Becoming a Living Flame

by a Madonna House Staff Worker

Most of the great parables of Jesus have slipped from our tongues and into our ears so often that they cease to bite and tease and pierce us as they are meant to do. The words of the Lord, words meant to shatter our false comfort and to pull us toward the true wholeness of his Father, have instead become like coins worn smooth with age. They no longer bear the image of the one whose eyes called the rich young man to poverty and the frightened, lying Peter to repentance.

The Gospel of the Pharisee and the publican, for instance, Luke tells us was spoken “to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else.” Yet how many of us identify with the Pharisee? Don’t we see ourselves instead in the sinful, but humble tax collector, beating his breast in the back of the church? That may speak well for our honesty, but it may not reveal that we have heard deeply what Jesus is saying to us.

Is it possible, in fact, that our “honest” sensitivity to our failings might mask a different sort of pharisaic smugness? Could we possibly be praying, not with our lips, but in the depths of our hearts, “Thank you, God, that I am not like that Pharisee up there, constantly parading his piety and boasting of his virtue. Thank you for the honesty and the sincerity which enable me to admit that I deserve to be standing back here, as I wait for you to give me the place you have reserved for the—well, maybe not the humble, but those who are at least authentic.”

In may be obvious that this sort of prayer is not what St. Paul had in mind when he suggested that we glory in our weakness. Another story may reveal the hidden meaning of the Lord’s parable. It is a story taken from the writings about the desert Fathers, those passionate lovers of Christ whose desire for lives of Gospel purity drove them into solitude, sowed the seeds for all monastic life, and bore fruit which still abides, even after sixteen hundred years, even for us whose lives are so different from theirs.

One day Father Lot went to Father Joseph and told him, “As far as I can, I keep my rule. I eat little, I pray and am silent, I work with my hands and share my bread with the poor. What else should I do?” Then Father Joseph stood up and stretched out his arms, and from his fingers shot tongues of fire. “If you want,” he said, “you can become a living flame.”

To become a living flame: that is what the Gospel life is all about. That is what the Lord himself is, the blazing sun who lights the whole world. That is what St. Paul became—a libation poured out, a runner who never gave up, a man charged with the power of Christ, a genius whose whole mind and heart burned with the utter foolishness of his Lord. A living flame: a woman like Mother Teresa of Calcutta whose eyes were alight with the same fire whether she looked at a scrawny, abandoned baby, or at the Blessed Sacrament.

There is no secret about the nature of that fire. It is simply love. Love is the fire which the Son of God came to cast on the earth, and not some weak, sentimental parody of love, but the burning passion for his Father and for us which bore him to the cross and through it to his resurrection. Love is the fire which the risen Lord pours into the hearts of all those who hear his voice today as well as his first friends.

That love is no merely human word or metaphor. It is the living Spirit of the living God. It is the Holy Spirit who pours God’s love into us and makes us living flames. If we want, then, we can become living flames of love because, as Jesus has promised, his Father does not refuse the Spirit to anyone who asks. If we ask, we shall receive.

In the story of the Pharisee and the publican, the Lord is responding to this bewilderment of ours. He is telling us how to ask for the Holy Spirit. He is revealing to us what is the only fuel for the fire that he wants to set in our hearts. That fuel is humility. Clearly that is the lesson of this parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, but just as clearly Jesus has told the parable because he wants to show us what humility truly is.

It is simply a fact that most of our notions of humility are loaded with the baggage of self-hatred, first of all because our sinfulness is so unsurprising, but above all because God’s goodness is so endlessly, spectacularly surprising. In other words, our Lord wants to teach us how to be humble, not really by telling us the truth about our own wretchedness, but by revealing to us the great truth—the truth which unfolds and encompasses every other truth—which is the mercy of his Father.

The Pharisee stands before God, secure in his own right-acting and right-thinking, and does not meet God at all. The tax collector stands before God in utter poverty, with empty hands, and he meets the God whose truest name is mercy, and tenderness, who delights to call himself our Father. The Pharisee thinks that he sees God’s face in the good order of his life, but he sees only his own narrow heart. The tax collector sees only his own need, and in that emptiness God shows the beautiful face of his mercy.

