most important thing we can do with our lives? I replied 

that he was much older and wiser than me what did he think it is? 

He said "To bring as many souls as possible to God, starting with

our own." It was the best advice I ever received.

You are very much in my heart and prayers.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore

Thursday September 6th, 2011

Monthly Update : Everything Has It's Time and Season With God

Hello Everyone 

I hope you are well and at peace 

One thing that God has been showing me recently is that everything has its time and season with him, we never know when God's grace will kick in.

I recently spoke at a mission in Co Cork. The next day 
a woman asked to speak with me, she told me she had 
come to a point of despair in her life, she felt she couldn't 
carry on. She saw the mission advertised and she prayed 
to God that he would help her, but she said if nothing 
changed she planned to take her own life the next day. As 
I was sharing my story and throughout the evening she had 
a powerful encounter with the love of God. The next day 
when she woke up she had a tremendous sense of joy in her 
heart and all she wanted to do was pray and thank God. She 
wanted me to know what had happened to her. The Parish 
Priest had said to me that when he was blessing the people 
with Jesus in the Eucharist he felt that many of them were 
receiving great healing. Her words shared that this was true. 

 There was one person I knew since my childhood who I had 
been very hurt by, when I changed and started to try to live 
for God, this person made life as difficult as possible for me, 
and I don't mind admitting that at times I had a lot of anger 
in me towards them. So I started to pray for the person and 
at first I found it very, very difficult to do so. Somehow it didn't 
seem real because part of me wanted them to suffer because of 
the pain they had caused to me. But as the months and years 
went by it became easier until I was genuinely wanting God to 
bless them and show them his love. This person had no faith 
whatsoever and was angry towards anyone who did. A few months 
ago, to my absolute astonishment I heard that this person had a

conversion and had become a Catholic and is now attending mass every day.  This news showed me that absolutely nothing is impossible to God and that maybe in some small way my feeble prayers and desire to at least want to forgive might have had something to do with their conversion. 

A woman contacted me to say that nearly five years ago I spoke in her 
daughters school, the girl brought my book home for her mum to read 
because she knew her mum loves God and would be very interested in 
my story. But to the family's surprise it was the dad who picked up the 
book and his life has changed ever since. The mum said she had been 
praying to God to speak to her husband’s heart and let him know that 
he is real, and through the book he did. To me this was the power of 

this woman's prayers and the perfection of Gods timing. years ago and at the time all he had been interested in was the Gangster bits, so he got a copy of my life story and read the first half, but as soon as I found God in the book he put it down. Years later he was going through a tough time and felt very alone, it was then that some of the things I had said to him in his school came back to his mind. He searched his house and found my book and this time he read it cover to cover. He went to confession and started going to Mass again and God completely transformed his life. I know that someone, somewhere was praying for that lad. 

Also after world youth day in Sydney I shared my story in a secondary school there and only now over three year later one of the students contacted me saying that the words I spoke had made a deep impact on him and that he had a spiritual yearning and he was looking to come closer to God. Again Gods timing is not our timing but he waits patiently to work in a persons soul.

Years ago, when I first started to speak to young people in schools, myfriend Niall and I would visit the enclosed nuns, (the Carmelites and Poor Clares for instance) and ask them to pray for us and the students we would talk to. It was amazing the things which would happen,because there is no more powerful weapon than prayer and there canbe no substitute for it. We can do our best and give our utmost but in the end it is only God that can change a person’s heart. 

We have many missions and school talks coming up over the next couple of months in Ireland, England and Scotland as well as Italy. 

Please keep these intentions in your prayers and that I don't get in the way of God's grace in my brokenness.

You are very much in my heart and in my prayers. 

God bless you in his deep love 

John Pridmore 

May 14th 2011

'Every Soul is Precious to God'

Hello everyone

I hope you are well and at peace and have had a blessed Easter.

The first two Parish missions back after Easter were in Abbeylara in County Longford and in Clones Town Co Monaghan. It was amazing to see the faith of the people turning out in great numbers for both of these weeks, during one of the reconciliation services a woman came up and said that she had been very hurt by something that happened to her, she and her husband had split up and she had lost custody of her children. She realised that evening that she had a lot of unforgiveness about this and she brought this to the Priest in confession, afterward she said she had a great joy in her heart and felt as if a weight had been lifted from her.

I travelled over to England to help with a retreat for about 200 teenagers in preparation for their confirmation, this took place in Ealing.  Before the retreat began I knelt down before a statue of Our Lady and I felt she was saying she wanted to touch the young peoples hearts with the love of Jesus. It was very moving to see this happening as the day unfolded, the kids were queuingup in droves to go to confession and also despite the peer pressure which is always difficult for teenagers they came forward to be Blessed by Jesus in the Eucharistic healing service without anyone even having to ask them. I felt privileged to have been able to be part of the day. 

As each day begins I consecrate everything I do to Our Lady and invite God into all that I do, even the smallest things and I find that he always takes up the invitation, sometimes in very funny ways. I was due to meet someone for lunch in a Hotel restaurant and when I arrived I was informed that you had to be wearing a tie to eat there. So I went back outside and I noticed there was a Tie Rack shop across the street, so I went across to buy myself a tie and got speaking to the shop assistant who was from Mexico, I told her I had always wanted to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and she asked me about myself and I told her a bit of my story, I felt God wanted me togive her one of my books which I had with me and she was delighted when I gave it to her. It is only God with his sense of humour who could have arranged such a meeting.

When I eventually got into the restaurant I got chatting to one of the waiters who was from Poland and he asked me my story and when I told him about what God had done in my life he was very emotional and he said he was going to get a copy of my life story. I love these sort of meetings and am always reminded how infinitely important each soul is to God.

On the Sunday I spent the day with my brother in London, for the first time he came to a talk I was giving and he really enjoyed it and for the rest of the day with all the people we came across little incidents happened which he noticed, where I would try to reach out to the people I met in some way to bring a bit of joy to their lives. Now of course my brother knew me when I was a gangster and he was very struck by how much I had changed because I used to do the opposite. God does change us and I think the thing which brings joy to my life is that he wants to be with us in everything and the times when I get it wrong and don’t love the people Imeet in the way God would wish, I simply say sorry and start again because Our weakness is not an obstacle for God. 

You are very much in my heart and prayers please keep me in yours.

God bless you in his deep love

John Pridmore