Vision for prayer groups

Transcription

1 LEADERS FOCUS Vision for prayer groups our baptism and confirmation. It is a call to live with God as the reference for our life and actions, for our thoughts and decisions. It is a call, as one theologian writes, to fall in love with God in an unrestricted manner. It is a vision from God to continue to be converted, to seek to be pruned until there are no restrictions in our love for God and for the love of God flowing through us in a life that bears fruit. by David Thorp I n the imaginative world of cartoonist Johnny Hart, creator of the comic strip B.C., there is a strange looking bird called an apteryx. In one strip the apteryx, a wingless bird with hairy feathers, looks a little confused as it is walking by a caveman. Hello there, it says, I m an aspirin. The caveman begins to howl in laughter. The apteryx quickly realizes the mistake and blurts out, I mean, I m an apteryx. The caveman laughs even more and replies, I liked you better when you were an aspirin. The bird, dark clouds and question marks above its head, walks away but quickly returns. Hello there, it says, I m an aspirin. What happened to apteryx? the caveman asked. I decided that being liked better is more important, replied the apteryx. The apteryx s conclusion being liked better is more important can be a response that we make. Individually we can compromise or try to hide our identity to gain acceptance or so that we don t stand out or so as not to ruffle feathers. We can do the same thing as groups. After saying, Hello, we re part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal there can be reactions that make us want to hide or downplay aspects of our identity. If we do, then our mission can also be compromised. It is important for each person, for each prayer group, for the Charismatic Renewal as a whole to see clearly who we are by the grace of God. It s critical that we are clear about the vision. Vision is a call from the Lord; it starts with God. It s something that we perceive. Vision is not something that we decide but something that we receive from God. It s a call to a way of life, to a way of being in God, to a way of manifesting the gospel, to a way of ministering. Vision announces who we are identity and what we are called to do mission. Clarity about the vision of the Lord for us is vital. Recall the words of Proverbs 29:18, Where there is no vision the people perish. Other translations give these consequences of lack of vision: the people become demoralized, are scattered, break apart, die. Without keeping the vision clearly before us, we can lose our identity and we tend to gravitate towards what will make us liked better. There are many different aspects to vision, many different levels on which we can talk about vision and the ways that we announce and live this out: for ourselves, for our individual prayer groups, for dioceses, for the Charismatic Renewal as a whole. Here are five aspects of the vision that the Lord is laying out for us. Conversion and fruitful initiation. This is the Lord s call to be clear that our lives are turned away from people, things and ideas and turned towards Jesus Christ. Jesus has first priority; our gaze is fixed on him and his way of being. It is a call to live fully and fruitfully the life of initiation into which we have been plunged in Full reception and exercise of charisms. One author describes charisms as enablements in every age, for everyone, as evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit so to exalt Jesus Christ, to edify (build up) the church and to evangelize the world. The Lord calls us to see that there was not just one time in church history for charisms. Charisms are for today. Nor were charisms just for the early years of the charismatic renewal or for an individual s early years, something that we grow out of when we have reached some imagined level of maturity. Charisms are not spiritual jump starts but are the empowerments that are needed at all times to accomplish God s plans. The Lord also calls us to see that charisms are not just for a few people, as if the rest of the church or the rest of the prayer group s members can be spectators as a few receive and exercise charisms. The Lord also challenges us to a full reception of the spiritual gifts. At times we can limit the range of gifts to just a few (for example, tongues, prophecy and healing or to a list in one or another of the letters of St. Paul). Some scholars have identified as many as twenty-seven charisms in the New Testament. Do we have an expansive vision to see all the ways that the Lord would want to gift us? Do we have an expectation that the Lord will pour out gifts on everyone? Do we eagerly and actively seek the gifts today, even if we have been involved in charismatic renewal for many years? May/June/July/August