— Adapted from Coming Home

New Beginnings

A Weekend with Monsignor Michael Buckley. Experience the El Shaddai healing service and Mass at the

Scarborough Conference Centre Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th May

Monsignor Michael Buckley,  
born in Cork, Ireland in 1924 devotes his life to working for peace and Christian Unity.  He founded the El Shaddai Community for Inner Healing in 1983, and is one of the leading teachers in England on healing, not only for Christians but for everyone irrespective of whether or not they have any religious affiliation.  He was Director of the first Christian Unity and Pastoral Centre established in England in 1966, and was appointed as the English representative of the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity shortly after it was established by the Second Vatican Council in 1968.  He was a leading member of the Peace Movement for Northern Ireland in 1977 and Co-founder of the Maranatha Christian Movement which has Christian Unity and Peace in Northern Ireland among its principal aims.  His dedication to peace and unity is reflected in the El Shaddai Movement which has reached across the religious barriers to bring about closer understanding between people and churches.  In his pastoral centre in Yorkshire he convened the first National Conference of Catholic priests of England and Wales in 1970 which has become part of the Catholic dialogue between priests and bishops. 

He studied for the priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1950.  He was appointed Tutor in Philosophy at the College in 1954 and in 1957 became Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome.  In 1954 he received a Doctorate in Pastoral Theology at the Gregorian University which gave him special insights into the working of the human person in the modern world.  He has written many books which are mentioned in this website, but there are many more which are not available at present but will be reprinted.  He writes a weekly page in The Universe, England's largest Catholic newspaper in which he answers people's problems whether sacred or secular.  He was Religious Advisor to Yorkshire Television from 1968 to 1977 and frequently gave morning reflections on the British Broadcasting Corporation Television and Radio.   

He writes an El Shaddai Newsletter twice yearly on topical religious and secular issues to over two thousand members of El Shaddai.  This will be available to you if you contact our website or our address 'El Shaddai'  9 West Ridings, East Preston, West Sussex, BN16 2TD, England.  His development of the meaning of healing the person has grown from his close involvement with thousands of people who come to his ministry for healing in which he encourages them to become more human and fulfilled.  This is the ultimate aim of the El Shaddai Healing Movement.

Living Stream of Grace

Today I have been in poustinia at Madonna House, Robin Hoods Bay. Here is a seasonal word from the foundress:

Living Stream of Grace: The Holy Spirit
by Catherine Doherty

The Spirit of God unites us. He is the living stream of grace which circulates through the Sacraments and brings new life everywhere. The Holy Spirit is the creative breath by which the world is impelled toward perfection.

For the Spirit, the divine Consoler, has come to us as He came to the apostles and gives us inward light. He was sent to help them to grasp the mysteries revealed by Jesus. He does the same for us. Thanks to the Holy Spirit we are now dwelling in God's light that purifies us from darkness. He gives us knowledge and taste for the things of God. We receive a light that discloses a new world to us.

But the Holy Spirit has come to cast fire on earth! Our hearts are transformed if we receive Him with an open heart. He infuses a burning love and charity in we who receive him. For Christ desired that the lives of Christians would set people's hearts on fire. That is why the Spirit came at Pentecost in the shape of tongues of fire.

The first preaching of the apostles was but the beginning of a missionary work which was to know no limit and no halt until the end of time. People of all races, of every country and of every generation are drawn into it. And so are we.

"I have come so that they may have life more abundantly," Christ said. The love of God is poured out all over the earth. His Spirit is diffused everywhere. The heavens are open. The desert of our earth is once more made fruitful by that water which is the source of all life.

To enter into life we must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit in Baptism. The wellsprings of the Holy Spirit reach everywhere. We come forth from the womb of the water in baptism as adopted children of God, reborn to divine life.

Pentecost is a feast of Confirmation, in which God completes his work by giving strength to the world He has renewed. For we have life and we have it more abundantly.

The Lord breathed his Spirit over the whole earth. Pentecost is the time of fullness, the fiftieth day. Pentecost, the day which comes after seven-times-seven days since Easter, brings us the message that God's work is now completed. We have his Body, his Spirit, his love, his life!

Truly God has given himself to us in fullness. Together we form the Church, the new creation, ultimate and free. We are destined to be called to heaven. Let us rejoice in this feast and incarnate its fruits into our lives.

