May 30th Spring Newsletter 2015

Praise is our Breath,

Says Pope Francis

Pope Francis’ address to members of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships, Rome, Oct. 31

Dear brothers and sisters,

Welcome! I thank you for your warm welcome and I greet you all with affection. I know that the Catholic Fraternity has already met with the executive and the council and that this afternoon you will open the Sixteenth International Conference with our beloved Father Raniero [Cantalamessa]. You have been kind enough to provide me with a programme and I see that each meeting begins with the words which I addressed to the Charismatic Renewal on the occasion of our meeting at the Olympic Stadium last June.

I wish first of all to congratulate each of you for having embarked upon something which was expressed as a desire at that meeting. For the last two months the Catholic Fraternity and the ICCRS (International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services) have worked together and shared office space in the Palazzo San Calisto, “Noah’s Ark”. I am aware that it may not have been easy to make this decision and I thank you sincerely for this witness to unity and grace which you offer to the entire world.  

CATHOLICISM: UNITY IN DIVERSITY

I would like now to reflect upon some themes which I consider important. The first is unity in diversity. Uniformity is not Catholic, it is not Christian. Rather, unity in diversity. Catholic unity is different but it is one: this is curious! The cause of diversity is also the cause of unity: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does two things: he creates unity in diversity. Unity does not imply uniformity; it does not necessarily mean doing everything together or thinking in the same way. Nor does it signify a loss of identity. Unity in diversity is actually the opposite: it involves the joyful recognition and acceptance of the various gifts which the Holy Spirit gives to each one and the placing of these gifts at the service of all members of the Church. It means knowing how to listen, to accept differences, and having the freedom to think differently and express oneself with complete respect towards the other who is my brother or sister. Do not be afraid of differences! As I wrote in Evangelii Gaudium: “Our model is not the sphere, which is no greater than its parts, where every point is equidistant from the centre, and there are no differences between them. Instead, it is the polyhedron, which reflects the convergence of all its parts, each of which preserves its distinctiveness” (n. 236), but they form a unity.

I can see from the programme, where the names of the Communities are mentioned, that at the introduction you have inserted the phrase, “…to share the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the whole Church”. The Church needs the Holy Spirit, how could it be otherwise! Every Christian in his or her life requires a heart open to the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, promised by the Father, is he who reveals Jesus Christ to us, who gives us the possibility of saying: Jesus! Without the Holy Spirit we cannot say this. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ, he leads us to a personal encounter with him, and in so doing, changes our life. A question for you: is this your experience? Share it with others! In order to share this experience, you must live it and witness to it!  

PRAISE IS LIKE BREATHING

The theme which you have chosen for the Congress is “Praise and Worship for a New Evangelization.” Fr Raniero, a masterful guide in the ways of prayer, will speak on this theme. Praise is the “breath” which gives us life, because it is intimacy with God, an intimacy that grows through daily praise. Some time ago I heard an example of this which seems very appropriate: the way that people breathe. Breathing is made up of two stages: inhaling, the intake of air, and exhaling, the letting out of this air. The spiritual life is fed, nourished, by prayer and is expressed outwardly through mission: inhaling – prayer – and then exhaling. When we inhale, by prayer, we receive the fresh air of the Holy Spirit. When exhaling this air, we announce Jesus Christ risen by the same Spirit. No one can live without breathing. It is the same for the Christian: without praise and mission there is no Christian life. Praise, adoration are needed. When speaking of adoration, little is said. What do we do when praying? We ask something from God, we thank him, we intercede. But adoration, adoring   God is part  of a Christian’s  breathing:

(continued on Page 6)

Page 2                  Spring 2015             B.C. Charismatic

‘We just need to have Jesus’

By RICHARD DUNSTAN

     One of Father Richard McAlear’s favourite biblical characters is a donkey. It reminds him of where he stands in God’s scheme of things, especially in his healing ministry.

Remember Balaam in Numbers chapter 22? He was on a mission from God, but he got it messed up, and the donkey he was riding had to tell him off before he got it straightened out. Then Balaam spoke the word of God, bravely and truthfully.

“The Lord spoke to him through a donkey,” Father McAlear told the 2014 Vancouver Catholic Charismatic Conference. I find great consolation in that. We don’t need great education in [healing] techniques.

“We just need to have Jesus.”

Father McAlear, head of the Ministry of Hope and Healing, was a last-minute replacement for scheduled speaker Bob Canton at the conference at St. Matthew’s Church in Surrey. Canton, who leads a healing ministry based in Stockton, Calif., had to step down due to a family medical crisis. (Canton will speak at this year’s conference instead –see Page 8.)

“We just need to have Jesus” was the heart of Father McAlear’s message on healing. “Healing is a gift of love,” he said. “It’s faith in His love, not faith in faith. It’s not a magic transformation of energy. It’s not New Age technique. It’s not other gods.” Even laying hands on the people we pray for is optional, he said—a gesture of compassion, not a necessity. It’s all about Jesus.

“The fullness of divinity dwells in him in bodily form. He’s higher than cancer, he’s higher than Parkinson’s disease, he’s higher than infection.”

But Father McAlear said he didn’t fully grasp the importance of Jesus until he was baptised in the Holy Spirit in 1972, two years after his ordination to the priesthood and a full 12 years after he entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Not that he didn’t have a good Catholic background. He was born in Boston, of parents who were Irish and Italian—they met at church. “Everybody was Catholic,” he said. He wanted to be a missionary, but he got hepatitis and was told it left him too feeble for missionary work—a bit of a chuckle now, considering his speaking ministry takes him to 30 conferences a year.

He joined the Oblates in 1960, and in 1964 was sent to Rome for seven years of study. He actually spent a day at a session of the Second Vatican Council, thanks to a bishop who got a number of seminarians through the doors for the sake of the experience.

“I didn’t understand a thing that was said, but I was there,” he told the conference.

Ordained in 1970, he returned to the United States in 1971 to find everything changed in the wake of Vatican II. Both the country and the Church were full of discontent and confusion—even about Jesus. Father McAlear was no different from many others. At one point he went to his spiritual director to ask why he should preach the Gospel—“why should I say don’t do Buddha, do Jesus?” The director said “I don’t know,” and nobody else could give him an answer either.

Then the spiritual director he had had before he went to Rome got in touch with him and asked him how things were going. “Dry as dust, and very confusing,” he said. The former director told him he might want to check out the Catholic charismatic renewal, so off he went to a prayer meeting.

He could barely believe what he was seeing and hearing. Nuns in traditional habits hugging hippies, and vice-versa. A truck driver who talked about Jesus like he knew him. “I was mad,” Father McAlear said. “I was the one with the degree in theology.” But then he was offered baptism in the Spirit with the promise: you can have what they have. The group prayed over him. He didn’t speak in tongues, see visions, or get slain in the Spirit, “but I did have an overwhelming peace. All the problems in the country, all the problems in the Church—Jesus is in charge, not me.” And when he began to read his breviary, just as he had been doing for 14 years, “I’m reading the Psalm, and I’m thinking, who wrote this?”  It was like the scales falling from Paul’s eyes, like going from black and white to Technicolor. “I [already] knew Jesus was Lord, but now Jesus was Lord.”

That answered his question about the difference between Jesus and Buddha or any other religious figure. The others were trying to point to God, but Jesus is God. “He’s the one they’re pointing to.

“You can only have one Most High. Everyone else is under his feet.”

Immediately he got involved in the prayer group. “Those were beautiful days,” he said. “Nobody knew anything, There were no books written [about the renewal]. The one who said ‘let’s start’ became the leader that night. The leaders would meet on another night and play a game called ‘what are we doing?’” He broke out in a sweat the first time he was asked to pray for healing, but in 1976 he entered the healing ministry, and he’s still at it.

For healing, he said, “all you need is to be sick—and that’s everybody.” We must also forgive: unforgiveness is “the number one obstacle to healing. God can’t put anything into your fist. You have to open your hand. That’s not always easy, because people have been hurt.”

We also need to get rid of our own sense of unworthiness. Nobody deserves healing—it’s a gift, available to all. God’s mercy triumphs over justice. Finally, we must recognize that Jesus is present, just as we see in the resurrection accounts in the gospels. ”Sometimes we see him and sometimes we don’t,” Father McAlear said. “But he’s always there. He’s present here now.”

Father McAlear also said he would love to see a Catholic parish—or many Catholic parishes—named “Jesus, friend of sinners.” And not only in name—the Church, and individual Catholics, need to imitate Jesus in that respect.

Jesus ate with sinners, he said. He was warm, comforting and attractive. Little children came and sat on his lap. When Zaccheus, like other sinners, came to him, Jesus responded in mercy—and then Zaccheus responded in faith.

“People are attracted by the holiness, but they aren’t blinded by it,” Father McAlear said. “The holiness passes through a filter of compassion and love.”

(continued on Page 7)

B.C. Charismatic           Spring 2015                  Page 3

  ‘In the name of Jesus’ institute theme

   Summer institute runs Aug. 9-14 in Seton House, Kelowna

In the Name of Jesus is the theme of the seventh annual Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute, to be held Aug. 9-14 in Kelowna.

Featured speaker is Fr. Bernie Black. All events of the week-long institute will be held at St. Elizabeth Seton House of Prayer.

The institute is sponsored by the Nelson Diocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee, and is endorsed by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of B.C.