2 LEADERS FOCUS leading to holiness, to union with God. Are there ways that we are helping people to draw closer to God in personal and communal prayer? How are we facilitating their transformation into the saints God desires all of us to be by deepening their encounter with God through the Scripture and in the sacraments? Ongoing growth in a life of holiness. Almost from the beginning of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal there have been Life in the Spirit Seminars. I want to clearly see that the Lord is calling us to a life and not just to a seminar. I don t want to think I am merely attending a course from which I graduate when I m done. It is a life in the Spirit Caring and sharing relationships. Part of the vision from the Lord is helping people to grow with one another in family life, at work, within the life of the prayer group. The vision of God is not for us to have a private relationship with him. At the core of our life with God is relationship with others that mirror God s own life as Trinity. How are we helping prayer group members to have caring and sharing relationships with family members, with neighbors and co-workers? Bold witness of life, of words and of action. Having brought us into a whole new way of living, the Lord calls us to show and to tell, in order to bring others into his way of life. It won t be enough to tell others the good news if they can t see the good news shine from us. It is wonderful that people see something in us (joy, peace, patience, etc.) but how much more complete for them to hear about the One who has given us all that they see. As we witness, the Lord is calling us to be bold, that is, undeterred, unstoppable. The Lord calls us, individually and as groups, to recover our zeal to evangelize. &RPH +LJKHU )ULHQGV $ %HOOZHWKHU &RQWHPSODWLYH 5HWUHDW -uly 11-16, PDKD 1HEUDVND presented by,qwhufhvvruv RI WKH /DPE 4014 North Post Road Omaha, NE To obtain registration information : Call: :30-4:30 CST Web: Mention this ad and receive the early bird discount! 10 May/June/July/August 2004 The Lord challenges us to see this vision more clearly, to embrace it more completely and live it more faithfully so that we won t settle simply for being liked better. To assist individuals and prayer groups, a number of worksheets can be downloaded from These worksheets include: the five points of this broad vision, a listing and description of the spiritual gifts and some questions for prayer groups leaders to use as they discover how their groups are living the vision. David Thorp is Liaison for the Charismatic Renewal in the Archdiocese of Boston and Director of Evangelization at the Spiritual Life Center of the Marian Community in Medway, Massachusetts.

3 LEADERS FOCUS NEWSBRIEFS Leadership groups gather in Miami The Gathering of National Leadership Groups meets annually under the direction of a committee led by Bishop Sam Jacobs. The committee includes chairpersons of the National Service Committee (Aggie Neck) and the Association of Diocesan Liaisons Steering Committee (Judith Hughes), an ethnic representative (Msgr. Joseph Malagreca) and a representative of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships (Dennis McBride). Members of these Leadership Groups in Catholic Charismatic Renewal come together for prayer, fellowship and listening to the Lord. This year in January, the 50 participants at the Gathering adopted the following as a working vision statement for the Renewal at this time. The Charismatic Renewal needs to be joyful and excited by our mission; vigilant to the Word of God; awake to the danger of the present evil; mutually supportive and in service to each other; because the Lord is calling the Charismatic Renewal to be bold with a united voice and to make an impact on the church and society by proclaiming the priority of the Lordship of Jesus; the Father s love for all; the power of the Spirit in all we do; the radical call to a witness of holiness. NSC reelects three members In 1987 the National Service Committee first established terms for its members. In 1998 they adopted term limits of three consecutive terms of not more than three years each. As a result, the NSC has experienced a complete turnover of membership in the last five years. In the Fall of 2003, nomination ballots were sent to over 600 leaders in the Renewal to fill three positions. Normally elections take place in January, but the NSC decided that, in light of the recent turnover on the committee and the strong showing of the three top nominees, the election process should be abridged for this one time. Therefore, at their December meeting, the NSC decided to accept and elect by acclamation the three top nominees from all the ballots returned. These three were the NSC members whose terms were expiring and who were eligible and available for reelection: Ros Hernandez of San Antonio, Virginia King of Seattle and Mark Nehrbas of Steubenville. Leaders from the Archdiocese of Denver Fr. John Gordon Regional leaders gathering in Denver Some 115 eager leaders from Colorado and surrounding states gathered at Aurora s Radisson Hotel during the weekend of February 6 8, Auxiliary Bishop José Gomez, S.T.D. of Denver, who welcomed the leaders, described charismatic renewal and other post-vatican II movements as the Holy Spirit blowing the dust off of the gospels making the church young again in its love for Christ. NSC members, Josephine Cachia and Fr. John Gordon exhorted participants to put out into the deep. Regional Leaders Gatherings provide an opportunity for leaders to be refreshed and to deepen their participation in the mission of charismatic renewal which Josephine described as being the same as that of the church evangelization spreading the gospel message so that all may experience the fullness of life in Christ. The weekend included communal opportunities to celebrate Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and to participate in discussion and Eucharistic adoration. May/June/July/August

