St. Martin de Porres
Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1, 2020
Every year the parishioners celebrate the feast day of St. Martin de Porres by having a spiritual revival. Those who attend the Revival are parishioners from St. Martin de Porres and parishioners from other parishes. Normally, as many as 200 to 250 participants attend the Revival, this year due to covid 19, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee issued guidelines that limited the number of people allowed to gather for services in churches. St. Martin de Porres is allowed to have only 45 people gathered in church for Prayer Services, Mass and other services. Instead of cancelling the Revival the Prayer and Worship Committee decided to have the Revival by zoom because we need the spiritual nourishment and renewal that the Revival provides for the parish. The theme that was chosen for the Revival was “Let us lift our eyes to the hills, our help comes from the Lord”.
Twenty five participated by zoom and eleven people were present in church during the Revival on Saturday, October 31 and on Sunday, there were 30 people in church. Father David Jones, the pastor of St. Benedict the African Parish in Chicago, was the Revivalist.
Father David Jones spoke on the following:
He reminded us “That God woke us up this morning to do his will”. We are to have hope and know that our help comes from the Lord. How we live will be how we will rise. It is about how high you can rise, not how low you can go”.
“Even though there is a pandemic in our midst, we are still call to show kindness to our neighbor and this is evangelization”.
We take everything to God in prayer as St. Paul writes to the Philippians, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer, petition with thanksgiving make your requests known to God. Then the peace of the God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.
Those who participated in the revival by zoom and those who participated in person commented on how much they appreciated the Revival and that they were nourished spiritually.
