5000 Young Catholics fill Salzburg Cathedral with Passionate PrayerIan Nicholson - 29 May 2013

A team from 24-7 Prayer and Alpha recently spent a remarkable weekend celebrating Pentecost with the Loretto movement in Austria at Pfingsten 13. There was an overwhelming sense that God’s kingdom is much bigger and broader than we imagine and that the Holy Spirit is full of surprises!

Loretto began as a small group of young catholic students in 1987 who were hungry for the reality of God and turned to prayer. Several years later they experienced a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit and the movement has now spread throughout Austria and is spilling over into the surrounding nations. A few years ago the leaders read ‘Red Moon Rising’ and 24-7 Prayer Rooms are now at the heart of Loretto’s vision and growth. The desire is to create places of prayer where lives are transformed by the presence of Jesus and thousands of young people are involved. Alongside this several Loretto communities are emerging around the nation.

The Salzburg celebration is the big event of the Loretto calendar and is growing year by year. Over 5000 young people crammed into Salzburg Cathedral and the deep humility and singleminded passion for the presence of God was both challenging and encouraging. At one point 200 young people gave their lives to Jesus and there were commitments to start 100 prayer rooms around Austria.

Pete Greig spoke on the Saturday morning on the importance of prayer (you can watch his entire talk on the video below) and the local radio reported that it was the first time for many years that a non Catholic had spoken in the Cathedral. In another session Bishop Stefan Turnovsky preached on Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones becoming an army for God.

Ephesians 3 says that God ‘is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine  ‘ and this weekend certainly fell into that category. The Holy Spirit is a wind who blows to reveal Jesus wherever hearts are hungry. He is no respecter of persons or denominations and is being poured out on all flesh.

Come Holy Spirit and fill the earth with the presence of Jesus!

We are really looking forward to hearing more of the Loretto story and how prayer has captured the imaginations of young Austrians at this years international gathering in Dublin. Tickets are on sale now!