4 C H A R I S M S by Sherry Weddell Charism and call: discerning gifts and vocation Iwas speaking at a gathering of lay ecclesial ministers when a director of religious education asked me one of the most brilliant questions that I have ever heard. How do I find the Mother Teresa in the back of my parish. That question has haunted me ever since. I suspect that I have already met a few of the Mother Teresas and Father Damiens of the 21 st Century in places like Boise and Atlanta, Jakarta and Alaska. They may never be revered as Mother Teresa was, but they are gifted with a compassion that brings comfort and restores dignity to those who suffer. With that gift comes a call. There is a natural progression from discerning charisms to discerning vocation since our charisms are both clues to the lifework that God has created us for and tools with which to answer that call. This was brought home to me a couple years ago when a weeping woman shared her frustration. For years she had felt that God was calling her to something specific but she did not know how to find it. She discussed it with a priest who assured her that she had already found her vocation as a single mother. The fact that she was a single mom hadn t exactly escaped her notice but, as she told me, there s something else! Like many Catholics, this woman probably had more than one vocation. Being a spouse or parent, a priest or religious, is the kind of vocation sometimes referred to as a state of life. But many of us also have individual calls. God may surprise us, just as he did Mother Teresa who thought that she had found her vocation as a teaching sister, only to receive a call within a call that took her out of the convent and into the streets. Many people begin to discern their spiritual gifts because they are at a point of transition in their lives; they are discerning calls to priestly or religious life or secular vocations. Discerning charisms helps create an atmosphere where the discernment of vocation seems both normal and possible. Understanding our charisms is especially important for lay people because our options as secular apostles are as wide as the world. Knowing where we are supernaturally empowered by God (and where we are not) is enormously helpful in narrowing the field of possibilities. Recently I heard about a man who discerned that he had a charism of teaching and promptly left his law practice to begin teaching religious education. While I would never recommend that a person make a sudden decision of this kind, he is not the first to do so. For some people, coming to clarity about their charisms illuminates a long and frustrating pattern in their life. Finally they have a name for the divine restlessness that has haunted them. Once you are clear about that, why major in your minors? If you are free to do so, why not experience the joy of ordering your life around the areas where God has called and gifted you? The great 19 th century evangelist, Dwight D. Moody had a saying that I have always liked: The world has not yet seen what God will do through the life of a man or a woman who is wholly consecrated to him. As people discern and use their charisms, I think we will see not just a few, but many such men and women new Dorothy Days and Jacque Maritains, Mother Teresas and Francis Xaviers emerge in our midst. We will see the course of history being changed by the Spirit of God working through men and women who are wholly consecrated to him. For other articles about charisms, see columns in the 2003 issues of Pentecost Today at our website: Sherry Weddell is Associate Director of the Catherine of Siena Institute, a program of the Western Dominican Province dedicated to equipping parishes for the formation of lay Catholics. 12 May/June/July/August 2004

5 Come join us on a Marian Shrines Journey The National Service Committee invites you to come with us on a special pilgrimage to the Marian Shrines in Portugal, Spain and France, led by NSC member, Fr. John Gordon. Charismatic prayer is planned throughout the journey. November days, 2004 $2299 from Newark $313 single supplement Special Announcement In light of budgetary considerations, we will only be publishing three issues of Pentecost Today in We expect to resume quarterly issues in We appreciate your prayers, your patience and your continued support. Contact the National Service Committee : Lisbon/Fatima Santerem, site of famous Eucharistic miracle, Basilica and shrine of Our Lady of Fatima Vallodolid/Burgos/Lourdes, beautiful Gothic cathedral, candlelight processions, healing waters and Shrine of Lourdes Paris, Miraculous Medal Shrine of St. Catherine Laboure, Notre Dame, relics of the Holy Chapel. Come And See Why Over 10,000 People Attend The SCRC Catholic Renewal Convention Each Year! Over 40 International & Nationally Acclaimed Speakers! 50 Different Talks with Practical Spiritual Topics for Everyone! Plus: Teen Conference Young Adult Conference Young Family Ministry Children s Program Dynamic Daily Liturgies Healing Service The Daughters of St. Paul Choir in Concert REQUEST YOUR BROCHURE TODAY! September 3-5, 2004 Anaheim Convention Center across from Disneyland SCRC (Southern California Renewal Communities) 9795 Cabrini Drive Suite 105 Burbank, CA (818) fax (818) spirit@fea.net May/June/July/August

