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Prepare a way for the Lord
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During his visit to Ireland in 1979 Pope John Paul II observed that Ireland seemed to be “living again the temptations of Christ, being asked to prefer the kingdoms of this world and all their splendours to the kingdom of God”. Twenty nine years later this was even more obviously true. From the Irish NSC’s discernment of the Lord’s word through Isaiah came the vision of making available to every person in Ireland who wished it, the opportunity to experience the Baptism in the Spirit. As Fr Peter Hocken said “the whole purpose of Baptism in the Spirit is preparing for the Kingdom” and “the effectiveness of everything else depends on the prayer cover of the intercessors”. Thus when leaders from all over Ireland were presented with the vision at a renewal day in Greenhills, Dublin, in January 08 they were urged, in obedience to God’s word, to begin committed intercessory prayer; and strengthened by this prayer, to go out and bring the gift of God, through Baptism in the Holy Spirit “to every corner of the country, to every parish, every home, losing no opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and the lordship of Jesus”. Of course committed follow-up would also be required as running seminars is just part, albeit a crucial part, of evengalisation. In what was described as a Kairos moment for our land we were asked in the words of Revelations 3:2 to “ wake up and strengthen what remains and is at the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of God”. Everything about the Greenhills gathering spoke of the Lord’s blessing and His presence – the large turnout despite inclement weather, the obvious anointing on both speakers and listeners, and perhaps most important of all, a willingness to be available and obedient to the Lord in the task that lay ahead. Of course there is nothing new in the content of what the Lord is asking of us: evangelisation, especially through Baptism in the Spirit, has always been a particular mission and calling of the Charismatic Renewal and that mission has always been backed up by the power of intercessory prayer. But it needs, in the words of Pope John Paul II to be “new in ardour, method and expression”. Following from the Greenhills gathering, meetings have been organised at regional level, to involve more people and to bring to fruition the work we have been given – to begin (or to increase if it had already begun) a wave of intercessory prayer for Ireland and to take Life in the Spirit seminars to every corner of the land. The task is daunting but nothing is impossible with the Lord and already the fruits are beginning to appear: new intecessory prayer groups have sprung up all over the country – Galway, Waterford, Athlone, Belfast, Longford, Dublin and others. The fruits of the Baptism in the Spirit have been witnessed in many parishes – in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, a parish priest with no previous knowledge of charismatic renewal or the Baptism in the Spirit was inspired by a life in the Spirit Seminar he attended and ran the seminars for a congregation of up to 800 people in his own parish. His own parishioners subsequently asked him to set up a prayer meeting and this has happened. Mark 4: 26-28 tells us ”In the Kingdom of God it is like this. A man scatters seed upon the soil. Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed spouts and grows, he knows not how”. Our task is to sow and the Lord will do the growing.The word and the vision is not of course just for Ireland. The leaders of CCR in Scotland and their core groups, because they had heard virtually the same word from the Lord, invited Marie to share the vision with them in March of this year. Grace McBride from Glasgow said “Following Marie Beirne’s call to us to pray for our land, we felt it was a confirmation of what we were already feeling. We realised there is so much to do and that we can’t do it in our own strength so we really need God to help us.” Leaders from Wales have also taken the CD of the Greenhills meeting and we rejoice in the sharing and spreading of God’s call to renew our nations in prayer and holiness. A single CD of the Greenhills talks “NSC Vision
for Ireland” is available from: |
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“In
the wilderness, prepare the way for Yahweh, make straight in the desert
a highway for our God”. The words of Isaiah 40:3 had spoken
so clearly and suddenly to Marie Beirne, Irish NSC chairperson, en route
to an NSC meeting in Dublin, that they had jolted her. What did they
mean in today’s Ireland? What did they mean for charismatics and
what was the Lord asking them to do?