Catholic Charismatic Renewal Contents N The Regional Service Team is committed to serve the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in our region by assisting Catholic prayer groups through networking, leadership training and encouragement. Vol. 15 No.2 What Time Is It? March-May 2011 Chastisement and Triumph", which has the Church's imprimatur. He shares about what the Church approved apparitions over the past 500 years are all saying in unison and what heaven is calling us to do. Dear Brothers and Sisters, Often we look at our watch to see, "What time is it?" Right? It may be that we need to be on time for work, a meeting, an appointment, a family gathering or whatever. Well also with life in the world today, it's important to know, "What time is it?" In this year of 2011 don't you sometimes just wonder what in the world is going on in the world? What time is it in the world and salvation history? Is it the end of time? NO! Definitely NO! But we are coming to an end of an era. And we need to read the Signs of the Times. Recently I had the opportunity to listen to a Catholic approved theologian by the name of Dr. Kelly Bowring. He has written a book entitled "The Secrets, One of the things Dr. Bowring said was that there are 3 general signs of the order of events of the last great battle. They are 1st confusion, 2nd natural disasters & wars and 3rd religious persecutions. We'll look at each of these briefly. The 1st sign is confusion. It's a crises of faith led by errors spread by false theologians, teachers and those who focus more on human reasoning, relativism, rationalism, skepticism, secularism and all of the isms. We're now in that phase. In society as a whole and even among God's people there is great confusion. Last Dec. 30 Pope Benedict was speaking of the current state of the world to the Papal representatives of most of the world's governments and the Curia. The Pope said that quote "the sun was setting over the entire world and the very future of the world is at stake." He was speaking in the context of the near total collapse in the Western world of any moral consensus rooted in (Continued on the next page. )
Christian ethics and heritage. He compared it to the disintegration of the Roman Empire. He said, "A new dark age is descending on the world." And we can see that the Western world slaughters its babies in such a way that would make Nazis or barbarians blush with shame. There is a disintegration of the family that is in full force. There is moral disintegration in sexual immorality. Sexual perversity is elevated to a positive law right. Every major institution of society is in a major state of meltdown. Confusion is the 1st sign. Do you see it all around us? The 2nd major sign is wars and castrophies. Wars will continue through this period. Accompanying that is also natural catastrophes on a large scale as part of Divine justice. Sin will bring about changes in nature, epidemics, famines, floods and earthquakes. These will become more and more frequent. We're in this time now. I saw an article that said, "2010's World Gone Wild: Quakes, floods, blizzards, earthquakes, heat waves, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides & droughts killed 295,000 people in 2010. So many times we hear that particular disasters are of quote "biblical proportion" - for example the terrible disaster in Japan. Do you see some signs? The 3rd sign is religious persecution. There will be great persecution of the remnant faithful - that is those who will remain faithful to God and the Church. This seems to be just starting. We're still in the time of God's mercy. Here is the good news! It is the greatest time in the world to be alive for those who know the Lord! Where evil abounds, grace more abounds! Our Holy Father in his recently published book entitled Light of the World: the Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times said, "I am quite optimistic that Christianity is on the verge of a new dynamic!" There will be a great time of peace & holiness such as the world has never seen. We're in a very critical, yet very hopeful time in our salvation history. The good news is that after we go through the darkness and God purifies the world, then the Lord's prayer will come to fruition: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven." At the end of this evil era will come the new era of grace and holiness such as the world has never seen. So what can we do? The first important thing is to pray & walk ever more closely with the Lord. At the root of our major human problems, is the work of principalities and powers, not just flesh and blood. Therefore our best weapon is prayer and fasting. Our Blessed Mother has said at Medjugorje that chastisements are because of our sin, but by our prayer and fasting even wars and natural disasters can be averted! So it's important to ask ourselves regularly: How is my daily prayer time with the Lord going? Is there anything I need to do to make it better? Am I faithful to my daily time of spiritual reading or Lectio Divina? With Lectio Divina or Divine Reading we can put our prayer time and our spiritual reading into one time frame. We read and then we can talk with the Lord about what we're reading and follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in our prayer. (Continued on the next page. )