6 From the Director by Walter Matthews Listening to the Lord In his important Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (At the Beginning of the New Millennium) our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II exhorts, there is no doubt that this primacy of holiness and prayer is inconceivable without a renewed listening to the word of God...To nourish ourselves with the word in order to be servants of the word in the work of evangelization: this is surely a priority for the Church at the dawn of the millennium (39,40). While our Holy Father is speaking specifically about listening to the word of God in and through Sacred Scripture we can certainly also understand his exhortation in the broader sense of all the ways the Lord speaks to us, including that prophetic voice we so cherish in the Renewal. It was in that sense that the Service Committee met last December in the environs of its headquarters office for a retreat meeting to listen to the word of the Lord. Through scripture, prophecy, exhortation, and the life experiences and reflections of the members, the NSC sought to hear the Lord more clearly about this work of Renewal in this moment. The format was similar to the year before when the Committee met in Saginaw, Michigan (see Pentecost Today, April/May/ June 2003, p 14). The Executive Committee, led by Aggie Neck, Chairman of the Service Committee, chose the theme from 1 Peter 4:10: Be Generous Distributors of God s Gifts. Other key scriptures were: Romans 16:19-20 (discernment), James 4:10 (humility), 2 Timothy 2:20-22 (different vessels for good deeds), 1 Corinthians 2:12 (the Spirit received), Matthew 10:7-8 (mission), Walter Matthews completes 20 years of service. The members of the National Service Committee would like to take this opportunity to honor Walter Matthews as he completes 20 years of service to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal at the national level. Walter is currently the Executive Director of Chariscenter USA, the headquarters of the National Service Committee. Though we don t give out gold watches or diamond tie-tacks, we do offer many prayers of thanks for Walter s dedicated and fruitful service. Walter s gifts of administration, teaching and writing are an incalculable blessing to the NSC and to the whole Renewal. Thank you, Walter, and God bless you! Luke 1:46-55 (rejoicing), Jeremiah 42:2-3,6 (prayer and obedience) and Matthew 5:13-16 (salt and light). The scriptures chosen included Galatians 5:22-23 (the fruit of the Spirit) in light of Fr. Tom Forrest s anointed talk in Nashville (see page 4) just a few weeks before. The weekend also touched upon 7 r s : repentance, reconciliation, recovery, releasing, rejoicing, renewing and reviving. It was a powerful time including the Saturday afternoon session when we prayed over each one present and shared selected scripture texts and the gifts we saw in each member. What emerged? What did the Lord say? There was among us a deep experience of praise and a deepened awareness of its significance for our lives, the Renewal and the church. Second, there was a call to be more aware in our everyday lives and ministries of God s presence in and around us, and the need to live in it and rejoice in it. Finally, there was a new sense of mission (NMI, 40), of our being freed and empowered to proclaim the kingdom of God. We left even more convinced that the Lord is not done with us yet, there is so much more the Lord wants to accomplish through this Renewal, as we had heard Fr. Forrest proclaim in Nashville. Are these new marching orders, so to speak? Not really. The words of our Holy Father seem to apply, It is not therefore a matter of inventing a new programme. The programme already exists: it is the plan found in the gospel and in the living tradition, it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is a programme which does not change with shifts of times and cultures...but it must be translated into pastoral initiatives adapted to the circumstances of each community (NMI 29). The Service Committee began the process of drawing out the pastoral implications for its work in its meeting in January and will continue the discussion at its next meeting in June. It is in this vein that the theme of this year s National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference, Lord, We Long To See Your Face seems so timely and apropos. The National Service Committee invites you to join us in Lowell, Massachusetts to seek the face of the Lord, to hear his word, and to have our vision broadened and deepened so that we might bear fruit, individually and as a movement, fruit that will last. See you in Lowell. 14 May/June/July/August 2004