The Spirit who on Pentecost creates the Church is the Spirit who at the beginning of time created the world. If we have recourse to Him constantly, He will continue his work in us and we will become like tongues of fire that, falling on the earth, will renew it.

The action of the Holy Spirit in each one of us needs attentiveness to be perceived, yet without him we can do nothing. The "New Law" of Love, the words of Christ, have not been written on tablets of stone but engraved on our hearts. It is the Holy Spirit who inwardly, interiorly makes us understand the words of the Gospel and reveals to us all the demands of charity.

May the Lord clean our hearts in the light of the Holy Spirit, by the fire of Love! It burns away all that is selfish, all that stands in the way of our loving God and each other. Let us not be afraid to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts and burn away their dross!
Adapted from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Catherine Doherty

The Day of Pentecost

ACTS 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. {2} And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. {3} Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. {4} All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. {5} Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. {6} And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. {7} Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? {8} And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? {9} Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, {10} Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, {11} Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." {12} All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" {13} But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." {14} But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. {15} Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. {16} No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: {17} 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. {18} Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. {19} And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. {20} The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. {21} Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Sermon from St Michael and All Angels, Scarborough
"When the day of Pentecost had come" (Acts 2.1)

We always used to call today Whit Sunday but now it is universally referred to as Pentecost.
I like the new name because
1) It is biblical
2) It makes today the 50th, and final, day of Easter and not the 1st day of a new, and separate, season of the Christian year.
3) It roots the Christian revelation in its antecedent Jewish background - a Week of Weeks after Passover Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses and Thanksgiving for the Harvest.

The Holy Spirit did not come into existence at Pentecost AD 33. That was when He came anew in power to make the witness of the Christian Church effective. The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity who is from before time and will be beyond time. Even in today's gospel we have Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit into the apostles on the evening of the first Easter day.

In many churches a new custom has been adopted for Pentecost in the provision of cut outs in the shape of the Holy Spirit as a dove or a tongue of fire with one of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5.22 inscribed. These are distributed to worshippers at random as an encouragement to claim the fruit indicated from among the group of nine - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, self control but at Pentecost the emphasis was on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, rather than the fruit. The fruit are for holiness, the gifts for mission. Paul lists the mission gifts in 1 Corinthians - wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues. These link us back to the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah 11.1-2 - the 7 gifts listed as qualities of the Messianic King when he comes to rule his people wisely and well: " A shoot will spring from the stock of Jesse, a new shoot will grow from his roots, on him will rest the spirit of the Lord". They are the fear of the Lord, piety, fortitude, counsel, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. In their fulness they belong to Christ, the son of David, the Messiah but through our baptism and confirmation he shares them with us.

Pentecost is a good day to recall the day and place of your confirmation. At its core it had three elements:
1) The bishop stretched out his hands over the candidates and said "Almighty and everlasting God, you have given your servants new birth in baptism by water and the spirit, and have forgiven them all their sins. Let your Holy Spirit rest upon them: the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and inward strength; the spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and let their delight be in the fear of the Lord."
2) The bishop then layed is hand on your individual heads as he said " Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit."
3)Finally, the bishop invited the congregation to join him in saying "Defend, O Lord, your servants with your heavenly grace, that they may continue yours for ever, and daily increase in your Holy Spirit more and more, until they come to your everlasting kingdom."
After all that can we possibly doubt that, like those at the first Pentecost, we too have received the Holy Spirit? As Athanasius said "We share the divine nature through our sharing of the Spirit".

It is sometimes pointed out to us that there is music and art and poetry in every one of us if only we can discover it and let it out. So too re the Holy Spirit within the baptised and confirmed Christian. He is within us and all His fruit and gifts are available to us if we have the humility and courage to let Him come through our personalities in power to enable us to live to the greater glory of God and the good of the Church. Living life in the power of the Holy Spirit is of the essence of being a Christian now as it was at the beginning - "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful with the fire of your love".

Waiting for the Spirit

Acts 1.12-14



When the apostles had come together, they asked Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."


Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.



Sermon at St Saviour, Scarborough



If I asked you what is the greatest need of the Church today what would you say? More people? More priests? More money? I think I would settle for ‘More prayer’.