Things people say, and don t usually mean.. It won t shrink in the wash. You can put it together yourself in five minutes. We ll only stay five minutes. It s not the money, it s the principle of the thing. Come on, tell me. I promise I won t get angry. You don t need it in writing you have my word. I ll call you later. Eat this. You ll like it. I don t burn, I tan. How are we fasting? In what ways are we denying ourselves, so that God might have full reign in us? Prayer and fasting are two of the most important things we can do during this time. The next important thing to do is to bring others into a deeper relationship with the Lord. There are people that God has put in our lives that He wants us to bring closer to Him before it's too late for them. It's time to pull up our sleeves and double our work in what we're called to do! The Life in the Spirit Seminar is a most powerful I never inhaled. You don t look a day over 40. When it says empty, there s always a gallon or two left. This ll be a short meeting. Of course, there s film in the camera. You can make it! That train isn t coming that fast. They ll feel terrific once you break them in. It s supposed to make that noise. My wife doesn t understand me. The new ownership won t affect you the company will remain the same. way to bring people to the Lord! I'm going to share 3 aids to evangelize: First make a list of the 5 people you think the Lord would want you to bring closer to Him. This list might include your spouse, your children, your friends, people you work with, even neighbors whom you don't know so well. Then write down their names on the back of a paper that you can use as a bookmark. You can put the bookmark in your spiritual reading book that you use every day. (Continued on page 5. )
COMING EVENTS SECTION Any area happenings may be placed on this calendar. The next newsletter will be in June. So any retreats, seminars, day of recollection, or other special happenings from June through August or later can be advertised here. HEALING SERVICES AND MASSES With Healing Services March 2 (Wednesday) MASS WITH HEALING SERVICE 7:30 p.m., St. Ignatius Church, I-74 and North Bend Road, Cincinnati, Ohio. Sponsored by Lighthouse Community. Call (513) 47l-LITE for more Information. March 4, (Friday), Mass with healing service, 7:15 p.m. Mother of God Church, Sixth Street, Covington,Ky March 17, (Thursday) Mass with healing service, St. Teresa of Avila. March 28, (Monday), Mass with healing service, 7:00 p.m. St. Patrick Church, Troy, Ohio April 1, (Friday), Mass with healing service, 7:15 p.m. Mother of God Church, Sixth Street, Covington,Ky April 6 (Wednesday) Healing Service,7:30 p.m., St. Ignatius Church, I-74 and North Bend Road, Cincinnati, Ohio. Sponsored by Lighthouse Community. Call (513) 47l-LITE for more Information. April 21, (Thursday) Mass with healing service, St. Teresa of Avila. April 25 (Monday), Mass with healing service, 7:00 p.m. St. Patrick Church, Troy, Ohio May 4 (Wednesday) MASS with healing service 7:30 p.m., St. Ignatius Church, I-74 and North Bend Road, Cincinnati, Ohio. Sponsored by Lighthouse Community. Call (513) 47l-LITE for more Information. May 6, (Friday), Mass with healing service, 7:15 p.m. Mother of God Church, Sixth Street, Covington,Ky May 19, (Thursday) Mass with healing service, St. Teresa of Avila. May 23 (Monday), Mass with healing service, 7:00 p.m. St. Patrick Church, Troy, Ohio June 1, (Wednesday) HEALING SERVICE 7:30 p.m., St. Ignatius Church, I-74 and North Bend Road, Cincinnati, Ohio. Sponsored by Lighthouse Community. Call (513) 47l-LITE for more Information. June 3, (Friday), Mass with healing service, 7:15 p.m. Mother of God Church, Sixth Street, Covington,Ky June 16, (Thursday) Mass with healing service, St. Teresa of Avila June 27, (Monday),Mass with healing service, 7:00 p.m. St. Patrick Church, Troy, Ohio CHARISMATIC MEN'S PRAYER BREAKFASTS March 12, (Saturday) 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., Price Hill Chili, 4920 Glenway Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio. For information call Jerry Schmitt (513) 385-0513 April 9, (Saturday) 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., Price Hill Chili, 4920 Glenway Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio. For information call Jerry Schmitt (513) 385-0513 May 14, (Saturday) 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., Price Hill Chili, 4920 Glenway Ave., Ohio. For information call Jerry Schmitt (513) 385-0513 June 11, (Saturday) 7:30 to 9:00 a.m.,price Hill Chili, 4920 Glenway Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio. For information call Jerry Schmitt (513) 385-0513 LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR Starting March 16 (Wednesdays) 7:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. A Life in the Spirit Seminar will be held in Fr. Hilvert Center at St. Ignatius Church at I-74 and North Bend Rd., Cincinnati, OH. It is sponsored by Lighthouse Community. For further information call (513) 471- LITE. Worldliness and Spiritual Failure More people are kept from a true sense and state of religion by a regular kind of sensuality and indulgence than by gross drunkenness. More men live regardless of the great duties of piety through too great a concern for worldly goods than through direct injustice. William Law