7 Friends of the NSC In January the National Service Committee adopted its 2004 Budget totaling just under $350,000. The bulk of the income to support this work, $280,000 (80%), is projected to come from the free will donations of our Friends and the members of the Fanning the Flame Partners. (The rest comes from sale of resources, net from the National Conference, etc.) It is very necessary to budget, as we all know. But the reality behind these income and expense projections is lives transformed and renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who contributes to the NSC is a true partner in our mission. And our mission is to stir into flame the grace of Pentecost within and beyond the church, to broaden and deepen the understanding that baptism in the Holy Spirit is the Christian inheritance of all, and to strengthen the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Anyone who makes any donation to the National Service Committee/ Chariscenter USA is considered a Friend of the NSC. Without our Friends this work could not continue in its present form. We rely on and pray for your continued support. But we are always in need of making new Friends. If you are already a donor, please invite one or two other members of your prayer group or community to become a Friend of the NSC. If you are not already a donor, please become a Friend by sending a contribution this month. If those who receive Pentecost Today who are not already active donors would send a small offering of $15 or more, we could dramatically expand the scope and work of the National Service Committee. To those who are Friends, thank you for your support. To those who are not yet, we say, come on board! Donations can be sent to: Chariscenter USA, P.O. Box 628, Locust Grove, VA National Service Committee (NSC) members serve Charismatic Renewal in a direct way. They also serve in many indirect ways. In every way we choose to serve God and to proclaim the kingdom. Each NSC committee member serves on several subcommittees in an effort to carry out the various ministries that we discern to be our call as a body. In addition to service on the NSC, each member has a primary full-time ministry. I marvel at how God has called us from around the country to minister together at this particular time in the history of this Renewal in the church. I praise God for the variety of gifts among us and the staff of Chariscenter, given to serve the Renewal at the opening of this century. It is only by the call and grace of God that we are able to serve. To this committee we bring our experience in ministry from Renewal Centers as Directors/Ministers (Aggie Neck, Ros Hernandez, Josephine Cachia, Virginia King, David Thorp); as a Conference Office Director (Mark Nehrbas); from formal education (Fr. John Gordon, University Theology professor and formation director, and Chuck Hornsby, School Superintendent and community pastoral care) and from parish ministry (Fr. Richard Loch as pastor, Sr. Mary Anne Schaenzer as Adult Faith Formation/R.C.I.A. Coordinator). There are many gifts and works of the Spirit that impact both our ministries at home and our service on the NSC but one Spirit working in all and through all. Ministry Update by Sr. Mary Anne Schaenzer From in-person to internet: the ministry of the National Service Committee The NSC is presently in the process of having our web page redesigned in a way that will creatively facilitate our ability to communicate with you. We hope to expand the information in the written word of Pentecost Today by making additional information available on the web site. We also plan to provide links to other Leadership groups in Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Stay tuned for the new look. The address remains the same, and even now you can pre-register online for the June 2004 Conference. Why include the NSC in your will? The National Service Committee relies almost entirely on gifts from individuals to continue its mission. A bequest will help our ongoing work of renewing the grace of Pentecost in the life and mission of the church. Please consider a gift to the National Service Committee when you make your will or update it. Making a gift to the NSC can be as simple as adding a codicil to your existing will or estate plan. You may use this or a similar statement: I/we bequeath $ (or % of my residual estate) to the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of the United States, Inc., P.O. Box 628, Locust Grove, VA Please contact us for other ways to give. And please let us know if you have included us in your will so that we can properly thank you. May/June/July/August

8 Sponsored by the National Service Committee Longing for praise worship inspiration empowerment and mission, longing for Jesus! Join us in New England at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts June 25-27, 2004 For more information see page 8. PO Box 628 Locust Grove, VA If you have received more than one copy of this publication, please return all the mailing labels and we will make the necessary corrections. Meanwhile please share the duplicate copy with someone else. Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID National Service Committee ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Published by the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of the United States, Inc.