A Charismatic Epiphany
Take from newpentecost.org Jan 10th 2013
A CHARISMATIC EPIPHANY – Fr. Alejandro Festa
Written by Fr. Alejandro Festa
“On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Mt 2:10-11)
Worship, Praise Serve
It is the season of Christmas and Epiphany when we meditate on the Mystery of the Son of God – the Eternal Word of the Father – made flesh. We rejoice just as the wise men from the East were filled with joy. What a sweet and powerful Mystery of the Love of God! If we could only understand this love through the grace of God, surely we would be for hours on our knees to adore and praise God for his Mercy. And in giving thanks we would come to say, “What can I offer you, Lord? Like the wise men offered gold, incense and myrrh, what could I give you?”
To be in the presence of the Glory of God that is manifest (which is epiphany), not only are we led to repentance, to ask for forgiveness of our sins and to be healed, but also were are led to want to offer to God a gift. This is what our life as Christians is about: to worship, to praise and to serve the Lord.
Our Communities at the Service of the Kingdom
“To build communities based on faith. In the last decades, movements and communities have been born where the power of the Gospel can be felt in a lively way. Seek communion in faith as partners along the road that together continue their journey of a great pilgrimage that the Magi of the East showed us. The spontaneity of these new communities is important, yet it is also important that communion with the pope and bishops is preserved.” (Benedict XVI)
The pope is inviting us to build communities that live the faith and that are living. We can bring this about in our groups, living out the call with God’s purpose, that is to say, groups and communities that are born from the experience of the Holy Spirit and the charismatic experience. It is from that foundation we have must serve God. Our groups and communities are not prayer groups that simply sing and pray spontaneously, rather, God chose to pour out on us the charisms of the Holy Spirit. Frequently, brothers and sisters in the Church call us “charismatic” only because we raise our hands and sing joyfully. But we should be charismatics because we are open to flow in the Spirit with his charisms that, as the Word teaches, are for the building up of the Kingdom, of the Church and of the community.
A Charismatic Community that was not Charismatic
During World Youth Day that was celebrated in Rome in 2000, my parish offered a place for young pilgrims. The people that arrived were from a European country and they were a “charismatic” community. You can imagine what joy it was for me not only to be able to receive these brothers and sisters, but also share with them the same spiritual experience. But later I came to realize that had nothing that was charismatic…. They did not pray in tongues, there was no prophetic word, nor word of wisdom or knowledge. They just clapped and raised their hands. It is unfortunate that many communities and groups have stopped using the charisms of the Holy Spirit, that they have stopped being charismatics. I have heard it said that as in the beginning of the Church the charisms disappeared because they were only a way to begin and to generate enthusiasm; and the Renewal is like that; in the beginning it had some years of enthusiasm and afterwards arrived to a “maturity” in which there was no longer a necessity for the charisms.
I believe that we would first have to analyze this in order to understand why the charisms in the early years of the Church started to disappear: Is it because this is what God wanted? Or were there historical-social developments that did not permit the Spirit to be manifested in this way among the Christians? The same is true today: If there is no manifestation of the charisms of the Spirit, is it because God does not want them, or are there other reasons that prevent this manifestation?
Maturity in the use of the charismatic gifts is not to stop using them; rather maturity is to use them with balance, intelligently, in studying about them, and in the responsible use of these gifts of God. And all this is to live out the call that God has given us and be able in this way to realize our purpose for his Kingdom as charismatics in the Catholic Church.
Offering to God who we are
In our circumstances, as like the Magi, we can ask, “What can I do, Lord?” Not only with life in general, but also how to live our vocation as charismatics, because this is God’s will. God wants that we evangelize in the power of the Spirit; God wants that we minister with that power of the gifts to the infirm and to people who suffer in their spirits. God wants that the Holy Spirit, through the exercise of the charisms, guide our worship and ministry.
I invite you to deepen your ministry in the Renewal and grow in holiness, but also in maturity and the use of the charismatic gifts that proceed from the Holy Spirit. In this Year of Faith, New Pentecost Catholic Ministries is offering to our Hispanic brothers and sisters the possibility of doing this through the Retreat that will be February 8-10 and also the next Instituto.
I invite you to pray
We praise you Lord for your mercy. We praise you because you put the treasure of your Spirit in our hearts. We want to serve you God, we want to let you mold us by your Spirit; we want your charisms to be manifested in us to be able to serve with your Kingdom in the Church with power. We give you permission Lord, for your will to be done in us. Bless us Father, in this time of grace and increase our faith. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Fr. Alejandro is the director of the House of Prayer and the Evangelistic Association of Gesù Amore, near Florence, Italy. As an associate of NPCM, he will direct the Hispanic retreat on the Charisms of the Holy Spirit, February 8-10.