The program will begin with Sunday evening Mass Aug. 9 and conclude Friday, Aug. 14, with lunch. Presentations and discussions will take place each day, with a healing Mass Monday evening and other worship events Tuesday and Thursday evening. Wednesday evening is free time.

Father Black is a retired priest of the Diocese of Calgary, currently ministering in Fort Smith, N.W.T, in the Mackenzie diocese. His work includes healing and deliverance from oppression.

Born and raised in southern Ontario, he was ordained in 1966 for the Diocese of Hamilton but later moved to Calgary, where he worked in aboriginal communities and served 20 years in hospital ministry.

The summer institute has been based at Seton House since its founding in 2009, but in the past most daily sessions have been held in parish churches elsewhere in the city. Due to space limitations, registration will be limited to 45 participants, with lodging at Seton House available for 30. Some billeting may also be available.

Cost until June 15 is $500 including lodging and all meals; $275 for the week for commuters; or $100 per day. Those fees increase to $550, $325 and $125 after June 15. Cancellations by Aug. 1 will receive a refund less $25 cancellation fee.

Clergy and religious may attend for free, but registration is required.

For registration, information, or billeting, call Maria, 250-707-1423. Full payment must accompany registration.

Light shines on Nelson day of renewal

By FLO REID

chair, CCRS of BC

     Jesus, Light of the World, was the focus for our East and West Kootenay Day of Renewal held in Nelson at the Cathedral of Mary Immaculate on February 21, 2015.  Father Bart van Roijen, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Trail, was the presenter.

The day began with praise and worship led by Johanna Tournemille and Gladys Miller of Grand Forks, followed by Mass celebrated by Fr. Bart. Hospitality for the day was provided by Nelson Trinity Prayer Community.

In his three talks, Father Bart began by referring to three significant scripture passages that speak of light.  The first was from John 1: 1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.  What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Father Bart also referred to Genesis chapter 3, when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light; God saw how good the light was. It was this light that caused the darkness to flee.  He said that while there was both darkness and light, light and darkness; they were not equal, for the darkness could not overcome the light.

The third scripture quoted was from Isaiah 9: verse 1,  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”

Father Bart reminded us that light is the root of all creation. It dispels darkness and gloom.  In the Old Testament, the prophets call us to the light, and John the Baptist in the New Testament testified of the true light that was coming.  We were also reminded of the story of Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, and in his encounter with Jesus he learned that “whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” (John 3:21)  In speaking of this passage, Father Bart made the point that indeed our hidden deeds will be revealed. We were challenged by the question, “Are we willing to have Jesus’ light shine upon us?”

In his second talk, Father Bart spoke of the Seven Deadly Sins, and how these sins need to be examined in the light of Jesus.  By addressing the root causes of our sin we allow Christ the opportunity to apply the remedy of his grace through the gift of his Spirit acting in and through his Church.  We were exhorted to approach his gift of mercy with faith and hope knowing that the one who calls is the one who heals, forgives and sustains us.

In the final talk, Father Bart focused on the Remedy: the Light of Christ, the gift of his grace, his Spirit and the gift of himself. He said in reference to ‘You are the light of the world”, that we will become that light if we allow Jesus to be our light.

We were reminded of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 where Jesus climbed the mountain and spoke to the people.  This calls us to leave our old way of life, to disregard judgement, to look forward.  Do we have the courage to climb this mountain?  Do we recognize God’s grace, call and desire for us?  Are we open to the will of God? Are we prepared to empty ourselves, recognize our poverty and follow Jesus? Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do we know the both the giver and the gift?  Are we willing to receive?

In conclusion, Father Bart told us that we are blessed, as in the Beatitudes!  We are called to be salt, be light, rejoice and bring light. To do so we must take our eyes off ourselves and put them squarely on Jesus.

 Page 4               Spring 2015            B.C. Charismatic

Obituary:  Fr. Don Wilson

‘He loved the Lord more than life itself’

By RICHARD DUNSTAN

     Fr. Don Wilson, the father of the Catholic charismatic renewal in B.C., died in Kelowna April 15 following a seven-month illness. He was 80.

Father Don’s baptism in the Holy Spirit in a Vancouver bookstore in 1968 was the key moment in the establishment of the renewal in Vancouver, throughout B.C., and especially in his home diocese of Nelson.

In his nearly five decades as a charismatic, Fr. Don spent 11 years as chair of Catholic Charismatic Renewal  Services  of B.C., the provincial service committee, and many more years as a member of the committee, its spiritual adviser, and provincial bishops’ liaison to the renewal.

In the Nelson diocese, he was a long-time member of the diocesan service committee, founded or co-founded numerous prayer groups, and travelled widely conducting Life in the Spirit Seminars, days of renewal, healing Masses, and other events. He was a co-founder of the annual Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute in Kelowna.

He was also administrator-chaplain at St. Elizabeth Seton House of Prayer in Kelowna until his retirement last year, and for many years drove the length and breadth of the enormous Nelson diocese as weekend relief pastor in parishes from Kelowna to Princeton to Cranbrook to Golden, clocking as much as 1,200 km in a weekend.

“To know him was to love him and trust him,” said Gladys Miller, chair of Nelson Diocese Charismatic Renewal Services and one of his closest co-workers. “He loved the Lord more than life itself, and lived out that love in a charismatic enthusiasm.  We depended on his guidance in life and we seek his intercession in death.”

Born Nov. 2, 1934 near Windsor, Ont., Father Don attended Notre Dame College in Nelson and St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont. He was ordained in London May 28, 1960, for the Nelson diocese, and spent his entire priesthood in B.C.

He was on loan from Nelson to the Vancouver archdiocese in 1968 when Mary Kelly, who led a Catholic prayer and study group at a downtown religious goods store, asked him to check a book on the then-new Catholic charismatic renewal for doctrinal orthodoxy. Father Don had hit a low point in his priesthood, frustrated by ritualism and the lack of power in his ministry; as he read the book—Catholic Pentecostals by Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan—he was not only satisfied of the book’s orthodoxy but excited at the prospect of unleashing the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Catholics.

At the time there were a few interdenominational charismatic prayer groups meeting in Vancouver, with some Catholic participation, but no Catholic groups as such. After getting a good report from Father Don, Kelly called a meeting of eight or 10 people and invited a visiting charismatic nun, Sister Barbara Ann Chase of Seattle, to lead a prayer meeting. Father Don was the only priest present. The group was baptized in the Spirit, complete with the gift of tongues. He returned to his car after the meeting and collapsed over the steering wheel, weeping with joy and relief.

“It was an answer to the question that so many of us had: ‘is that all there is?’” he remembered later. Clearly, the Lord had more to offer.

On his return to the Nelson diocese, Father Don, with Sister Benedicta Stangl, Sister Grace Salmon, and other helpers, founded prayer groups in Kelowna, Penticton, Oliver, and other communities. These in turn established still more groups, and today the diocese has a long list of prayer groups, an active service committee, and numerous charismatic events and activities.

“My experience of Father Don has been and always wiĺl be a profound example of God’s unlimited love for his people,” Flo Reid, chair of CCRS of B.C. and a long-time Nelson diocesan committee member, said in a statement. “Father Don wore with such graciousness the mantle of the love of God.  He knew he was the beloved of God, and he spoke with such fervor calling us each to be more aware that we, too, are the beloved of God. As our spiritual director in the CCRS of BC, he was our father in faith. His wisdom, understanding and integrity guided us in our decisions. He always sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit and placed the needs of the community at the forefront.

“Father Don’s delight in promoting the growth of   charismatic renewal is a gift to all of us. He has left us a rich legacy for which we are profoundly grateful.”

Alex Lim, chair of Vancouver Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services and a member of the provincial committee, said “all of us in the renewal in the Archdiocese of Vancouver mourn your passing, but rejoice in the realization that you are in a far, far better place where there are no tears, no pain but only everlasting joy in Jesus’ presence.  For some of us who have the opportunity to meet you and work with you, we thank our God.  The fruits of your leadership can be seen all around us in Vancouver renewal circles and I am sure in B.C. as well.  God sends many people in our life’s path and now and then, one person who would offer us lasting impressions, and you are such a person.  Rest now in the arms of Jesus.  We are sure He welcomes you with His Words, “well done, my good and faithful friend.” One day, we will meet again and will sing joyful praises right in the presence of the One whom we all serve.”

Father Don’s prayer vigil and funeral Mass were celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church in Kelowna.

 B.C. Charismatic       Spring 2015                   Page 5

  Pentecost of the Nations

By KIM CATHERINE-MARIE KOLLINS

ICCRS Newsletter

ICCRS announces with great joy the continuing journey of the world-wide Pentecost of the Nations project to be held during the Pentecost Novena, 15 – 24 May 2015 and on Pentecost Day, 24 May, 2015. It is a two-part project – Operation Upper Room and Pentecost Day Celebration / Together We Pray and Together We Celebrate, which touches many countries in all continents, involving tens of thousands of individuals.

Pentecost of the Nations, phase II, is an integral component of journeying towards the CCR Golden Jubilee, “a New Pentecost for a New Evangelization”. The 2014-2015 theme for stage 2 is ‘Fanning the Flame’, 2 Tim 1:6-7 (see www.iccrs.org). At the 2013, Solemnity of Pentecost Holy Mass with the Ecclesial Movements, Pope Francis stated: “The Holy Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each of us. The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the beginning, a beginning which endures”.

