July August 2016 Flame
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The Flame July August 2016 Publication of The Charismatic Renewal Cleveland, Ohio LIFE in the SPIRIT By Bishop Sam Jacobs When was the last time you invited someone to experience the grace of this “New Pentecost”? Basic Teaching of the Life in the Spirit Seminars In the very beginning of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the leaders took what they experienced and + God’s unmerited love what they read from the Acts to formulate the core teachings of this insightful seminar. Even though it has + the reality of sin gone through many developments, adaptations, and titles, the basic teaching of LIS remains the same: + the promised Savior, Jesus God’s unmerited love; the reality of sin; the promised Savior, Jesus; the coming of the Holy Spirit to sanctify, + the coming of the Holy Spirit to sanctify, empower and mission us to proclaim the Father’s empower and mission us to proclaim the saving plan to others; and a way to live and grow in the Father’s saving plan to others life of the Spirit, fulfilling the biblical plan of God, “to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” + a way to live and grow in the life of the Spirit. Over the years LIS was intended to be and has As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Catholic remained an effective tool for evangelization. Charismatic Renewal, we recognize with thanksgiving Unfortunately, it is not used today as much as it should one of the many early fruits that God has graciously be. Many prayer groups seldom offer it or do so provided. The initial members, who experienced this occasionally. As a result, we see, in the English- New Pentecost, found that those with whom they shared this experience were like the crowd to whom Peter speaking Renewal, prayer groups becoming more like preached his first proclamation. prayer clubs for the good of its members rather than evangelizing communities. He proclaimed the unconditional love of the Father by sending his own divine Son as the promised Messiah, the The question we need to ask as we approach the Golden fulfillment of the prophets in the power of the Holy Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is this: Spirit. should prayer groups wait for people to come or should they go to them? Should they become pro-active by When he emphatically stated that the Jesus whom they inviting individuals through the use of social media crucified was Lord and Messiah, they asked what they which is so commonplace today? should do. He responded that they, like the disciples, needed to repent, accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I will let Pope Francis give us both the answer and the and to ask for the anointing gift of the Holy Spirit. This motivation. “Spreading the Gospel means that we are they did. They were baptized and were filled with the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. the first to proclaim and live the reconciliation, forgiveness, peace, unity, and love that the Holy Spirit Then the Acts of the Apostles states: “they came together gives us.... Just as the Son of God went out of himself, for apostolic instruction, for community, for prayer and in a sense, and became man for our sake and just as he the breaking of the bread.” Peter’s message and their gave his total self, embracing the cross for our sake, we subsequent response became the core of the initial Life are called to go out of our comfort zone to bring in the Spirit Seminar (LIS). Continued on Page 7 Dear Readers of the Flame, Almost 20 years ago CRM brought a speaker to our annual conference named Fr. James Goode. He was a dynamic African-American priest who preached with power and sometimes broke into dance. The name of his parish in the San Francisco area was St. Paul of the Shipwreck. It was founded by immigrants from the island of Malta. Fr. Goode mentioned that many people in the neighborhood simply referred to their parish as Shipwreck. The event that inspired the name of this parish came straight from the bible, Acts 27. This chapter St. Peter encouraged his flock to take a sober describes St. Paul’s perilous journey to Rome. Despite approach to life and to pray. However, he did not the Paul’s warnings to the captain and crew (“Men, I advocate burying one’s head in the sand or fleeing to can see that this voyage will result in severe damage a “safer” place. Instead he encouraged mutual love, and heavy loss not only to the cargo and ship, but hospitality without complaining and the exercise of also to our lives.” Verse 10), his ship set sail late in gifts for the building up Christ’s body the Church. the season. A severe storm struck. After