| What is the Spirit Saying?
Kristina Cooper, the editor of Goodnews, reflects on what she perceives as the Lord’s call to the Charismatic Renewal to move from a “creedal” faith to expectant faith in the using of the charisms
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Instead of the usual format of inspirational talks and small group sharing, Fr de Grandis led the priests present into a series of hands-onworkshops, not only teaching the basics of using the gifts of the Spirit, but also providing a practical opportunity to put them into practice. This involved a real stepping out in faith for many. The workshops were practically a reprise of the ones Fr de Grandis did in the early days of the Renewal in the mid-1970s, when he toured Britain and Ireland running workshops on how to use the charisms. Demystifying the working of the charisms The aim of these workshops was, as at this year’s 2003 priests’ retreat, to create a safe environment and to demystify, the working of the charisms and show how they operated and the human cooperation that was needed to step out and use them. Some of those who attended those early teaching sessions not only learnt the mechanisms but were jump-started into using the charisms effectively on a regular basis in their lives. For others, however, it was a one off experience as they were not convinced that this was God working at all. A fi nal group included those who sort-of-believed, and when called upon, would pray with people, but never seeing much-in terms of answered prayers, began to feel more and more uncomfortable using the gifts and gradually allowed them to fall into disuse. Not my gift anyway! I was baptised in the Spirit 20 years ago in Panama. It brought my faith alive in a new way and I was exposed to things I had never seen before like healing, prophecy and deliverance. I believed in these things because I saw them, but there was always a certain level of doubt mixed in. I was totally stunned therefore, when a friend and I prayed for a woman who was healed of a cataract condition. But this was twenty years ago, and since then I have seen no real major physical healings, through my own prayers, which made me conclude that this really wasn’t my gift anyway. Despite this, I would always pray for people when I was asked because I could see the benefits of simple solidarity in prayer, when someone is suffering, regardless of whether they are healed or not. I was greatly challenged therefore, by Damian Stayne, when he spoke at Newman College about his own faith journey and the use of the charismatic gifts. He commented, “Most people involved in the Charismatic Renewal today believe in the charisms like tongues and prophecy, words of knowledge, healing, deliverance etc, but for many it has been a “creedal” faith which is not the same as the gift of faith and empowerment to step out and use them. We have mistaken them for the same thing, however, and thought that because we believe that these things happen, we had the faith for them to happen, and then we have been disappointed when we have prayed and nothing has happened.” He was speaking about me! Workshop dynamics can give people confidence and experience in using the charisms, but what is essential, as Damian shared from his own experience, is to have the gift of expectant faith. This is not simply psyching yourself up to step out and do something, but actually having faith that it will happen. This is not something we can make happen but is a gift from God. Damian told how he and the Cor et Lumen Christi community, which he belongs to, have prayed and fasted since they began 15 years ago that the Lord would grant signs and wonders to their ministry. Over this time they have constantly prayed for healing at many of their community events and led ministry teams at conferences like the annual Celebrate conference at Ilfracombe. Although they have regularly seen people healed, Damian felt they were not experiencing what the Bible seemed to promise the disciples of Jesus, and he began to think that there must be some missing element that was blocking the ministry. Reflecting on Bible passages like Mark 16:17-18 when Jesus sent out his disciples promising them that “These signs will accompany those who believe” and John 14.12-14 “ Amen, amen, I say Amen, amen, I say unto you, whoever believes in me will in me will do the works (“miracles”) that I do” Damian concluded that the problem was this expectant faith which seemed to be key in so much of Jesus’ work. But how to get it? We made faith into our work and tried harder He commented, “We were trying, but that was the trouble. We had made faith into our work and tried to have it instead of acknowledging that we didn’t have it, repenting for our lack of belief and asking God to grant us the gift of faith.” From that day onwards Damian began to repent every day for his lack of faith. “We started to pray for the gift of faith every day - that the deaf and the dumb, those with mental illnesses and epilepsy would be healed. I named all the works we wanted to see. Apart from that we didn’t do anything differently but suddenly everything changed.” The first sign that something signficant had changed was at the healing service at Celebrate two years ago when a woman who had a serious arthritis condition that had confi ned her to a wheelchair for several years, was healed and got up and walked.Two years later she is fine and recently did a sponsored walk. Damian felt that God was calling the community to share their experience and insights and encourage others in the charismatic renewal to open themselves afresh to using the charisms. This led the Cor et Lumen Christi community to launch their charism schools, which are held over a weekend or a few days. The schools combine lectures about the charisms, drawing on from the bible and church teaching, with the opportunity to put it into practice. For many Catholics it is a revelation that the Church has spoken so openly about the charisms, with famous theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas, writing that “the grace of miracles is necessary so that people