Fr Anthony joined a Hosanna House group as a chaplain in 1999. He writes about the experience......

Hosanna House was a real model of a ‘Home’ for me. It was more than just a house for pilgrims. I would prefer to call it Hosanna Home. I experienced a foretaste of the life of the kingdom of Heaven in this home. All barriers to human communication, community, collaboration and family spirit were dismantled and life was just flowing like a boat in a river as the Master paddled it along. All were at the service of one another.

The bible story of Acts 2:42 became more real to me: we were faithful to the teachings of the apostles, to the sisterhood and brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. I was so enabled to be all the more who I am and who God wants me to be by my co-pilgrims. I came out of the experience more full than I was before I entered into it. Even when I was physically tired and exhausted I had some inner energy, joy and peace that were quite sustaining.

Towards the end of the week I had a deep thirst to continue in Hosanna Home. Perhaps this may have been the experience of the three at the Transfiguration of Jesus. I was not alone in this feeling and desire as one young pilgrim said to me, “Father, it is a shame we are going! I feel like crying”. He just wanted to be in this home and enjoy the
peace and joy of the encounters from the family spirit of Hosanna Home.

I don’t think I have the correct vocabulary to express my experiences of my Pilgrimage with the IHCPT to Lourdes, but all I can say is that it was a moment of personal encounter with myself, my co-pilgrims, and above all with my God.

In a special way, I saw God at work in Lourdes. Lourdes for me is a place of encounter, and Hosanna Home nurtured the Spirit for this encounter. If I were to add one more parable to those of Jesus, I would say, the Kingdom of heaven is like “Hosanna Home”: human and divine encounters are sown and nurtured.

I thank God and the IHCPT for the experience of my journey to Lourdes with so many grace filled people. I continue to ask God to sustain this spirit in each and every member of our group and our wider society.