Looking Backward – Going Forward

Deep wells of grace! In 1895, on the promptings of Bl. Elena Guerra, Pope Leo XIII asked all the faithful to celebrate a solemn novena (9 days of prayer) perpetually between Ascension and Pentecost for the unity of Christianity. For this, Leo XIII suggested a special formula of prayer to be included: Send forth your Spirit and renew the face of Earth. Another strategic moment in our journey was the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II in 2001, Novo Millennio Ineunte, “At the beginning of the new millennium”. This letter brings to us a key phrase, Duc in Altum – Cast your nets out into the deep. (Lk 5.4) Again to the CCR John Paul II declared, I pray most fervently that your communities and the entire Charismatic Renewal will “put out into the deep” of prayer in order to “put out into the deep of mission”.

Phase I of Pentecost of the Nations was a three-year journey. The first and second steps were taken at Pentecost 2008 and 2009. The third step culminated on Pentecost Day, May 2010 in Assisi at the ICCRS International Intercession Event, The Road to Pentecost. However that was not the end of our journey, it was only a beginning. Phase II of Pentecost of the Nations began a seven year journey that will end with the 50th anniversary celebration of the CCR in 2017, only to start another beginning which endures. Pentecost of the Nations is built on solid ground at the heart of the Church.

Pentecost of the Nations – Together We Pray and Together We Celebrate

It is a project for All Nations – In Your Nation. It is one answer that the worldwide CCR offers since 2008, in response to the desire expressed by Popes’ John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis that the spirituality of Pentecost will spread for a new Culture of Pentecost in the Church for New Evangelization (JPII, May 2004 – Benedict XVI, Sept 2005, Francis, May 2013).

Together we pray – Part 1: 15 – 24 May, 2015 – Operation Upper Room

You can be part of this vision for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in every nation to unite in prayer. Let us weave a dense global “net” of prayer which will be continuous, night and day, during the nine days before Pentecost forming a great Pentecost Novena. It’s an invitation of return to the “Upper Room of Jerusalem”, waiting in one heart and in constant prayer (Acts 1: 12-14), becoming “burning bushes” in adoration and intercession. (Leo XIII, E. Guerra 1895-1897).

Participate in these 9 days with a Pentecost Novena: city-wide, regional, community, NSCs events, a prayer group or individual, i.e. a Pentecost Night and Day Novena in an Upper Room Cenacle, a Novena Prayer Net or an individual Pentecost Novena, etc.

Together we celebrate – Part 2: May 24, 2015 – Pentecost Day Celebrations

You can participate in events that are being planned to celebrate the great feast of Pentecost in your nation, city, community or group. [Note: Pentecost celebrations are planned in Surrey May 23 for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and in Victoria May 24 for the Diocese of Victoria—see Page 8]

It’s an invitation to respond to the call for New Evangelization so the “spirituality of Pentecost” will spread in the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit. Organize Pentecost celebration events, which can consist of charismatic prayer, short teachings, testimonies, and a solemn invocation of the Holy Spirit and possibly a concert to glorify God.

Imagine

     Imagine… Oh, if only…unanimous and fervent prayers could be raised to heaven in every part of Christendom, as they were one in the Cenacle (upper room) of Jerusalem for a rekindling of the Divine Spirit! (Bl. Elena Guerra)

     Imagine… What would happen if “unanimous and fervent prayers” were raised in every time zone in the world for nine days?

    Imagine… What would happen if we witnessed to the power of the Holy Spirit in every part of the world throughout Pentecost?

     Imagine… What God could do if we united in prayer and celebration for fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our world?

Plan to join the Pentecost for the Nations experience:

All can join in a united ICCRS CCR Pentecost for the Nations effort – Consider yourselves bridge-builders in conveying and promoting Pentecost of the Nations – 15 – 24 May 2015, to the various CCR realities in your areas/regions encouraging them to link together, in an atmosphere of communion, thereby forging stronger links into global Pentecost of the Nations prayer and celebration experiences.

Page 6         Spring 2015                 B.C. Charismatic

  ECUMENISM OF BLOOD UNITES CHRISTIANS, SAYS POPE  

(continued from Page 1)

praise and adoration.

The Charismatic Renewal has reminded the Church of the necessity and importance of the prayer of praise. When we speak of the prayer of praise in the Church, Charismatics come to mind. When I spoke of the prayer of praise during a homily at Mass in Santa Martha, I said it is not only the prayer of Charismatics but of the entire Church! It is the recognition of the Lordship of God over us and over all creation expressed through dance, music and song.

I would like to revisit with you a few passages from that homily: “The prayer of praise is a Christian prayer, for all of us. In the Mass, every day, when we sing the ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, this is a prayer of praise: we praise God for his greatness because he is great. And we address him with beautiful words because it pleases us to do this. The prayer of praise bears fruit in us. Sarah danced as she celebrated her fertility – at the age of ninety! This fruitfulness gives praise to God. Men and women who praise the Lord, who pray praising the Lord – and who are happy to do so – rejoice in singing the Sanctus at Mass and they bear fruit. Let us consider how beautiful it is to offer the prayer of praise to God. This should be our prayer and, as we offer it up to God, we ought to say to ourselves, “Arise, O heart, because you are standing before the King of Glory” (Holy Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae, 28 January 2014).

Together with the prayer of praise, the prayer of intercession is, in these days, a cry to the Father for our Christian brothers and sisters who are persecuted and murdered, and for the cause of peace in our turbulent world. Praise the Lord at all times, never cease to do so, praise him more and more, unceasingly. I have been told of Charismatic prayer groups in which they pray the Rosary. Prayer to the Mother of God must never be excluded, never! But when you assemble for prayer, praise the Lord!

I see that you have among you a very dear friend, Pastor Giovanni Traettino, whom I visited recently. Catholic Fraternity, do not forget your origins, do not forget that the Charismatic Renewal is, by its very nature, ecumenical. Blessed Paul VI commented on this in the magnificent Apostolic Exhortation on evangelization which is highly relevant in our own day: “The power of evangelization will find itself considerably diminished if those who proclaim the Gospel are divided among themselves in all sorts of ways.  Is this not perhaps one of the great sicknesses of evangelization today? The Lord’s spiritual testament tells us that unity among his followers is not only the proof that we are his but also the proof that he is sent by the Father. It is the test of the credibility of Christians and of Christ himself. Yes, the destiny of evangelization is certainly bound up with the witness of unity given by the Church. This is a source of responsibility and also of comfort” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 77). These words are of Blessed Paul VI.  

FIRST, WE ARE CHRISTIANS

Spiritual ecumenism is praying and proclaiming together that Jesus is Lord, and coming together to help the poor in all their poverty. This must be done while never forgetting in our day that the blood of Jesus, poured out by many Christian martyrs in various parts of the world, calls us and compels us towards the goal of unity. For persecutors, we are not divided, we are not Lutherans, Orthodox, Evangelicals, Catholics… No! We are one in their eyes! For persecutors we are Christians! They are not interested in anything else. This is the ecumenism of blood that we experience today.

Remember: seek the unity which is the work of the Holy Spirit and do not be afraid of diversity. The breathing of Christians draws in the new air of the Holy Spirit and then exhales it upon the world: it is the prayer of praise and missionary outreach. Share baptism in the Holy Spirit with everyone in the Church. Spiritual ecumenism and the ecumenism of blood. The unity of the Body of Christ. Prepare the Bride for the Bridegroom who comes! One Bride only! All (Rev 22: 17).

Finally, in addition to my thanks, I would especially like to mention these young musicians from northern Brazil who have played at the beginning; I hope they play a little more. They have welcomed me with much affection, singing “Long live Jesus my Saviour.” I know that you have prepared something else and so I invite everyone to listen to them before I say farewell. Thank you!

(reprinted from ICCRS Newsletter)

B.C. Charismatic      Spring 2015                 Page 7

  Pope Francis and ecumenism  

By DEACON CHRISTOF HEMBERGER

ICCRS representative, Germany

     In his moving speech at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Pope Francis addressed several topics he considers important for the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church. One of the more delicate topics he entrusted us with was his request to live a “spiritual ecumenism”. He told us, “To remain united in the love that the Lord Jesus asks us to have for all people, and in prayer to the Holy Spirit for the attainment of this unity which is necessary for evangelization in the name of Jesus. Remember that the Charismatic Renewal is de facto ecumenical in nature… The Catholic Renewal rejoices in what the Holy Spirit is accomplishing in the other Churches” (1 Malines 5,3).

     Since he took office, Francis has surprised the world in various ways. It is not about all his “novel teachings” that make him so special but his simple, humble way of living the teachings of Holy Scripture in a consistent manner. He keeps defying conventions and traditions because he is simply not able to do otherwise. He not only speaks about loving those living at the margins but he kisses them and focuses on them in public. The same is true for the topic of “lived ecumenism”, Francis not only speaks about the fact that the others are our brothers and sisters in the faith, he sends them greetings, meets with their representatives and does not shy away from asking them for forgiveness for the deeds inflicted upon them in Church history in the name of Catholics.

     So what exactly does it mean when the Pope calls us as the CCR to a “spiritual ecumenism?” Firstly, it certainly means that he is calling us to follow his example recognizing “the others” as our brothers and sisters in the Lord. What unites us is so much more than what separates us. Over and over again, Pope Francis sets an example of what this can look like in everyday life. He does not brush over the differences existing between the churches. And he does not fool himself into believing that unity would exist in all areas. But he uses the interspaces that certainly exist in order to live out unity in any possible way. Friendliness rather than rejection. Relationship rather than marginalisation. Praying together rather than talking about each other. A handshake and a smile rather than a slap in the face…

     In his address to the CCR, the Holy Father emphasizes the significance of the Malines Documents for the Charismatic Renewal. There it says: “The Charismatic Renewal is de facto ecumenical in nature.” We are indeed the only movement in the whole world in which all denominational realities exist: We have charismatic brothers and sisters in all denominations! What a treasure can be found in this fact! What a gift of unity despite our differences.