This 7th Sunday of Easter comes in the 9 days between the Ascension and Pentecost which give the Church the concept of ‘Novena’ because of the waiting, expectant, prayerful group in Upper Room at this time.


After they came down from the mountain they began to pray. Jesus was no longer visible to them. The cloud of the Ascension had taken him back to glory. The Easter people begin to call for the Holy Spirit that he had promised them. They need his gifts and graces if they were to become effective witnesses to their risen Lord, if they were to become the Church called to proclaim his gospel to all the world.

In every successive generation Christians have needed the presence of the living Lord with them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to become his effective witnesses to a changing world. The Holy Spirit is the agent of holiness and revival in the church no less today than in any previous generation but the Holy Spirit can only do this work in those who want him to do it enough and display their desire by the depth and determination of their prayer. No wonder that Pope John XXIII pleaded with the church to pray for a New Pentecost.


In all such prayer Christians have two encouragers with them. Mary, who was with the Apostles and the other women, during that first ‘novena to the Holy Spirit’, is with us too and prays with us. Also our Lord, as today’s gospel reminds us, is praying for us. In his high priestly prayer, recorded in John 17, he prays to the Father saying “I have made your name known to those you took from the world to give me….I pray for them….they are in the world….in them I am glorified”. What is more we already have the Holy Spirit with us through our baptism and confirmation and other means of grace. The call is to let the bishop’s prayer for us at our confirmation be answered: “Defend, O Lord, your servant with your heavenly grace, to continue yours for ever and daily to increase in your Holy Spirit, more and more, until coming to your everlasting Kingdom”.

Evelyn Underhill was an Anglican lay woman much given to mystical prayer. She counselled many privately and in retreats. She continues to inspire through her writings.
She led a prayer group. Her last letter to them for Easter 1941 contained this passage:
“Easter and Whitsuntide complete the Christian Mystery by showing us first our Lord himself and then his chosen apostles possessed of a new power – the power of the Spirit – which changed every situation in which they were placed. That supernatural power is still the inheritance of every Christian, and our idea of Christianity is distorted and incomplete unless we rely on it. It is this power and only this which can bring the new Christian society of which we hear so much. We ought to pray for it; expect it, trust it; and as we do this, we shall gradually become more and more sure of it.” She died two months later on Corpus Christi.

Proclaiming the Resurrection

.....then and now !

During Eastertide we meditate and reflect on the life and work of the early church described in the Acts of the Apostles. We seek to soak up the enthusiasm, the energy, the zeal, the commitment, and the complete and utter dedication of the first disciples and apostles.

Many say: 'There can be no doubt that the early Church was surely blessed and anointed with signs and wonders and knew an unparalleled evangelistic zeal and courage. This was the Holy Spirit kick-starting the Church. Such signs, wonders and evangelistic zeal are not for today. Our job nowadays is to maintain the church and keep it plodding on.'

We refute this thinking. The Holy Spirit didn't simply kick-start the Church: the same Holy Spirit who worked in these early believers is the same Holy Spirit at work in us today.

Intimations of Unity

Smith Wigglesworth delivered a remarkable prophecy in 1947; "There will be a coming together of those with an emphasis on the Word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit. When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the nations, and indeed, the world have ever seen. It will mark the beginningof a revival that will eclipse the revivals of former years.

There is no genuine revival without reconciliation.

In 1983 Pope John Paull II presented Du Plessis with the gold medal of 'Good Merit' for his 'service to all Christianity'. He was the first non Catholic to receive this honour. He was the first Protestant to be invited to attend Vatican II. In 1972 he was involved in Catholic/Pentecostal dialogues in Switzerland.

Charismatic Renewal is the only renewal movement in the Catholic Church which has originated outside it and there has always been a strong ecumenical dimension to the movement.

'The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements(2002)' estimates 500 million Pentecostalists and Charismatics worldwide. 119 million of these active charismatics are post charismatic Catholics.

The Duquesne Weekend

The Duquesne Weekend (Pittsburg, Pennsylvania)

Patti Gallagher Mansfield was present at the now famous Duquesne weekend, when a small group of students at an American university retreat weekend received a special theophany of grace that helped unleash the Charismatic Renewal in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1960s. Below she tells the story of what happened.