From Fr. James Martin, SJ
January 9th, 2013
Evening meditation:
"God is Love" (1 Jn 4: 7-10)
Here is one of those strange confluences in the spiritual life. A few minutes ago, I read that Jeanne Manford, the founder of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), died at the age of 92. In 1972, after her son was beaten at a gay demonstration and the police failed to intervene, she wrote a letter to the New York Post saying, "I have a homosexual son and I love him." Imagine the courage that must have taken in 1972.
No matter what you think about the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage, no matter what religion you are, no matter what political party you favor, I hope that you say a prayer for Mrs. Manford. For she loved prophetically. That is, she publicly expressed her love for a group of marginalized people before it was safe to do so. That kind of love might remind you of another person who worked in and around Galilee, publicly loving all sorts of people--lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, Gentiles, Roman centurions--when it was not safe to do so, at all.
When I read about Mrs. Manford's death (I hadn't known about her story until tonight) I thought of today's first reading, from the First Letter of St. John, which begins this way: "Beloved let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten of God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."
There is a lot of talk about gays and lesbians these days. But in every thing we say and do, particularly for Christians, love must come first. And not the love that condemns first, or judges first, or labels first. But the love that loves first. Because God is love.
Fifteen years after Mrs. Manford's prophetic act of love, the US Catholic Bishops published their pastoral letter "Always Our Children," addressed to parents of homosexual children. "Love, too," wrote the bishops, "is the continuing story of every family's life. Love can be shared, nurtured, rejected, and sometimes lost. To follow Christ's way of love is the challenge before every family today. Your family now has an added opportunity to share love and to accept love. Our church communities are likewise called to an exemplary standard of love and justice."
May Jeanne Manford rest in peace, and may we always love prophetically, recklessly, prodigally, dangerously, eternally.
After Election Homily
A Homily By a New Orleans Pastor the Sunday After Election Day.
By Joseph A. Veca on November 28, 2012
This is a homily which was given by a New Orleans pastor the Sunday after election day.
It is reported that his congregation listened in stony silence and were moved to give him a standing ovation.
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I want to begin today by thanking those of you who went out on Tuesday and voted for the sacredness of human life. Just as the widow’s deed in our 1st reading will never be forgotten as long as the Scriptures are read, be assured that no righteous deed that we ever undertake will be forgotten by Almighty God.
This past Wednesday, the day after the election, I received a message on my phone at the parish office, from a gentleman who didn’t identify himself by name but who said he was a parishioner. And in this message, this gentleman ranted for several minutes about Tuesday’s election results. And here were the first words out of his mouth, “You lost Father; you lost!” Well, the first thing I want to say about Tuesday night’s election results is that I didn’t lose. On Tuesday night our entire country lost!
Now, having said that, I know that there are several of you who have just decided to tune me out, or you’re now burning up with anger at me because of what I just said and you can’t wait to give me a piece of your mind. But let me say two things in this regard. Number one, I am a priest of Jesus Christ, not because of any merit of my own, not because I’m any better than anyone else. God probably chose me because I am nothing and He wants to make something out of me. But I have been anointed and consecrated by God to preach His truth. And so, you can tune me out, but be warned, you do so at your eternal peril.
Second, if you’re angry because you read into my words that this homily is going to be about one elected official that you probably voted for, you’re wrong. What I have to say today goes far beyond just one elected official. What I have to say is about the overall trend that was put on display in Tuesday’s election results.
Did you know, for instance, that on Tuesday several states voted by popular majority to legalize the recreational use of marijuana? Did you know that a plan to legalize physician assisted suicide was barely rejected in Massachusetts? Did you know that for the first time in our country’s history several states, by popular vote, chose to legalize gay marriage? Did you know that two of these states are run by “Catholic” governors who actively encouraged their constituents to vote in favor of same sex unions? Did you know that in Florida, a ban on tax payers funding of abortion was rejected by the people? Add to all of this the fact that some who were elected in Tuesday’s elections are pathological liars, people who have been exposed in their lies numerous times. Apparently, a majority of Americans now condone lying, or perhaps worse, for them the lie has become the truth, evil has become good. Now can you begin to see the trend?
In the days after the elections all the talking heads in the media have been trying to explain how this all happened. But not one person in the mainstream media has gotten it right. You see, these election results are not about one party’s marketing advantage over another. Ultimately, they’re not about the appeal of one person over another, nor are they about one party being more up-to-date while the other is behind times. What we saw on Tuesday night is about the moral decline of our nation.