a couple of They were to live the Christian life to its fullest, weeks at sea without direction or hope, the ship knowing that God was in charge. In a sense, St. Peter approached an island unknown to them. The Lord told his flock, “You have been taught to pray…You then assured Paul that the people would be saved, have received the command to love…you have been though the ship and its contents would be lost. And given gifts to build up the body of Christ. Do not fret so it happened. They discovered that the island was that the end of all things is at hand. Just do it!” St. Malta. And through God’s providence all the captain, Peter and St. Paul did not fret about the big plan of crew and prisoners (including Paul) landed safely. God. They knew it, lived in the light of it and That winter, St. Paul evangelized the people of Malta. proclaimed it to the world. They understood that With the coming of spring, Paul was shipped off to God’s plans unfold, not unravel. And even when it Rome. seemed that God’s plans were shipwrecked, they were fulfilled in unexpected ways. Isn’t our God amazing! God can turn even the hard - headed decisions of people, storms and shipwrecks To conclude these reflections, I want to invite you to into opportunities to proclaim the gospel and fulfill Catholic Renewal Ministries’ annual conference. Mr. his plan! I think we need to remember this. Jim Murphy, Mr. Paco Gavrilides and others will proclaim God’s big plan — MERCY— and encourage We live in confusing and stressful times. The erosion us to live this plan in the power of the Holy Spirit. The of Christian culture, the state of U.S. politics, the conference will be a time of joyful prayer, hospitality tensions among nations and the plots of terrorists can and mutual love, anointed teaching and preaching, sap our hope. What is to be our response? and the exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The aim of the conference will be to equip us to live our The early church knew what it was like to live in faith in our times for the glory of God and salvation of stressful and uncertain times. Their response was souls. I cannot think of a better way to spend a Friday summarized by St. Peter. evening and Saturday! Further details are in this The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be edition of the Flame as well as online at serious and sober for prayers. Above all, let your www.crmweb.org. love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one Sincerely in Christ, another without complaining. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as Fr. Bob Franco good stewards of God’s varied grace. (I Pt 4:7-10) Bishop’s Delegate to Catholic Renewal Ministries CONFERENCE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!! Catholic Renewal Ministries is looking for volunteers to help out during the conference, July 15th & 16th at Magnificat High School. There are a wide variety of needs! Help is especially needed with set-up on Friday and tear-down on Saturday evening. You will not miss any of the conference by volunteering, and you will join a team of dedicated and friendly volunteers. For more information and to volunteer, please call Mary Koehler at 216-676-5121. Traveling Charismatic Mass Friday August 19th 2016 St. John Vianney Praise &Worship Parish 7:00 p.m. 7575 Bellflower Rd. Liturgy 7:30 p.m. Mentor, Ohio 44060 Fr. Bob Franco Celebrant Healing Prayer & Fellowship After Mass For More Information Call Fr. Bob Franco at 440-327-2201 or CRM at 440-944-9445 © 2016 CRM CATHOLIC RENEWAL MINISTRIES 34TH ANNUAL CHARISMATIC CONFERENCE Proclaim God’s MERCY! Saturday Morning Prayer with Bishop Lennon FRIDAY, JULY 15 Praise & Worship with Contemporary 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm Christian Music (doors open 6:15 p.m.) Dynamic Teaching SATURDAY, JULY 16 Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament 8:30 am - 9:30 pm (doors open 7:45 a.m.) Reconciliation & Sunday Vigil Eucharist on Saturday CELEBRATING THE HEALING POWER AND GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AT MAGNIFICAT HIGH SCHOOL, 20770 HILLIARD BLVD., ROCKY RIVER OH N ATIONAL SPEAKERS JIM MURPHY FRANCISCO (PACO) GAVRILIDES is the founder and president of Vera Cruz Communications is currently serving as Homiletics Instructor at Sacred Heart and currently a consultant to The National Service Committee Major Seminary in Detroit. He received his STB at the for Catholic Charismatic Renewal. He completed his Archdiocesan Seminary in Monterrey, Mexico, and is complet- education at Wayne State University and received ing his Licentiate Degree in the New Evangelization at Sacred his bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 1976.