     In some regions of the world, the CCR can already look back on lived experiences in this area. At times, there are shared worship services, days of intercession or even conferences. Here, it is essential to respect and value the other in his ‘otherness’ – and to seek and celebrate the Lord together full of joy about all that unites us. In other parts of the world, this still seems to be quite difficult. There, the orientation of the CCR has been rather unecumenical for a long time, partly due to attacks and assaults by brothers and sisters in the Lord… Here it is important to look to our past of the CCR and to rediscover our roots: The CCR is ecumenical in nature – and to reject this would mean to reject the grace that God has given us as a movement.

     Wouldn’t it be time now to discover the brother and the sister in them just as Pope Francis is modelling? Maybe it is too early for common projects and meetings. But it is not too early for prayer! I encourage you to intercede for your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Do it in love and respect, not in presumption, “they should become like us…” Take steps toward them! Invite the leaders of the charismatics in the other denominations to get to know each other and pray together! Forgive them and also ask them for forgiveness if this should be necessary. The Lord will bless these steps towards each other! If we take seriously and put into practice what Francis is telling us, we will be an example for the world which is full of division, disunity and exclusion. We will make a difference – and this is what Jesus had in mind when he prayed: “Father, make us one that the world may believe that you sent me!” (John 17:21).

(from ICCRS Newsletter)

VANCOUVER CONFERENCE

Archbishop Miller:

‘fall in love with Jesus’

(continued from Page 2)

“I eat with sinners all the time. There’s nobody else to share with.”

Father McAlear also led a healing service, and the conference concluded with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Michael Miller.

In his homily, Archbishop Miller said a personal relationship with Jesus is the core of the Gospel.

He said a third of Catholics believe—wrongly—that God is an impersonal force, and many see the Church as “an institution with a host of rules to keep some sort of order.” But Christianity is an encounter with an event and a person that gives life an eternal dimension and a sense of direction.

“People come to the Lord, not because they first hear clear teaching,” he said. “They obey the commandments because they’ve fallen in love.”

“We have to believe that life is always better with Jesus.”

 Upcoming events

May 28th ‘In the name of Jesus’ institute theme

Summer institute runs Aug. 9-14 in Seton House, Kelowna

‘In the Name of Jesus’ is the theme of the seventh annual Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute, to be held Aug. 9-14 in Kelowna.

Featured speakers are Most Rev. Bishop Sam Jacobs and Father Gerald Sekanga.

 Most Rev. Bishop Sam Jacobs was born in Mississippi, USA. He graduated from The Catholic University of America with a Masters Degree in Philosophy as well as a Masters Degree in Education/Administration. Bishop Jacobs was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Lafayette in 1964 where he served as pastor, chaplain, and associate pastor of several parishes there and also in the Diocese of Lake Charles. He has served as chairman of the National Service Committee for the Charismatic Renewal and diocesan director of Vocations and Seminarians for the Diocese of Lake Charles. As well he has served as the Chairman of USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Catholic Charismatic Renewal.  Bishop Jacobs was appointed the tenth bishop of Alexandria in 1989 and was installed as the third bishop of Houma-Thibodaux in 2003. He retired in October of 2013 and is now the bishop emeritus of Houma-Thibodaux. He celebrated 50 years of priesthood on June 6, 2014, and marks 25 years of episcopacy on August 24, 2014.

Fr. Gerald Sekanga has recently returned to the Diocese of Nelson after studying Canon Law in Ontario. He works well with youth, preaches well and has an amazing interest in study. He is very much the philosopher with a discerning spirit. He has a passion for all things of the Lord, is a very popular priest in the diocese and exudes wisdom beyond his years.

The institute is sponsored by the Nelson Diocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee, and is endorsed by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of B.C.

The program will begin with Sunday evening Mass Aug. 9 and conclude Friday, Aug. 14, with lunch. Presentations and discussions will take place each day, with a healing Mass Monday evening and other worship events Tuesday and Thursday evening. Wednesday evening is free time.

The summer institute has been based at Seton House since its founding in 2009, but in the past most daily sessions have been held in parish churches elsewhere in the city. Due to space limitations, registration will be limited to 45 participants, with lodging at Seton House available for 30. Some billeting may also be available.

Cost until July 15 is $500 including lodging and all meals; $275 for the week for commuters; or $100 per day. Those fees increase to $550, $325 and $125 after July 15. Cancellations by Aug. 1 will receive a refund less $25 cancellation fee.

Clergy and religious may attend for free, but registration is required.

For registration, information, or billeting, call Maria, 250-707-1423. Full payment must accompany registration.

Nov 7th Vancouver Catholic Charismatic Conference 2014 Report

By RICHARD DUNSTAN

One of Father Richard McAlear’s favourite biblical characters is a donkey. It reminds him of where he stands in God’s scheme of things, especially in his healing ministry.

Remember Balaam in Numbers chapter 22? He was on a mission from God, but he got it messed up, and the donkey he was riding had to tell him off before he got it straightened out. Then Balaam spoke the word of God, bravely and truthfully.

“The Lord spoke to him through a donkey,” Father McAlear told the 2014 Vancouver Catholic Charismatic Conference. I find great consolation in that. We don’t need great education in [healing] techniques.

“We just need to have Jesus.”

Father McAlear, head of the Ministry of Hope and Healing, was a last-minute replacement for scheduled speaker Bob Canton at the conference at St. Matthew’s Church in Surrey. Canton, who leads a healing ministry based in Stockton, Calif., had to step down due to a family medical crisis.

“We just need to have Jesus” was the heart of Father McAlear’s message on healing. “Healing is a gift of love,” he told the congregation. “It’s faith in His love, not faith in faith. It’s not a magic transformation of energy. It’s not New Age technique. It’s not other gods.” Even laying hands on the people we pray for is optional, he said—a gesture of compassion, not a necessity. It’s all about Jesus.

“The fullness of divinity dwells in him in bodily form. He’s higher than cancer, he’s higher than Parkinson’s disease, he’s higher than infection.”

But Father McAlear didn’t fully grasp the importance of Jesus until he was baptised in the Holy Spirit in 1972, two years after his ordination to the priesthood and a full 12 years after he entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Not that he didn’t have a good Catholic background. He was born in Boston, of parents who were Irish and Italian—they met at church. “Everybody was Catholic,” he said. He wanted to be a missionary, but he got hepatitis and was told it left him too feeble for missionary work—a bit of a chuckle now, considering his speaking ministry takes him to 30 conferences a year.

He joined the Oblates in 1960, and in 1964 was sent to Rome for seven years of study. He actually spent a day at a session of the Second Vatican Council, thanks to a bishop who got a number of seminarians through the doors for

the sake of the experience.

“I didn’t understand a thing that was said, but I was there,” he told the conference.

Ordained in 1970, he returned to the United States in 1971 to find everything changed in the wake of Vatican II. Both the country and the Church were full of discontent and confusion—even about Jesus. Father McAlear was no different from many others. At one point he went to his spiritual director to ask why he should preach the Gospel—“why should I say don’t do Buddha, do Jesus?” The director said “I don’t know,” and nobody else could give him an answer either.

Then the spiritual director he had had before he went to Rome got in touch with him and asked him how things were going. “Dry as dust, and very confusing,” he said. The former director told him he might want to check out the Catholic charismatic renewal, so off he went to a prayer meeting.

He could barely believe what he was seeing and hearing. Nuns in traditional habits hugging hippies, and vice-versa. A truck driver who talked about Jesus like he knew him. “I was mad,” Father McAlear said. “I was the one with the degree in theology.” But then he was offered baptism in the Spirit with the promise: you can have what they have.

The group prayed over him. He didn’t speak in tongues, see visions, or get slain in the Spirit, “but I did have an overwhelming peace. All the problems in the country, all the problems in the Church—Jesus is in charge, not me.” And when he began to read his breviary, just as he had been doing for 14 years, “I’m reading the Psalm, and I’m thinking, who wrote this?” It was like the scales falling from Paul’s eyes, like going from black and white to Technicolor. “I [already] knew Jesus was Lord, but now Jesus was Lord.”

That answered his question about the difference between Jesus and Buddha or any other religious figure. The others were trying to point to God, but Jesus is God. “He’s the one they’re pointing to.

“You can only have one Most High. Everyone else is under his feet.”

Immediately he got involved in the prayer group. “Those were beautiful days,” he said. “Nobody knew anything, There were no books written [about the renewal]. The one who said ‘let’s start’ became the leader that night. The leaders would meet on another night and play a game called ‘what are we doing?’” He broke out in a sweat the first time he was asked to pray for healing, but in 1976 he entered the healing ministry, and he’s still at it.

For healing, he said, “all you need is to be sick—and that’s everybody.” We must also forgive, because unforgiveness is “the number one obstacle to healing. God can’t put anything into your fist. You have to open your hand. That’s not always easy, because people have been hurt.”

