In John ch 15, JESUS tells us to ABIDE WITH ME meaning to ‘stay close, trust and keep a continuous relationship’ so on cold Tuesday nights in Warrnambool in July and August we attempted to do just that. We gathered at St Pius church in West Warrnambool for Mass at 5.30 followed by adoration , meditation and music in front of the Blessed Sacrament.   Towards 6.30 we were interrupted by the smells of warm soup or pasta coming from the gathering space behind us (thank you to all our volunteers and Fr Matt for their homemade delicious contributions.

At 7pm, after food and chats, we settled down in groups to our ‘ABIDE’ session using “Video Divina, using the reflections, thoughts and experiences of other Christian people on video to allow God to speak to us, instead of Lectio Divina , the usual way of listening to the Lord through reflecting on scripture. With pen and paper at the ready we wrote down our reflections using the SOAP method.ie                                                                                                                                                     

S  = Standout  What stood out for me during this video and why?  What did you feel?                                                                                                                                                                              

O = Observation  What did you feel o think? Was it positive or negative? What changed you?                                                                                                                                                                               

A = Application or action. What action or response could you take? Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.                                                                                                                                                                                

P = Prayer. Write a prayer that expresses your response to God , asking for guidance, courage or strength to carry out your actions.

After the videos finished, we then shared our writings and thoughts with our group and how this experience had affected us.

Each video we watched was completely different and included Bishop Baron

 “A Path to a Spiritual Life” with Fr Robert Spitz

“The Examen” with Emma Holland

“Jeff Cavins interviewing American singer songwriter Gwen Stefani a series of testamonials of 5 Christian witnesses                                                                                                    

We have really enjoyed these evenings and have decided to continue into September. Thank you to all participants.