People frequently ask me if I ever get tired of telling the story of the Duquesne Weekend. I never do, because it’s a love story – the story of God’s gracious and extraordinary response to the prayer of some very ordinary people.

In Luke 11 Jesus says, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. If you who are evil know how to give your children good things HOW MUCH MORE will the Heavenly Father GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT to those who ASK HIM.” Here is an unfailing principle: From the first Pentecost on, the Holy Spirit has always come in response to fervent prayer... to prayer that is hungry and thirsty for more of God...to prayer that asks, seeks, and knocks. I describe in my book, As By A New Pentecost, how the entire twentieth century was dedicated to the Holy Spirit in a special way. Blessed Elena Guerra, at the turn of the twentieth century, urged Pope Leo XIII to call the entire Church to pray more fervently to the Holy Spirit...to be, as it were, a permanent Cenacle of prayer. And of course you remember the prayer to the Spirit we prayed for the Second Vatican Council: “Divine Spirit, renew Your wonders in this our day as by a new Pentecost.”

In the Spring of 1966, two Duquesne University professors were ASKING, SEEKING, and KNOCKING. They had pledged themselves to pray daily for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their lives using the beautiful Sequence Hymn of Pentecost. In the midst of this time of prayer, some friends gave them two books: The Cross and the Switchblade and They Speak With Other Tongues. Both books describe the experience of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The men from Duquesne realized that this Baptism in the Spirit was precisely what they were searching for.

In January 1967, four Catholics from Duquesne attended their first interdenominational charismatic prayer meeting – the Chapel Hill meeting – in the home of Miss Flo Dodge, a Spirit-filled Presbyterian. Interestingly enough, a few months before these Catholics came, the Lord led Flo to read Isaiah 48 where He announces that He is about to do “a new thing”.Indeed, God was about to do a new thing among Catholics as a result of the prayer meeting. The people from Duquesne were impressed with what they witnessed there. On January 20, two of the men returned. They received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and began to manifest charismatic gifts. They returned home to pray with the other two who had not attended that night. At this time I was a member of the Chi Rho Scripture Study group that met on the Duquesne campus. Two of these professors served as moderators of Chi Rho, and although they did not tell us outright about their charismatic experience, those who knew them well noticed that they radiated a new joy. We were planning for our retreat in February and the professors suggested a new theme: “The Holy Spirit.” In preparation for the retreat, they told us to pray expectantly, to read The Cross and the Switchblade, and to read the first four chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.

A few days before the retreat, I knelt in my room and prayed, “Lord, I believe I’ve already received your Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation. But if it’s possible for your Spirit to be more at work in my life than He’s been up until now, I WANT IT!” The dramatic answer to my prayer was soon to come. On February 17 about 25 of us left for The Ark and The Dove Retreat house on the outskirts of the city. As we gathered for each session, our professors told us to sing as a prayer the ancient hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, “Come Creator Spirit”. On Friday night there was a meditation on Mary. Then we had a Penance Service. In John’s Gospel we read that when the Holy Spirit comes He will convict the world of sin. That’s what happened among us as we repented in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

On Saturday a member of the Chapel Hill Prayer Group came to speak on Acts, chapter 2. All we were told was that she was a Protestant friend of our professors. Although her presentation was very simple, it was filled with spiritual power. She spoke about surrendering to Jesus as Lord and Master. She described the Holy Spirit as a Person who empowered her daily. Here was someone who really seemed to know Jesus intimately and personally! She knew the power of the Holy Spirit like the Apostles did. I knew I wanted what she had and I wrote in my notes, “Jesus, be real for me.”

In the discussion following her talk, David Mangan proposed that we close our retreat by renewing our Confirmation...that we, as young adults, say our personal “yes” to the Holy Spirit. I linked my arm through his and said, “Even if no one else wants to do this, I do.” Then I tore out a sheet of paper and wrote, “I want a miracle!”, and posted it on the bulletin board.

Saturday night a birthday party was planned for a few of our members, but there was a listlessness in the group. I wandered into the upstairs chapel...not to pray but to tell any students there to come down to the party. Yet, when I entered and knelt in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I literally trembled with a sense of awe before His majesty. I knew in an overwhelming way that He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. I thought, “You had better get out of here quick before something happens to you.” But overriding my fear was a much greater desire to surrender myself unconditionally to God.