We also need to get rid of our own sense of unworthiness. Nobody deserves healing—it’s a gift, available to all. God’s mercy triumphs over justice. Finally, we must recognize that Jesus is present, just as we see in the resurrection accounts in the gospels. ”Sometimes we see him and sometimes we don’t,” Father McAlear said. “But he’s always there. He’s present here now.”

Father McAlear also said he would love to see a Catholic parish—or many Catholic parishes—named “Jesus, friend of sinners.” And not only in name—the Church, and individual Catholics, need to imitate Jesus in that respect.

Jesus ate with sinners, he said. He was warm, comforting and attractive. Little children came and sat on his lap. When Zaccheus, like other sinners, came to him, Jesus responded in mercy—and then Zaccheus responded in faith.

“People are attracted by the holiness, but they aren’t blinded by it,” Father McAlear said. “The holiness passes through a filter of compassion and love.”

“I eat with sinners all the time. There’s nobody else to share with.”

Father McAlear also led a healing service, and the conference concluded with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Michael Miller.

In his homily, Archbishop Miller said a personal relationship with Jesus is the core of the Gospel.

He said a third of Catholics believe—wrongly—that God is an impersonal force, and many see the Church as “an institution with a host of rules to keep some sort of order.” But Christianity is an encounter with an event and a person that gives life an eternal dimension and a sense of direction.

“People come to the Lord, not because they first hear clear teaching,” he said. “They obey the commandments because they’ve fallen in love.”

“We have to believe that life is always better with Jesus.”

Sep 8th Summer institute to focus on Building a People of Praise

I Am Building a People of Praise will be the theme of the fourth annual Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute, to be held Aug. 11-16 in Kelowna.

The Catholic discipleship and leadership formation event will hold its main sessions in a new location, Immaculate Conception Church on Sutherland Avenue. Accom-modation will be at Seton House of Prayer.

The institute is aimed at charismatic leaders and all those interested in a deeper growth in spiritual life, from anywhere in B.C. and beyond. It is sponsored by the Nelson Diocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee and endorsed by Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of B.C., the provincial service committee.

Featured speakers will be Catholic lay evangelist John Connelly of Burns Lake. B.C.; Sylvester Ibekwe, a seminarian of the Nelson diocese; and Gladys Miller, chair of the diocesan service committee. Co-ordinators are Linda Adams, Bernadette Barry and Piera Quarenghi, with Flo Reid as master of ceremonies, Fr. Don Wilson as host and Gladys Miller and Johanna Tournemille leading music.

In addition to two-a-day talks from the guest speakers, followed by panel discussions or other group activities, the institute will offer devotional events most evenings, and the sacrament of reconciliation at lunchtime Tuesday to Thursday. Opening Mass will be Sunday evening, Aug. 11, and closing ceremony and commissioning Friday morning.

John Connelly is head of God’s Revolution Today, a multi-media ministry, as well as a popular speaker at charismatic confer-ences, a newspaper columnist, and a musician and songwriter. He teaches in a workshop style and tries to inspire people with practical tools they can use to grow in their personal life mission. He has spoken at two previous summer institutes.

His topics are The Great Catholic Renewal, The Renewal of Praise, and the two-part Jesus Living in Us Today.

Sylvester Ibekwe received his early formation from the Capuchin friars in Nigeria, and also studied theology there. He is currently attending St. Joseph Seminary and completing his master of divinity degree at Newman Theological College, both in Edmonton.

He will speak on Discovering the Joy of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Is a Consistent Ethic of Life Still Possible in Our Day?

Gladys Miller has been in the Catholic charismatic renewal since 1976 and is chair of the diocesan service committee as well as leader of the People of Peace praise group in Grand Forks. She was chief organizer of the first summer institute in 2009 and has served as featured speaker, master of ceremonies, and in the music ministry on various occasions.

Her talks will cover Praise-Faith-Trust (Psalm 148:13) and Praise Is Our Weapon (2 Cor 10:4).

Scheduled evening devotional events, in addition to Sunday’s opening Mass, are a healing Mass on the Monday, living rosary Tuesday, and praise music Thursday. Wednesday evening is set aside as free time.

Cost of the institute is $350 ($400 after June 15) for all sessions, meals, and accommodation at Seton House; $250 “commuter rate” for all sessions plus lunch and dinner; or $75 per day with lunch and dinner. For registration, contact Maria McManus at 250-707-1423, email untamedspirit@telus.net, or write to 22-2035 Boucherie Rd., Westbank BC V4T 1Z6. Fees must accom-pany registration to hold rooms at Seton House.

Billeting may also be available.

Clergy and religious are invited to attend the institute without charge, but must register in advance. Housing for clergy is available in local rectories.

Immaculate Conception Church is near downtown Kelowna, about two miles north of the previous location, St. Charles Garnier parish.

May 8th Do Whatever He Tells You

By Richard Dunstan –

“Do whatever He tells you” was the theme of the fourth annual Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute, held Aug. 12-17 in Kelowna. Based on John 2:5, the theme reflects the instructions the Blessed Virgin Mary gave to the servants at the wedding at Cana before Jesus turned water into wine.

More than 50 charismatic Catholics turned out to the event—44 registered full-time and around a dozen attending part of the sessions at St. Charles Garnier parish. Sponsored by the Nelson Diocese Charismatic Renewal Service Committee, the institute is endorsed by Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of B.C. and by all five B.C. bishops, and is aimed at charismatic leaders and potential leaders from across B.C., along with anyone else interested in deepening spiritual life.

Featured speaker were Father Bart van Roijen of Sparwood, Father Gerald Sekanga and Father Louie Jimenez of Kelowna, and Teresa van Kampen of Calgary.

Also on the schedule were daily Mass; praise and worship; panel discussions and other audience participation activities; evening prayer gatherings; and the sacrament of reconciliation.

LOUIE

We’re all called to be apostles of Jesus, says Father Cerlouie (Louie) Jimenez. But that’s a tough job, because it means living the way Jesus did, sacrifice and all.

Father Louie, opening speaker at Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute, took his lead from St. Paul’s comments on apostleship in 2 Corinthians, titling his talk Apostleship in St. Paul’s Criterion.

In 2 Cor 11:23-29, St. Paul defends his record as an apostle against his critics by pointing to his imprisonments, beatings, brushes with death, shipwrecks, and other hardships.

“For St. Paul it is very clear that the only criterion for an apostle was a life like Jesus Himself,” said Father Louie, who is assistant pastor at Immaculate Conception parish in Kelowna and chaplain for Live In and Rachel’s Vineyard. “These things are not metaphors. Paul would ask how often have you been in prison for your witness to Christ, how often has your life been in danger because you stand up for the truth of Jesus Christ?”

Apostleship actually has three meanings, Father Louie said. First, it means the Twelve, plus Paul and perhaps a few other such as Barnabas, who had a direct call through an encounter with the risen Christ and were sent out by Him with His Gospel. Second, it means many people in every age who have the task of going from place to place spreading the Gospel and founding Christian ministries.

And finally, it means all Christians. Through our baptism, all of us have the task of bearing witness to Jesus’ resurrection, especially to “the least, the last and the lost.”

Another thing we share with St. Paul is a need for personal transformation in Christ. St. Paul thought he was a good man before his conversion, but he was misguided, and after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he had to re-evaluate everything in his life. All of us need the same transformation.

On a related topic, Father Louie noted that apostleship is only part of Christian ministry. Apostles are listed first, but of course not alone, in St. Paul’s list of ministers in the Church in 1 Cor 12:27-31, along with prophets, teachers, administrators and others. Apostles work in partnership with those other ministers, with an emphasis on preaching. Baptism and ongoing programs belong to other ministers; St. Paul himself notes in 1 Cor 1: 14-17 that he was sent to preach, and baptized only a few people personally.

Then, he was off to preach in other locations while the Christian community he had left behind put his preaching into action. “He moved on,” Father Louie said. “He did not hang on. He did not make it his pet.”

He didn’t rest on his accomplishments, either. He had more work to do.

“We need to ask ourselves, am I like St. Paul?” Father Louie said. “Am I ready to do the work, and after the work is done, am I ready to start another work? That’s the challenge—sometimes we have the idea, ‘I have done my work, so goodbye.’ If we want the Church to grow, we must forget about ‘goodbye.’”

Father Louie expanded on the theme in his second talk, The Missionary Nature of the Church Towards the New Evangelization.

Quoting the Vatican II document Ad Gentes and statements by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York Father Louie said that the Church’s missionary activity must extend from Jesus’ first coming to His second coming, but has changed in nature in recent years.

First, there is a geographical change. His native Philippines were evangelized by missionary priests from Spain, but now Asian priests like himself are coming as missionaries to North America and Europe.

Second, there is a theological change. In today’s society, nominal believers as well as unbelievers need to be evangelized, because their faith is often distorted by the influence of secular society, producing a lack of awareness of God’s transcendence, a practical denial of God, and superficiality and selfishness.

He said the ask of the new evangelization is to revive the faith of believers and thus inspire unbelievers. To do this we must learn to know Jesus more and fall in love with Him and His Church. We should study scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church and pray for courage to witness. If we do all this, people outside the Church will notice.

He said our evangelization must present a person—Jesus—rather than a belief system, and we must show by our joy that God is alive. We must also prepare for martyrdom, because evangelization is not a smooth or easy path, and yet we must not be afraid.

TERESA

“Docile” does not mean “weak.”

The two words sound similar to a lot of people in our culture, but the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary proves they’re completely different, Teresa van Kampen told Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute in Kelowna in August. And we need to show the courage to follow Mary’s example.