so that people may be confirmed in their faith.” Over the last two years Cor et Lumen Christi have run 25 charism schools attended by 3000 people. Some of these have been in England, four in Poland, 3 in Africa and 3 in Portugal. Damian reckons in the last two months alone, 500 people have testified to physical healings during these schools and their outreaches. These have included the healing of deafness, the virtually blind, the lame and people with cancer. The majority of these healings have been prayed for by the participants themselves. Total beginners praying for healing and seeing things happen Maria Toth, who is a 22 year old MA theology student, and who has been involved with charismatic renewal for three years, has helped out on several charism schools. She comments, “Last year at one of the charism schools in London, four of the people who had just been trained and I, prayed with a lady who had a disintegrating spine. She was in terrible pain and couldn’t bend or kneel and, because of a splinter bone in her shoulder, could hardly lift her arm. We were total beginners at this, but after a few minutes prayer the woman collapsed on her knees, all the pain had gone and she could bend and swing her arm around, which the doctor had told her would be paralysed within a couple of years. We were full of joy that God had used us when we really didn’t know what we were doing.” Les Smith who works as a chauffeur and has been a member of Cor et Lumen Christi healing team for some time, explains that he was challenged by one of Damien’s talks when he asked “Do you have a desire for the charisms?” he realised he didn’t, even though he was on the healing team. “I remember I took myself before the Blessed Sacrament and repented to the Lord. God then gave me four words of knowledge for different people there. Later I felt God challenging me in a different way and he said, “You want my gifts but do you want me? If you want to step into the fire of my love you must abandon everything else.” Once I had made that decision things changed radically for me. Since I have started praying for faith and all the gifts in a more direct way I have seen amazing things happen. I have seen paralysis healed, blindness, fibroids – and sometimes after only 30 seconds of prayer.” Damian has been greatly infl uenced over the last couple of years he says by the writings of Smith Wigglesworth, the great Pentecostal who ministered at the beginning of the 20th century, who was known for his awe inspiring faith and healing gifts. Damian says that Smith Wigglesworth’s example has encouraged him to be more bold in healing services too. He says, “I am English and naturally reserved, but I feel something has to be released in us that makes us stop worrying what people think, but be more concerned about what God wants.” Thus emboldened at a healing service in Poland he felt the Lord calling him to step out and curse cancer verbally by shouting out. He remembers “I had never done that before and felt very foolish. The next day, however, one of the women who had cancer and had stood up, came to say that all her lumps had disappeared. She had had three operations for cancer before but it seems that she is totally well now, according to a seminarian who knows her, whom I met recently. She was healed by a word of command.” Extraordinary Tales He has even more extraordinary tales recently of people being healed by handkerchiefs that have been prayed over as happened in the scriptures. One of them was a man who hadn’t worked for ten months because his back and legs were so bad and he had to sit in a chair all day. His wife laid the blessed handkerchief on him while he was sleeping and went to work the next day as usual. When she came home, she found him mowing the garden. Damian admits there has been a price for this new level of faith and he has suffered all kinds of rejections and disappointments which have humbled him and brought him in touch with his own weakness. “If we don’t go through the cross we won’t come into the anointing that God wants for us. I have realised that suffering can be our friend if accept it in the right way. Damian feels a mission to galvanise the Charismatic Renewal movement to start using the charisms again and feels that the charism schools is one way to do this, but the Lord’s call is bigger than this. “We need to know our need and God will give good gifts to us. If we don’t feel the need, how can He give them to us? The spiritual writers tell us that God gives his gifts to the degree of our desire for them. I believe we have been content with too little. The Lord desires us to have the same ministry He did and this is an essential part of the calling of the Charismatic Renewal to the Church. If we don’t do it, who will?” The next Cor et Lumen Christi charism school will take place at St Saviour and St John the Baptist church in Lewisham, South London 5th–7th September (The Outreach will be on the Sunday evening in the church after 6 pm mass) For further details contact Cor et Lumen Christi, Highfi eld House, Cherstey, Surrey KT16 8BU Tel 01932 565747
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Charismatic
Renewal has been responsible for a whole mind shift in the Catholic
Church over the last thirty years as people have realised that the biblical
charisms such as tongues, prophecy and healing, mentioned in the Acts
of the Apostles and the letters of St Paul, are just as available today
as they were in the early Church if people are open to them. As well
as openness to receive the charisms, however, people also need confi
dence and expectant faith to step out and use them. It seems to be this
particular aspect that the Holy Spirit has been underlining for us in
England over the last six months particularly through the ministry of
two men, Fr Bob de Grandis from the United States, who led this year’s
charismatic priests’ retreat at Trinity and All Saints College
in Leeds, at Easter and Damian Stayne from Cor et Lumen Christi community
in Chertsey, who spoke at the Diocesan Service Teams meeting organised
by the English NSC in Birmingham in June of this year. 