I prayed, “Father, I give my life to you. Whatever you ask of me, I accept. And if it means suffering, I accept that too. Just teach me to follow Jesus and to love as He loves.” In the next moment, I found myself prostrate, flat on my face, and flooded with an experience of the merciful love of God...a love that is totally undeserved, yet lavishly given. Yes, it’s true what St. Paul writes, “The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” My shoes came off in the process. I was indeed on holy ground. I felt as if I wanted to die and be with God. The prayer of St. Augustine captures my experience: “O Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” As much as I wanted to bask in His presence, I knew that if I, who am no one special, could experience the love of God in this way, that anyone across the face of the earth could do so.

I ran down to tell our chaplain what had happened and he said that David Mangan had been in the chapel before me and had encountered God’s presence in the same way. Two girls told me my face was glowing and wanted to know what had happened. I wasn’t familiar enough with the Scripture to know that passage in II Corinthians where it describes Moses whose face shone when he returned from the mountain. St. Paul writes: “All of us, with unveiled faces, beholding the beauty of the Lord are being transformed from one degree of glory to another.” I led these two students into the chapel and began to pray, “Lord, whatever you just did for me, do it for them!” That was probably the shortest Life in the Spirit Seminar on record!

Within the next hour God sovereignly drew many of the students into the chapel. Some were laughing, others crying. Some prayed in tongues, others (like me) felt a burning sensation coursing through their hands. One of the professors walked in and exclaimed, “What is the Bishop going to say when he hears that all these kids have been baptized in the Holy Spirit!” Yes, there was a birthday party that night, God had planned it in the Upper Room Chapel. It was the birth of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal!

When we returned to campus, we created quite a stir. One friend told me, “Patti, if I didn’t know you better, I would say you were drunk!” Like the Apostles after Pentecost, we couldn’t help but speak of the things we had seen and heard. We literally stumbled into charismatic gifts like prophecy, discernment of spirits, and healing. One of our professors witnessed to his friends at Notre Dame and Michigan State University in these words: “I no longer have to believe in Pentecost; I have seen it!” In the past 40 years the grace of this new Pentecost has spread from a handful of students on the Duquesne Weekend to millions of Catholics around the world. Why? Because God is determined to send forth His Spirit to renew the face of the earth! Echoing Mary’s Magnificat, I want to proclaim that, “God who is mighty has done great things for us, and holy is His name!”

Wigglesworth and Du Plessis

This is a follow up to my earlier blog on 'Catholic Charismatics'.

Smith Wigglesworth 1859-1947

In 1936 Smith Wigglesworth, an English Pentecostal leader, visited South Africa as a guest of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Johannesburg. David Du Plessis was its general secretary at the time. Later he explained how one morning, Wigglesworth walked, unannounced, into his office. He pushed him against the wall and declared: "You have been in Jerusalem long enough....I will send you to the uttermost parts of the earth....You will bring the message of Pentecost to all churches.....You will travel more than most evangelists do.... God is going to revive the churches in the last days and through them turn the world upside down....even the Pentecostal movement will become a mere joke compared with the revival which God will bring through the churches." After a pause Wigglesworth continued, "Then the Lord said to me that I am warning you that he is going to use you in this movement....All he requires of you is that you be humble and faithful. You will live to see this word fulfilled." Then he concluded by saying that this prophecy would not be fulfilled until after his death. In the event Wigglesworth died in 1947.

David Du Plessis 1905-1987

Du Plessis became increasingly influential in the Pentecostal churches and attended international meetings on their behalf. At one such gathering in St Andrews, Scotland, in 1951 Du Plessis met Professor Bernard Leeming, a Jesuit priest from Oxford, who asked for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. This marked the start of Du Plessis's ministry to Roman Catholics. Fr Leeming knew Pope John xxiii and arranged for Du Plessis to visit Rome. There he was introduced to Dr Thomas Strandsky, the Secretary for the Congregation for the Promotion of Christian Unity. His boss was Cardinal Bea. He asked Du Plessis, "What do the Pentecostalists want to say to Rome?" Du Plessis replied: "Make the Bible available to every Catholic in the world in his own language. The Holy Spirit will make that book come alive and that will change lives and renew the Church." Bea was duly impressed and said "That is what the Holy Father wants to know." The Second Vatican Council started soon afterwards and Du Plessis was in attendance when the 'Constitution On Divine Revelation' urged Catholics to engage in regular Scripture reading. The advent of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church, a few years after the conclusion of the Council, saw the Holy Spirit and His charisms poured out on Catholics in abundance, firstly in the U.S.A. and later around the world.