“Docility requires courage and strength, not weakness,” Teresa told the audience. “Mary was heroic in her co-operation in the plan of salvation as she accompanied Jesus her son in His passion and death.”

Teresa is Alberta representative to the national Catholic charismatic service committee and former chair of the renewal in Calgary. She and her husband have 10 children and 18 grandchildren.

She told the audience there is very little detail about our Lady in the Bible, but what there is speaks volumes. Mary is presented in the accounts of the annunciation, the birth and childhood of Jesus, His crucifixion, Pentecost, and a few other places, and at every point she shows complete trust in God and commitment to His will.

“The Blessed Mother of Jesus lived in and for the love of God,” she said. “Her entire heart belonged to Him, and His will was all she wanted for her life. She was docile to the Holy Spirit to the last breath.”

She said Mary was intelligent and well aware of what she was doing—not at all weak, childish, or unthinking, but trusting in a God she knew was good. She would do what she was asked, regardless of the consequences, unlike most Christians today who waver when faced with difficulties in following God’s will.

“We start thinking of alternatives. Maybe plan B is called for,” Teresa said. Not so with our Lady.

Mary is often called the new Eve, and indeed she joins Jesus in overthrowing the harm caused by the first man and woman. She was conceive in the fullness of grace such as Eve had enjoyed before the Fall. But Eve, Teresa said, wanted occult knowledge—God’s knowledge of good and evil. Mary resisted that temptation and was content to walk in faith, not by sight.

“She had no desire for any of the vanities, flatteries or deceptions of the evil one,” Teresa said. “She did not want power or knowledge outside of God her saviour. She was content to be His handmaid and in her docility to Him she co-operated with Jesus for the salvation of the whole human race.”

On the cross, Teresa said, Jesus gave Mary to all of us, through John, and we should follow her example.

Teresa’s second talk was titled Do, Become, Be…Whatever He Tells You, a reference to Mary’s directions at the wedding in Cana (John 2:5) and also to the theme of the conference.

“Whatever” is a tall order: holiness. Some people think holiness is just for saints, or priests and nuns, she said, “but we are all called, without exception, to be holy.”

That, she said, is how we get to heaven. She said the world teaches us that the road to heaven is wide and the road to hell narrow, but Jesus says the opposite; still, He wants us to make it to heaven.

“The call to holiness is more than doing what people think is good,” she said. “The call to holiness is doing the will of God.”

But while holiness may be the road to heaven, it isn’t the road to an easy life. Some Christians, especially charismatics, think everything will go well for them if they follow God’s will. That, Teresa said, is false theology.

“Life is not like that,” she said. “Jesus said take up your cross and follow me. He didn’t say pick up your bag of goodies.”

She cited the late Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan of Vietnam as an example. He had just been named coadjutor archbishop of Saigon when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese army in 1975, and he spent the next 13 years in jail, nine of them in solitary confinement, and suffered torture. He smuggled out messages to his people on scraps of paper. After his release in 1988, he held positions in the Vatican and was named cardinal the year before his death in 2002. His cause for beatification has been opened.

In a talk after his release, he said “if you have no opportunity for sacrifice, this is an indication that you still do not love God,” and Teresa said we all need to hear that hard message.

“In our culture we’ve heard the soft message for so long that we’re wimpy,” she said. “The teenagers in our culture are dying, and the soft message is hanging them out to dry.”

Teresa said Catholics should study the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to get to know Jesus better, always following Church interpretation of the Bible. We should confess any involvement in New Age activities (“break those ties forever. Don’t go back. Jesus is enough.”)

We must also forgive our enemies and pray for them; we forgive with our will even if our emotions don’t agree. “If you don’t forgive, He won’t forgive you. Forgiveness shatters the forces of evil.” We must also break our attachment to sin, including not only obvious sin but such things as manipulating other people to get our way.

GERALD

It’s OK to be afraid, says Father Gerald Sekanga—as long as we’re afraid of the right thing.

And for Christians, he said, the one and only thing to be afraid of is harming our relationship with God.

Father Gerald, assistant pastor at St. Charles Garnier parish in Kelowna, was a guest speaker at Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute, speaking on What Are You Afraid Of? and Preaching the Radical Word. Originally from Uganda, he has an education in law and philosophy, and works with youth and as a retreat leader.

Fears are more important than we think, Father Gerald said. “Our lives are ordered every day by what we are afraid of.” For example, seminarians are instilled with fear of the Church’s sexual abuse scandal, and told “stay away from the kids” as young priests. But in Uganda, priests had to drive pickup trucks rather than compact cars so that youngsters could ride along on their visit to missions, and tomorrow’s priests come largely from among those boys in the truck.

Fears like that are inappropriate, he said; even the prayer of the Mass asks God to “protect us from all anxiety” (the former text; “safe from all distress” in the new missal).

We must ask ourselves “have my fears overtaken who I am?”, he said. “Our fear as Christians should be the fear of the Lord. Without the fear of the Lord we close ourselves off from the treasures of God’s wisdom.”

Unfortunately, he said, the Church hasn’t always done the best job of instilling the right type of fear. Fifty or 60 years ago the stress on fear was excessive; today Catholics are so confident of God’s love that they think they don’t have to do anything in response to it.

“We’ve moved from one extreme to the other,” he said, and both lead to a secularization of values rather than proper fear of God. In the old approach, people thought “I’m going to hell anyway, so why bother?” Today, it’s “God loves me anyway, so why bother?”

Father Gerald cited the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah and the 19^th century Ugandan martyrs as examples of appropriate fear.

In Jeremiah chapter 20, the prophet complains to God about being sent with an unwelcome message to a hostile society; he had much to fear from the king and other officials, and was persecuted, imprisoned, and according to tradition eventually murdered. But he says that if he tries not to speak God’s word, “it becomes like a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”

He was afraid of his enemies, Father Gerald said, but “the prophet Jeremiah’s biggest fear was that he would give up his relationship with the One who sent him.”

In Uganda in 1887, St. Charles Lwanga and a dozen other Catholic converts (as well as a group of Anglican converts) were burned alive by a king determined to rid Uganda of foreign influence. “They were afraid of the king, but more afraid of losing their relationship with God,” Father Gerald said. “They gave up their fear of the king and went to Jesus Christ.”

Father Gerald quoted Matthew 10:28, “do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna.”

Courageous Christian ministry “may even kill the body,” Father Gerald said. “Don’t worry about the body.”

In his talk Preaching the Radical Word, Father Gerald said preaching depends on our knowledge of and commitment to God.

“As a preacher you have to listen to the voice of the One who calls you out into the wilderness. It’s not about ‘we.’ We have to get rid of the ego.”

“It is the heart that has encountered God that is capable of communicating God. If you have not encountered God, people will see through you.”

Preaching has three goals, Father Gerald said: personal conversion (turning from self to God); ecclesial renewal (we need to create community); and social transformation. “If one part is ignored or played down, the others suffer.”

He said we need to let Jesus turn our lives upside down, let Him change all our plans, and also let people see the hope and joy in us.

Father Gerald also called for study of the Bible and Catholic tradition, so that we can articulate it to others. He noted with frustration that Catholic young people are the second-most ignorant religious group (behind Jewish young people) about their own faith.

BART

Both Abraham and the Blessed Virgin Mary encountered God’s love most intimately in their darkest and most demanding moments, says Father Bart van Roijen.

Both were called to sacrifice their only son, and both experienced the love, sorrow, and generosity of the Father in their obedience to that call, Father Bart told Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute in Kelowna.

Father Bart, pastor of St. Michael parish in Sparwood and Holy Family parish in Fernie, is chair of the Nelson diocesan council of priests and a member of the diocesan religious education committee. It was his second year as speaker at the summer institute. His topics were Abraham our Father in Faith; Mary our Mother, and Authority and Discipleship in Mark’s Gospel.

“The stories of Abraham and Mary run parallel to one another and lead us deeper into their union with God,” he told the audience. He said Mary’s experience on Calvary completes Abraham’s own journey to sacrifice his son, Isaac, at God’s command.

Abraham is 75 by the time his story is told in the book of Genesis, Father Bart said; the account contains only four lines about the earlier portion of his life. We are left wondering how he came to the point of trusting God so thoroughly—especially since he would have been considered cursed by God since he and his wife, Sarai (Sarah), had entered old age with no children.

“It’s interesting that Abraham had faith at all,” Father Bart said. “God had passed them over. They would die without having someone to carry forward their seed.”

He said many people in Abraham’s situation would simply have changed gods. But Abraham had faith that, though everything might not turn out, God would still be faithful.

By contrast, we know Mary was “full of grace” from the beginning. But there is still much we don’t know about her spiritual life. As with Abraham, much of her faith was formed in hiddenness.

There’s a lesson for us in that, Father Bart said. “So much of our faith journey takes place in obscurity. We may not even be aware of it ourselves….day by day, unseen by us, God is working something wonderful in us.”

In Abraham’s case, he and Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands, when Abraham fathered a child with Hagar, Sarah’s maid. God had a place for that child, Ishmael, making him the father of the Arab people, Father Bart said—yet God also repeated his own promise immediately after, that Abraham would have a son with Sarah.

But once he has that son, Isaac, Abraham is called on to sacrifice him. That’s not a reversal by God, Father Bart said—it’s Abraham’s faith “taken to its outer extremes.” It’s based on love, as in Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:37, “he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” The sacrifice is based on love on both sides, he said, and when Abraham had shown his faith, God rescued Isaac.