Tuesday’s voting results are a mere confirmation of a choice that a majority in this country made, some as far back as 50 years ago, to reject God and to embrace evil in one form or another! And who’s to blame for this choice? Well, ultimately, each individual is responsible for his or her choices. Those who chose to vote with evil are to blame for their own choices, and they’ll have to answer to God for the way they voted. But the reality is I don’t think any of us can take ourselves completely off the hook on this one. Why? Because one of the worst contributing factors to the moral decline of our country has been the lukewarmness that has plagued the Catholic Church for years all the way from the Bishops down to the people in the pews. Pope St. Pius X once said that “All evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics.” Think about that for a second, “All evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics.”
Well, I have to be honest with you. I’ve seen this lukewarmness in every church parish at which I’ve served. But you know where else I see this lukewarmness? I see it when I look in the mirror; I see it in myself. And if we’re honest with ourselves I think all of us would see one or more area of lukewarmness in our own spiritual lives.
My brothers and sisters, each one of us has a moral obligation to do all that we can to try to reverse the moral decline of our nation. And the first place that we have to begin is within ourselves. We have to begin by responding to that vocation which is common to all of us, what the Church calls the universal call to holiness, the call from Jesus to each one of us to become a saint!
In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” How many of us, each day, tremble as we strive for holiness?! How many of us live with a lively fear of hell, a place that is real and a place where souls go for all eternity?! Or have we instead accepted mediocrity in our spiritual lives? “Oh, I’m too busy to pray Lord; I just don’t have the time. I’m too tired to pray; I’ll get to it tomorrow… Oh, I don’t like that teaching of the Church, I am not going to do that, who do they think they are coming up with this stuff… Well, I think I’ve done enough for God; what more do I have to do for Him.”
In one of His parables Jesus poses an important question that we would all do well to ask ourselves. “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?” Well, what cost is Jesus talking about? He’s not giving construction advice to builders and contractors. The context of that Gospel is the cost of discipleship, what it costs to be a saint, ultimately what it costs us get to Heaven. But all too often we act as if that cost is cheap! “Well, I go to Mass on most Sundays. I’m a good person; I haven’t murdered anybody. Of course I’m going to Heaven!”
Jesus dealt with this kind of cheap discipleship in the Gospels when He said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” On the day of judgment many will say to Jesus, “Well, didn’t we go to Mass fairly often on Sundays and didn’t we put some money in the collection basket? Didn’t we accept at least some of the Church’s teachings? Besides, as I said before, I’m a good person; I didn’t murder anybody.” Then Jesus will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me you evildoers!”
My brothers and sisters, in ordinary times lukewarmness in our approach to salvation is deadly. But we are not entering into ordinary times. We are not moving forward into ordinary times. There is a great battle brewing; in fact this battle is already upon us, a battle in our country between good and evil and I can feel this battle in the very marrow in my bones. If we are not striving for holiness with every fiber of our being we will not have what it takes to pay the cost of discipleship, we will not have what it takes to get to Heaven! As Jesus says near the end of Matthew’s Gospel, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no one would be saved. No one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
It’s clear from the trends that we see in Tuesday’s election results that people of faith in this country are going to be attacked relentlessly over and over again by one wave of evil after another. And so we must be sure that we have included these attacks in our calculations. A lukewarm faith will never survive the attacks of an army of evil that is Legion. We must become saints! And do not wait for tomorrow to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for tomorrow may be too late. Today let us resolve to root out all sin from our lives! Today let us resolve to remove all evil from our hearts! Today let us double our efforts at prayers! Today let us pray that Mary, the Mother of God, our Mother, will once again crush the head of Satan, and intercede for us the grace of perseverance!
Today, let us resolve to take up our cross and be a disciple of Jesus Christ! Christ, who in the words of the Servant of God Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, “will restore within us moral indignation, Who will make us hate evil with a passionate intensity, and love goodness to a point where we can drink death like water!”
The final message that I received from that gentleman’s call on Wednesday was that I need to stop preaching the way I do. I need to stop telling people how they ought to live their lives, what teachings of the Church they need to follow. If he wants to support gay marriage I just need to “shut up” and give him a “choice”. Well, sir in answer to your request I give you a choice: You can either come here to this Catholic Church and listen to the Word of God and to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church or you can leave and go somewhere else!
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Amen to that!
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This was brought to my attention by Contemporary Catholic Singer Donna Cori Gibson her music can be found at http://donnacorigibson.com