Pray and be specific and focused in this prayer. Try to spend at least five minutes praying for these people each day. You could pray the rosary for them. As we know, Jesus once said, "I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours." (Mark 11:24) It's important to have faith in God's desire to touch the people on our list. We know that prayer for someone's conversion is a prayer that God will always answer, because conversion is His Will. Remember you're praying for people to be freed from the grips of unbelief, from the power of Satan and the world, from past hurts, and from every other force that has kept them away from the Lord. So the first aid to evangelize is to pray. It is the greatest time in the world to be alive for those who know the Lord! Where evil abounds, grace more abounds! can be reminders about God's goodness. They can be words that encourage someone not to give up, or an invitation to look at a challenging situation from a more positive vantage point. Sometimes all that is needed is a word of affirmation. The third aid to evangelize is to evaluate our efforts to bring these people to the Lord. We can ask ourselves questions like: How can I listen better? Am I being faithful to prayer? Am I speaking words of encouragement and hope? And most importantly, "Lord, what should my next step be?" So after you have your prayer list, pray for these people and build your relationship with them with the goal of leading them to Jesus. Then watch as God opens more doors and begins to make great things happen! The second aid to evangelize is to listen and encourage. One of the most effective ways to bring healing and evangelization is simply to listen. Everyone appreciates it when someone takes an interest in them - in their needs, their challenges, their hopes and their dreams. We all want someone we can talk to, and those who are distant from the Lord can often feel even more isolated. Along with this is the call to encouragement. Support and affirmation can build up the people we're praying for. Then we can share about our own lives and our experiences of the Lord. Our words of encouragement What time is it? It's time to draw ever closer to the Lord and to bring others closer to Him. How about inviting someone to the charismatic prayer meeting so that they can experience the presence of the Lord and the charisms? How about inviting someone to a Life in the Spirit Seminar? If we are walking closely with the Lord and bringing others to an ever deeper relationship with Him, then we can rest assured that where evil abounds, God's grace will ever more abound! Blessings and Peace in the Lord, Sr. Chris
There are three kinds of givers the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you will get. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. Which kind of giver are you? Currently 120 people are mailed the paper version of the newsletter. The cost to produce and mail the newsletter annually is approximately $400/yr and to date the RST has only received $60 in 2011 to cover the cost of printing and postage. As part of the donations received, the RST annually sends $100 to the National Service Team to cover expenses for things like the annual conferences put on and to help them to grow in their mission to the renewal and the Church. This note is to inform you concerning following: 1. We will be calling each person receiving the paper copy and asking the following. a) Do you still want to receive the newsletter and in which format (paper or email) b) The cost of the paper version is $10 and the cost of an email copy is $5. 2. To let you know that if you cannot pay for a copy, the RST will try to continue to send you a copy. Thank you for your continued donations to support the RST and their efforts. Please send your donations to the following address. Regional Service Team 1025 Carson Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45205
Pledges and Subscriptions The Catholic Charismatic Renewal Newsletter is a service provided by the Regional Service team. It is published four times a year. This team depends on your contribution to continue their work. Please pray and discern your gift. Make checks or money orders payable to: Regional Service team. Each subscription costs approximately $10.00 per year. Prayer Group Street Phone City State Zip Email Mail your subscription to: Catholic Charismatic Renewal Regional Service Team 1025 Carson Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45205 When you re young, you want to change the world. When you are old, you want to change the young. The Regional Service Team Newsletter is published four times a year by the Regional Service Team for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. It is specifically designed for prayer group leaders and their members. It is supported by an annual subscription fee of $10.00. Editorial Team Fr. Richard Dressman, Sr. Christine Edwards, SFP Regional Service Team Charirperson St. Christine Edwards, SFP Archdiocese of Cincinnati Liaison Southern Region Fr. Rick Dressman Archdiocese of Cincinnati Liaison Northern Region Veronica And Bruce Murphy Diocese of Covington Liaisons Yvonne and Charlie Contributing Writers Veronica and Bruce Murphy, Sr. Christine Edwards, Tom and Marcia Cruse Treasurer Jerry Imsicke
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