Mary, too, had to journey with her Son to the place of sacrifice. Jesus, of course, does die, but then comes the resurrection.

“We see both in Abraham’s story and in Mary’s story, that on the mountain, God provides,” Father Bart said. “The long and arduous climb has been worth it. Mary is led to the foot of the cross, there to experience the love, the sorrow and the generosity of the Father and so enter most intimately into God’s sacrifice and life.

“We too are called to heed her call to do ‘whatever He tells you’ [the theme of this year’s institute], not for His sake but for ours, so that in joining ourselves more fully in the gift of the Father’s only-begotten Son, we may also share in the joy of the Holy Spirit that filled Mary’s heart on the day of the resurrection.”

In his earlier talk, on Mark’s gospel, Father Bart led the audience through the text as a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 63, especially verse 19, “O that You would rend the heavens and come down.” In Mark, the heavens open in the very first episode, Jesus’ baptism by John, and the Holy Spirit descends on Him (1:10).

“By the end of Chapter 1, unlike any other evangelist, Mark has hammered home the power and authority of Jesus” through healings and exorcisms, Father Bart said, and the next few chapters are taken up with challenges to this authority and illustrations of faith or lack of faith on the part of outside observers.

But in Chapter 8, the midpoint of the gospel, the emphasis changes once Peter has answered Jesus’ question “who do you say that I am” by saying “You are the Christ.” From then on, Jesus is dealing with his own disciples, and in particular their misunderstanding of the nature of discipleship: taking up the cross. Opposition now comes from within Jesus’ own circle.

“You [Peter and the others] got the first part of the message. Good for you,” Father Bart said. “Stay tuned for the second part of the message. The most important part is still to come.”

The point is made in the story of the rich man in chapter 10, who wants to know what he must do to be saved. He has always kept the commandments, but Jesus tells him to give everything to the poor, and he goes away sad.

“He was a good person. He had done everything right,” Father Bart said. “Jesus loves us so much that He invites us to take the next step.”

“It is not just that we need to do some pruning and housekeeping. It’s that Jesus needs to do some pruning and housekeeping in us.”

Mar 8th Stay in the Spirit, 24/7

Lalith Perera brings ‘four step retreat’ to B.C.

So you were baptized in the Holy Spirit 20 years ago? That’s not good enough, says Lalith Perera.

We need to receive the Holy Spirit all day, every day, for the rest of our lives, he told this year’s Vancouver Catholic charismatic conference Sept. 23-24. And there are steps we can take to make sure that happens—10 times a day if necessary.

Perera is head of the Community of the Risen Lord, a Catholic charismatic community based in Sri Lanka and operating a worldwide ministry, in person and electronically.

Perera said most Catholics today are “with Christ,” like the apostles during Jesus’ ministry, but not “in Christ” the way those same apostles were after the Holy Spirit was poured out on them at Pentecost.

What’s the difference? St. Peter’s first two sermons, recorded in Acts chapters 2-4, brought in 5,000 converts. “Today if you preach 5,000 sermons and get two people to convert, you’ll be lucky,” Perera said.

“Something has gone wrong. There’s no difference between Christians and non-Christians all over the world today, because we have gone back into the ‘with Christ’ experience.”

The conference was conducted as a “four step retreat,” teaching a way to get back to the “in Christ” experience. The steps are: Come As You Are, I Love You; Give the Truth of Your Heart to Jesus; Surrender Your Life to the Lord; and Be Filled with the Holy Spirit.

COME AS YOU ARE

For step 1, Perera said, Catholics need to give up the idea, learned by many in childhood, that Jesus only loves good children. Jesus loves everybody. We must run to him now, sins and all. “Don’t wait till you change. Come and be changed. Come to the Lord, and He will transform you.”

GIVE THE TRUTH TO JESUS

Step 2: Tell the truth, especially to God. We all tell three kinds of lies, Perera said: to other people, which destroys our peace and joy; to ourselves—better known as denial—which brings the truth out in other ways, such as mental, emotional and even physical illnesses; and to God, which means “our prayers won’t go beyond the roof.”

“Take these three curses, says Jesus, and give them to me. I will turn it into a blessing,” he said.

We must be honest in confessing our sins, and God will heal them as He has been doing since the time of the Bible—a book of “all broken people, and a mighty God.”

SURRENDER YOUR LIFE

Step 3 may be the hardest: surrender. Most people, Perera said, think that means loss of freedom and happiness, so “nobody wants to surrender to God. We are trying to buy favours from God.”

Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Surrender means giving God permission to enact His plan in our lives.

In his own life, Perera said, he had been a charismatic leader for many years when God confronted him during a retreat in the year 2000. “You serve Me,” God told him, “but you serve Me on your terms, not Mine. Surrender to Me. If you do not surrender, I will still love you. I will still take care of you. But you will do little things for me, and grow old and die.” In tears, he surrendered—and soon a prayer group of about a dozen mushroomed to thousands of people.

Calling on the congregation to raise both arms in surrender, Perera said “in the army this is a sign: I give up. But in the kingdom of God it is another sign: Father, carry me.”

He said the surrender must include our money—“not only the money you drop in the plate but the money you have in your wallet, and the money you have in the bank, and your stocks and shares, belong to the Lord. You are the steward.” But if we ask God how to spend our money, and obey what He tells us, “I promise you, you will never be short of money in your life.”

Surrender must also include the way we treat other people, especially those close to us. “When you treat your family the way God wants, your family becomes the kingdom of God,” he said.

BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

The first three steps we can do for ourselves, Perera said. Step 4 is something only Jesus can do: fill us with the Holy Spirit. We can’t live a Christian life without that. So we must start each day by turning to Jesus: coming as we are, telling Him the truth, surrendering to His will—and then He will fill us with the Spirit. And each time we fall away from this during the day, we should do the same steps, as often as necessary. Jesus will do His part.

Perera said the Spirit will give us peace and joy independent of our circumstances, will allow us to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh, and will enable us to love people that it would normally be impossible to love.

—Richard Dunstan

Jul 8th Summer Institute draws B.C. leaders

More than 60 charismatic Catholics turned out to St. Charles Garnier parish in Kelowna Aug. 14-19 for the third annual Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute.

Theme for the Catholic charismatic leadership formation event was Revisiting Pentecost, with Father Don Wilson of Kelowna, Father Bart van Roijen of Sparwood, John Connelly of Burns Lake, and Deacon Armand Danis of Thunder Bay, Ont., as featured speakers.

Also on the schedule were daily Mass; praise and worship; panel discussions and other audience participation activities; evening prayer gatherings; and the sacrament of reconciliation.

The event was sponsored by the Nelson Diocese Charismatic Renewal Service Committee, with the endorsement of Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of B.C., and letters of greeting from all five B.C. bishops. Alanet MacKinnon and Madeleine Allen were co-ordinators, with Gladys Miller as MC and Johanna Tournemille, Laurette Hamoline, Gladys Miller and Roy MacIntyre leading music.

A total of 45 people attended full-time, with another 18 attending for at least part of the institute. The total was an increased of 15 people from last year’s institute.

Next year’s summer institute will be held in Kelowna Aug. 12-17, with sessions at St. Charles Garnier and opening Mass and accommodations at St. Elizabeth Seton House of Prayer. More details will be available in our spring newsletter.

For more information call Gladys Miller, 250-442-8589, or russ-m@telus.net.  

—Summer Institute stories by Richard Dunstan

Jun 8th Fr. Don Wilson: Don’t let the fire die out

God has given us fire, and we had better offer Him more than ashes.

Fire, in the Bible, represents both God’s love and His wrath, Father Don Wilson told Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute this summer in Kelowna. It expresses the intensity of God’s love for us, and at the same time His judgement on unrighteousness. “I have come to cast fire on the earth,” Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, “and how I wish it were already blazing!”

At Pentecost, Father Wilson said, Christians were given that fire. And if the Holy Spirit burns brightly in God’s people, it will kindle God’s flame in the whole world.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always burn brightly. The Church is often weak and feeble, Father Wilson said, clinging to “the ashes of a bygone enthusiasm. The fire that Jesus cast on the earth has grown sadly low.” Even in the Catholic charismatic renewal, he told an audience of more than 50 charismatic leaders, “every leader longs to be on fire, but today we are more likely to be burnt out.”

God wants our fire fanned into flame, he said, and it’s our job to do that.

. The dying out of the fire can lead to a lot of busy work that gets the kingdom of God nowhere, Father Wilson said. We can find ourselves ending in outward observance what we began in the Spirit, as St. Paul warns in Galatians chapter 3. Worse yet, “a lot of us can’t be burnt out because we were never on fire.”

The only solution, he said, is to turn back to the One who gave us the fire: God Himself. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). “If we want to be on fire with the Spirit, we must take care of our relationship with the Lord.”

First of all, this means prayer time, and lots of it. “Sometimes it seems to be wasting time, but it’s important to waste time with the Lord,” Father Wilson said.

We must also be fully submitted to God in scripture reading, prayer, reception of the sacraments, and obedience to authority. All of this is more important than conferences, techniques or programs.

We need to let God be in charge of our schedule, and that takes more than good intentions. A lot of people are burned out doing things God isn’t asking them to do, Father Wilson said, but “there is always enough time to do the things the Lord is asking us to do.

