SECOND SATURDAY CATHOLIC CONVENTIONS
Euphrasia Ngum-Ndi did not know what to expect when she was invited to the Second Saturday Catholic Conventions. She shares with us her first impressions.
MISSING HOME
Since coming to England I had missed the vibrant and lively praise and worship that we experienced in our Catholic Church back home. It used to be an awesome experience that I had not yet found in England. So I was very surprised when in February 2015, I attended the Second Saturday Catholic Convention for the first time. I was swept off my feet, first by the crowd, then by their praise and worship! It was lovely to see so many Catholics gathered under the same roof. There were babies, children, young people, adults and old people from all over the world. It was a truly catholic crowd as I had never seen before; I felt completely at home united with my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. What a gift it is to be a Catholic, because you can feel at home anywhere you go in the world.
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
Our coach left Cambridge at 6:15am, getting us to West Bromwich in the Midlands two hours later. When we arrived they were praying the Rosary and after that we moved into an awesome time of praise and worship. The songs were all familiar and I found myself dancing away and singing at the top of my voice. To my amazement, as time went by, the crowd just got bigger and bigger, I looked back and tried counting but when I got to about 2,000 people my neck was aching and I stopped. Then around 9am, the people were told to prepare for Holy Mass.
THE HOLY MASS
The Mass was led by Fr Mathew, a Catholic Charismatic priest, whom I had met at the Celebrate Conference the year before. Holy Mass was solemn, led by a great music ministry and the whole congregation joined in the singing. People were praising with their hands held high in prayer and adoration. Some had their eyes closed in contemplation and it was simply beautiful. During the time of Communion a hymn was sung in Malayalam, a south Indian language, and it was the most amazing song I had heard in a long time. All the people in the congregation were clapping, singing, humming, and dancing including those who didn't speak the language.
EVERYONE JOINED IN
Just before the end of Mass, a few young people took to the stage and sang a beautiful worship song, which they all danced to with actions, including Fr Soji - who leads the convention. They then taught the song and the actions to the congregation and everyone joined in! Then Fr Soji took to the stage saying, “God is Good” and the congregation replied, “All the time,” and then, “All the time” to which the congregation answered “God is good and that's his nature wow, wow, wow!” At that point I knew that I had found my home again. Then I heard Fr Soji say, “Psalm 47:1” and the congregation all started clapping. That is because Psalm 47:1 says, “Clap your hands all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.” Indeed God is awesome all the time.
DIFFERENT STREAMS
Then a young man took to the stage calling out streams for the different age groups. It was soul touching to see the hundreds of children as young as 5 going off to hear and learn about the Word of God and the Catholic faith. Then we went off to the English stream which started with another awesome praise and worship session. At this point I felt an inch taller and I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit with me as I basked in His Glory. We had two talks including one by Fr Mathew who gave us a lovely presentation about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and what it means to walk in the Spirit.
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION
At 3pm, we all gathered together again in the main hall for Eucharistic Adoration and a healing service. This was a ‘come and see’ event as Jesus, the greatest healer, was processed around the hall. The Blessed Sacrament came past each one of us and everyone in the congregation stretched out their hands: babies, children, men and women, young and old alike to receive blessing from Our Lord. I would like to say a big thank you to those who invited me to join them at the Second Saturday Convention and a special thank you to Fr Soji and the team for always making us feel special in the presence of the Lord.
