On Thursday evening I got back from an amazing week at Festival Sanctus. Festival Sanctus is a summer camp held in Brentwood, Essex run by the Sion Youth Ministry, which is a part of Sion Catholic Community for Evangelism.
It was an absolutely awesome week and I met so many amazing people. We did a whole load of great stuff from praise and worship, to small group discussions and games, to quiet prayer time. I really enjoyed having Mass everyday, because it was such a different experience to at home.
I came to festival sanctus feeling pretty nervous, as I was coming on my own and didn't really know many people, but everyone immediately made me feel so welcome and I made so many friends.
It was a very different experience to anything I've had before as it's a part of the Charismatic movement. There was a lot of loud praise and worship with dancing and moving about, hands up in the air etc. Also there is a lot about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, for example the gift of tongues. I've never actually heard anyone speaking in tongues before so it was actually a pretty amazing experience and wasn't at all like I'd imagined it to be. I really believe now that it really is the Holy Spirit at work in people.
I really felt like I experienced Jesus' love during this past week and it's really make me see just how important love is. Now I need to keep the fire burning in my life back home, and not just slip back into my old ways. It's so great knowing there are so many people there to support me, and we can still chat on facebook, twitter and skype!
I so recommend Festival Sanctus to anyone living in the UK and I would just say, don't worry about coming on your own, or for the first time, as everyone will make you feel so welcome!
2 comments:
I'm glad you enjoyed Festival Sanctus - it sounds great! I have heard about the Sion Community through my sister who knows about it & I hope to go to one of Sion's youth events at some point (perhaps next summer). Reading this has encouraged me to go. :-) Did you enjoy your experience of the Charismatic side of Catholicism?
Great blog by the way!
Cool! Well I think you definitely should come :) I really did enjoy My experience of the charismatic side. I wasn't entirely sure I would to start with as it's very different to what I've grown up with at home in the churches I've been to, but I just let myself go with it a bit and loved it :D
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