“There is a small amount of time in the day available to us, and we are accountable to the Lord for how we use it,” he said. “We must be led by God’s priorities, not by demand or pressure from others.”

That means prayer time, time for our families, and appropriate time for relaxation and refreshment, as well as time devoted to the tasks God gives us. And it means cutting out time-wasters that don’t fit into any of those categories.

It also means delegating. Many leaders find that difficult—nobody else can be trusted to do things right. But the Bible says “better two than one by himself” (Ecclesiastes 4:9) , and in addition to lightening the burden, delegation gives other people a chance to grow.

“Never forget that we are not the saviours of the world,” Father Wilson said. “There’s only one Saviour, Jesus, and He invites us to work with Him, using the gifts and powers He has given us.”

We must meet Jesus as a living person, not just as a historical figure; renew our baptism every day, and seek the Spirit again for every new task. “A Christian is above all a convert, converted from the ideas of the world.”

We should ask ourselves, ”am I really converted? Is my whole soul truly turned toward the Lord? Am I calling lack of overt sin ‘conversion’? Is Jesus Lord of all my life, so that I can say ‘not I live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20) ‘? Have I agreed to be Christianized by Christ, spiritualized by His Spirit? Am I expectant that His gifts will be manifested in me today?”

Father Wilson said the current sufferings of the Church—the revelations of its infidelity and sin within the Church, and ridicule from outside—are actually signs of hope.

“Suffering is the seed of life,” he said. “The Church never has greater cause to hope than when its sufferings are greatest. God is the master of the impossible—He writes straight with crooked lines.”

Father Wilson, director of St. Elizabeth Seton House of Prayer in Kelowna, is a pioneer of the Catholic charismatic renewal in B.C. and spiritual adviser and past chair of the provincial charismatic service committee, as well as bishops’ liaison to the renewal.

May 8th John Connelly: ‘Re-Pentecost’ and be baptized

His name is John, and he came calling out “re-Pentecost!”

And if you think that’s a silly pun, you’re half right. The pun on “repent” and “Pentecost” is deliberate, but there’s nothing silly about the message.

Repentance and a new Pentecost go together, John Connelly told Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute in Kelowna, and the Catholic Church has no hope without them.

That might sound scary, but Connelly said Catholics should take heart. Literally. A new heart is just as essential as repentance and a new Pentecost, and only God can provide it.

“Nothing can put the Catholic Church together again but God,” he said. “The scandals are going to continue until we admit that we can’t do the job without a new Pentecost.”

Connelly, who operates God’s Revolution Today multi-media ministry out of Burns Lake, B.C., said his message was in keeping with the message of another John 2,000 years ago: John the Baptist, who preached repentance, and promised that Jesus would baptize his hearers with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11). “Repentance points us to Pentecost,” Connelly said.

Connelly said the evidence of how little we as Catholics can do on our own power is all around us—or rather, among us. He said only 10 to 15 per cent of Catholics have a relationship with Jesus and are trying to be His disciples. The rest of the Catholic population is nominal at best, “and ‘nominal’ is kind for most of them.”

“Our programs are not working,” he said. “We need power that we do not have, and it is our lack of humility that will not admit it. We as a Church need to repent.”

That power, he said, comes from the Holy Spirit—the power that came down on Peter and the other apostles on the first Pentecost. “Something happened to Peter in that upper room,” he said, “and that something must happen in every Catholic.

“I’m not saying you need to join the charismatic renewal. I’m saying you need Pentecost. This should be universal—it should not just be a group in the Church. The Holy Spirit is central, central, central to the basics of Catholicism. Somehow, we’re not always getting the message.”

The Holy Spirit comes in fire, he said, and that’s exactly what we need.

“Fire can be seen,” he said. “A person who is on fire burns. The trouble is that the Church is not on fire.”

“The Spirit and the bride say ‘come’” (Revelation 22:17a) was Connelly’s overall theme for his talks. He devoted his morning talk to the Spirit, and the afternoon to the bride. The bride, he said, is us, or at least it’s supposed to be.

“God is not just looking for friends, or obedient servants,” he said. “He’s looking for a bride. The only thing we can compare it to on earth is a loving relationship between a husband and a wife.”

And to be a fitting bride for our Lord, we must have a new heart, like the one God gave to St. Margaret Mary, founder of the Sacred Heart devotion. “Love desires a heart that it not divided,” St. Margaret Mary said. “It calls for all or none.”

That, Connelly said, is something we can’t do for ourselves. We can only ask God humbly for a new heart, and then let him provide it, no matter how much it hurts.

“We have spiritual heart disease, and the divine physician must operate,” he said.

Connelly said the Church is facing tough times, but great times too. Tough times will mean Catholics have to make a conscious choice for their Church, he said, and many of the 85 to 90 per cent of Catholics who are lukewarm will drop aside. “Pope Benedict has said the Church of the future will be smaller,” he said.

Quoting Pope Benedict, Connelly said the Church of the future will have a renewed love for the Eucharist and for prayer; reconciliation between Christian denominations as all suffer persecution; and the flourishing of small faith communities.

“If you have a small prayer group, you’re right on target,” Connelly said.

But this small Church will also spread, he said: “Wherever there’s fire, people are going to gather.”

Connelly said God’s faithful must “come out of Babylon” (Revelation 18:4), not by literally leaving a sinful world but by setting ourselves apart from it spiritually, through personal holiness. “You live in Babylon. Babylon is all around you,” he said. “Create a desert in your own life where you will find God. That’s what a prayer group is.”

Apr 8th Fr. Bart van Roijen: You’re looking for Jesus

What are you looking for? Whether you know it or not, the answer is Jesus, Father Bart van Roijen told Our Lady of Pentecost Summer Institute.

We all want to be happy, he said, and we all have our own ideas about what will make us happy. “But there has to be a context to our happiness, and without God we cannot be truly happy.”

In a talk titled Pentecost: The Word Made Flesh Revisited, Father Van Roijen said John’s Gospel is framed at both ends with a question asked Jesus: “What (or Whom) are you looking for?”, and between those two questions are a number of stories of people who found the answer in Him.

In the first chapter of John, two disciples of John the Baptist set out to follow Jesus as he passes by; on seeing them he asks them “What are you looking for?” (Jn 1:38). After the resurrection, he meets the weeping

Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb, and asks her “Whom are you looking for?” (Jn 20:15)

Others who come to Jesus on their own searches include Nicodemus in chapter 3, and the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter 4. They’re looking for other things—but in finding Jesus, they find everything else they truly want. “They have seen the Lord, and they are satisfied.”

Father Van Roijen described the story of the Samaritan woman as “a love story that is truly satisfying.” The woman is desperate for love, despite her five ex-husbands and her current boyfriend. She is an outcast in the community, too—reduced to drawing water at noon, a time when no one will be out in the hot sun of the Middle East.

Jesus, Father Van Roijen said, is number seven, the true husband in her life (in a spiritual sense, of course). She recognizes Him as the Messiah, and leaves her water jar—

which had been the whole point of her trip to the well—as she goes off to tell the story to the villagers who have ostracized her.

“He who is speaking to her is her true spouse. She leaves her jar. She’s finished with that endless task of looking. She has found.”

The same thing can happen for us, Father van Roijen said. Jesus’ teaching is centred around this question, and “He reveals Himself as the answer to this question. Jesus doesn’t just leave us looking—He tells us ‘here I am.’ In Christ we already share must fully that which awaits us [in heaven].”

People look for many things—acceptance, love, power, recognition, approval, security. To the extent that these are good things, we will find them when we find Jesus. But sometimes we may be looking for the wrong things, and then we need to repent.

“Are you looking for your one heart’s desire, or are you distracted by other things?” Father van Roijen asked. “That’s a good question to ask every day.”

As disciples who have found Jesus, he said, we should have certain distinguishing marks.

We should be in communion with God’s commandments and word; we should love one another; we should have faith in the One God has sent; and we should be in unity with one another. These things may sound simple enough, but they are only possible by God’s power through the Holy Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit is essential,” he told the audience.” Otherwise we’d be trying to accomplish God’s work on our own.”

Father van Roijen also spoke on Mary’s Life in the Spirit: Journey towards a New Pentecost. He noted that, while the story of the Annunciation is extremely familiar to us today, it was completely new and unexpected to Mary, and it wouldn’t have been entirely clear that Gabriel’s visit was a good thing.

Yet despite any fear she may have felt, she said “yes” to God and to the Holy Spirit—she “spoke a passing word and embraced the eternal Word,” in the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

“We, too, must answer our God with a word,” Father van Roijen said.

As Mary’s journey continues, we learn more about the Holy Spirit. As she visits Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb. ”The Spirit is infectious—we see it as it leaps from person to person.”

After Jesus’ birth, Mary ponders the events in her heart. “It takes time to treasure and to ponder, Father van Roijen said. “We need to allow time for our roots to sink deep into our souls.”

At the Presentation in the Temple, she encounters Simeon and Anna, who are waiting in hope, as the disciples are told to do after Jesus’ ascension, and as we ourselves must do. And God blessed both of them for their waiting, as they beheld the glory of God.

They also prophesied to Mary, and to us, what the Christian life will be, as Simeon told her a sword would pierce her heart.

“The life in the Spirit is not a bed of roses but a crown of thorns,” Father van Roijen said.

In her docility to God’s will, Mary’s whole life is a model for our prayer, he said. “We are handmaids of the Lord. Our prayer does not dictate to God, but opens us more fully to Him.”

—Richard Dunstan