"Gather" - February 19, 2025
Marcel Dion
February 23, 2025
What an evening! This past February 19th, Linda and I and our ministry team gathered with a small company of prayer warriors to humble ourselves and pray and seek the face of God for ourselves, our city, our nation and our Church. Many adjectives immediately come to mind to describe our evening; beautiful, sweet, joyful, peaceful, encouraging, uplifting, as well as a bit surprising!
We gathered in response to several promptings from the Lord. Eighteen months (or so) ago, during communion, a thought popped into Linda's mind; "Gather with others who, like you, feel a burden to praise God and pray for the many needs and challenges facing us all during these troubling times". We prayed about that sense and explored various options until such time as we saw a door open. The door opened for us to gather this past week.
In obedience to another sense we both had, we extended the invitation to gather with us through word of mouth. At first this seemed somewhat counterintuitive but the Lord granted us understanding for this strategy by reminding us of the biblical account of Gideon (Judges 7). When facing a dangerous threat from the neighbouring Midianites, the Lord instructed Gideon to whittle down his army from 32,000 to 300. The reason? So that God's people would know without a doubt that the victory over the enemy was God's and not theirs! And so in faith we put out the word and trusted in the Lord. True to form, He sent us a core of seasoned warriors!
As is our custom, leading up to the evening Linda and I and our ministry team sought the Lord for a 'word', trusting He would reveal something of what He had in mind to say and do when we gathered. One of our dear intercessors, Pauline, discerned that the Lord desired to heal numerous afflictions and conditions. We were unclear as to how we were to communicate this to those present, but in time we were given clarity.
Another dear friend, Linda's cousin Michelle Lotan, received a word she believed was from the Lord. Linda concurred and sensed it should be shared with everyone present, "At that very moment the prayer of both [Tobit and Sarah] was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God. And Raphael was sent to heal the two of them!" (Tobit 3:16-17)
"The verse is rather powerful and filled with hope! But this wasn't the kind of word we were expecting. As mentioned above, the words and senses that we'd been responding to were focused on praying for Canada - given the troubling, and in some cases, indisputably demonic developments that we've witnessed over recent years! That's why we were gathering with our company of prayer warriors. And yet the way the evening unfolded we did not explicitly pray for Canada. However, as you'll read in the testimonies below, the Lord knew why we were gathered, and clearly heard the cry of our hearts, and decided to begin "healing our land" (2 Chron. 7:14) by ministering to us in our need. Recall from the account in Tobit that both Tobit and Sarah were so spiritually oppressed and depressed that they were praying for death! And "at that very moment their prayer was heard..."
Linda and I still feel a great burden to pray for Canada, and believe that the Lord is still directing us to gather with others to do so. Next month (Wed. March 19th) we will Gather again as the Lord is urging us to do. The Lord has begun a beautiful jubilee work in and through us. We pray that prayer warriors both near and far will hear the Lord's battle cry and join us in person (or possibly through live-stream -exploring that), to take up arms and join the battle for our beautiful Nation and all it's people. In the meantime...every praise...every praise is to our God!"
TESTIMONY:
"Last week was very hard for us. I was very sad because of the passing of Sr. Anna Chan because we’re very close to the Servants of the Cross. The only thing I could think of was how hard it is to let her go.
Sr Anna loved to worship the Lord and when you started to sing, I started sobbing so I couldn’t sing. I went on my knees and I asked the Lord to help me, heal me, through this worship night, it was too much for my heart!
Little did I know but my sobbing came just like a stream of water, running through me, to cleanse my heart and mind, and I felt the warmth of someone's arm hugging me. My tears dried and I felt like I was in a swing going back and forth accompanied by someone. Tears rolling again, but this time tears of joy.
Jesus, is the healer, and He used your ministry to lift my sadness. Thank You Marcel for a night of healing ❤️🩹 We had a hard time, but if one trusts in the Lord, He will take care of us! I don’t know how I will handle the next while, but I have hope in our risen Lord!
Rosa
TESTIMONY:
If you happen to have missed Gathering with Magnificat Ministries on February 19th at St. Elizabeth’s, you have another chance March 19th!
I desperately needed this evening. After Sr. Anna’s shocking death and two snow storms back to back, my spirits were very low. The evening got me back on track. I needed to be reminded that we are in a spiritual battle with darkness all around us. The scriptures, the
promises, the music ministry and the selection of songs that were chosen gave me a new strength.
These evenings are very important. We need to be with like-minded people to support and build each other up. We all have highs and lows, but God’s word and His promises are how we will win the battle.
Thank you Marcel and Linda, for your commitment to seek the vision God has for us. By the way, I love ❤️ the word Gathering.
Joy
TESTIMONY:
The verse that keeps popping up in my head after last night is Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them."
The point is that despite it being a small, intimate gathering, the presence of the Lord was still very evident. It goes to show that you don't need an entire church full of people in order to effectively give praise and glory to God - ultimately, a packed church is the goal, but God is still very much present when just a few are gathered in His name.
There was as much singing, dancing, joy, and fellowship as there is at a regular Sunday Mass! Those who attended clearly felt the Lord working through them, and that was very encouraging to see.
Nate
(Nathanael plays bass on our worship team)
TESTIMONY:
This week I gathered with other fervent souls to praise and worship Our Lord in song, led by Marcel and his Worship Team. It was a wonderful 90 minutes! During these troubling times in our nation and in our world, it was so refreshing to turn our minds, hearts and voices to the Lord in praise and worship, placing all our concerns before Him, knowing that the battle is His and the victory won in Christ Jesus!
Marcel and Linda and ministry team, thank you so much for a grace-filled evening!! May others come and be refreshed and strengthened as together we refocus our minds and hearts away from the battle that rages and onto Our Lord…. our Saviour, our Healer and our Deliverer!
With gratitude and blessings,
Bev