Catholic Charismatics

Pope John XXIII's Prayer to the Holy Spirit (1961): "Divine Spirit, renew your wonders in our time, as though for a new Pentecost, and grant that the holy church, preserving unanimous and continuous prayer, together with Mary the Mother of Jesus, and also under the guidance of St. Peter, may increase the reign of the Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen"

This prayer of the Pope seems to have been amazingly answered… For example, initiated in 1966 by two professors in Duquesne University, Pittsburg, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal has been destined to help the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) renew the whole Catholic Church.

Speaking to international leaders of the Charismatic Renewal in 1979, Pope John Paul II stated: "I am convinced that this movement is a sign of the Spirit's action … a very important component in the total renewal of the church." Today we can no longer afford to ignore this worldwide action of the Holy Spirit in 226 countries, as the number of Catholic Charismatics is reaching 100 million or more. And there is no sign that it has peaked …

P.S.

In future blogs I will create a strand of information on this topic.

It is a movement of the Spirit which has already influenced my Christian life and ministry.

My family background leads into the beginnings of Pentecostalism in England.
I was in touch with the impact of Pentecostalism on the Church of England from its earliest days.
In Parish life I encountered the Catholic 'Life in the Spirit' movement.
Today I belong to an ecumenical bible study group led by a Catholic couple at the local Catholic Church where this present renewed interest has its origin.

The Church's Birthday

Acts 2.1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Reflection by Cardinal Basil Hume

The Christian feast of Pentecost associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is seen as the birthday of the church, when, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, the followers of Jesus began to go out and continue his mission.

We are badly in need of a new Pentecost, a change in each one of us, and a change in our society. When the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles a remarkable transformation took place in them. Where before they were empty, now they were filled with new zest for the gospel of Christ. Where before they were poor, now they were rich. Where before they were frail, now they were strong. We need to go with great humility and pray that our emptiness be filled, our poverty reversed, and that we be strengthened in our faith.

The Holy Spirit gave the apostles a greater understanding of their faith, and enabled them to commit themselves to do something about it, and the necessary courage to do so. Those are the gifts we need in our day, a deepening of our faith, the commitment to Christ and his gospel, and the courage to witness.

Novena to the Holy Spirit

The original novena (9 days of prayer) runs from Ascension to Pentecost.

Novena

The word Novena is the feminine form of the Medieval Latin word, "novenus", "ninth", which is the ordinal number from novem, nine.

In the Catholic Church, a novena is a devotion consisting of prayer said (most typically) on nine successive days, asking to obtain special graces. These may consist of small prayer books, recitation of the Rosary, or small prayers through the day.

The practice of saying novenas is derived from Scripture. After Jesus' Ascension into heaven, he told his disciples to pray together in the upper room and devote themselves to constant prayer (Acts 1:14). The Apostles, Blessed Virgin Mary, and other followers of Jesus prayed together for nine consecutive days, concluding in the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Though the novena is primarily a devotion used by members of the Catholic Church, it has spread to the Orthodox, Anglican, and even some Lutheran churches.

Pope John XXII

Prayer on eve of Vatican II: "Renew your wonders in this our day as by a new pentecost".

Pope Paul VI

Spoken in 1975: "The church today is in an age dominated by the Holy Spirit. The faithful surrender to him with joyous hearts".

Pope John Paul II

Written in 1979: "Without the Spirit we cannot say 'Jesus is Lord'. From the Spirit come all the charisms that build up the church. St Paul instructs us 'Be filled with the Spirit'.

Let us Pray

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.

Send forth Your Spirit, Lord, and make us a new creation, and through us renew the face of the earth.

God our Father, let the Spirit You sent on Your Church to begin the teaching of the gospel, continue to work in the world through the hearts of all who believe. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.