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Why the Charismatic Renewal?
Fr Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap, the papal preacher,
was one of the key note speakers |
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The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the real specific gift of CCR and we need to be filled, and periodically refilled with the Holy Spirit. It is thus very important to understand what the Baptism in the Spirit really is. Before departing from this earth, Jesus said to the Apostles(Acts 1:5) "John baptised with water, but not many days from now you are going to be baptised with the Holy Spirit." It is enough to see what happened a few days later to understand what Baptism in the Holy Spirit is. What did happen? Pentecost. The Baptism in the Spirit IS Pentecost. For the apostles it was the First Pentecost; for us it is a New Pentecost. That is why I chose Acts 2 as my text for this talk, as it contains an account of what happened at that First Pentecost. CCR began when a group of people in the USA gathered together for a Retreat. They were reflecting and commenting on the event of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, as they sang the Veni Creator Spiritus(Come Creator Spirit). If we want to repeat this experience (not just try to remember what happened on that day), but experience anew the reality of that event, the best method to follow is to go to that account of Pentecost again, with expectant faith. With all the reasons Charles(Whitehead) gave us for coming here this weekend, there comes a time when we must make a leap….go to a higher level. This comes, not from understanding the past, what CCR has been up till now, or what it should become in the future, but because we want to renew the experience for ourselves. We are not dealing with an idea, but an experience, We come to realise for ourselves what the others experienced. This should be a new beginning, because it is only when we receive the reality, not just the notion of the Spirit, that things happen, and something is really achieved. "When we listen to what happened the miracle happens again" All of what has gone before is part of the journey for us. We need to remember, to share our experiences, but we must become like the wood that Elijah gathered on Mount Carmel, which was left for fire from the heavens to set it alight. Remember what happened on the day of Pentecost. What happened resembles what happens in the Eucharist. In the Mass the Church does not just repeat the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper. When the actions and words are done and said by an ordained minister, the miracle happens again, and the memory becomes PRESENT. The identical thing happens when we repeat the account of Pentecost. It is not a sacrament, but the reality is the same. When we listen to what happened on that first Pentecost morn ("They were all filled with the Holy Spirit") the miracle happens again. If this account is repeated by believing people in an atmosphere of prayer, the miracle happens again. There is an additional reason why this part of the Bible(Pentecost) should always be highlighted in the Church, because this is the founding event of the Church, and if we want to discover what the purpose of the Church is, we should analyse this first Pentecost. "Spoke at the Conclave of Pentecost" All the human and divine elements of the Church are present in this account of the first Pentecost. A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak to the Cardinals before they went into the Conclave (after Pope John Paul's death). I spoke to them of Pentecost. If we want to know how we should act in the Church, we should look at the Church of Pentecost. Everything is contained there. The Primacy of Peter was made very clear, through the choice of words that are used. "Peter, with the other apostles…", "Peter and the other apostles…". (Remember Easter morn, when Peter and John ran to the tomb? John reached the tomb first, but he did not enter; rather he waited on Peter, and allowed him to enter first.). Let us look now at the various different scenes included in that first Pentecost. Let us try to be open, to be exposed to the action of the Holy Spirit, like lying on a beach in the sun. All of this is very simple. All I have to do is keep you distracted long enough, so that the Holy Spirit can enter straight into your heart! If you were having a heart-transplant, you would be totally off-guard, completely unaware of what is happening, and allowing somebody else to take over. (The preparation, of course, is that you accepted that you needed a new heart, and you agreed to accept one!). "When Pentecost Day came around, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind, which filled the entire house where they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues of fire. These separated, and came to rest on the head of each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." "Signs and sounds signify important events in the Bible" Anytime the Lord, in the Bible, is doing something very important, there are signs and sounds beforehand to attract the attention of creatures. This happened at Creation, the Annunciation, the Resurrection, Pentecost, and, of course, it will happen at the Second Coming. And so at Pentecost, when God is about to do one of the most important acts in the history of salvation, He sends signs and sounds to alert His apostles for this important and central event. There were two signs. They heard something…a violent wind. The apostles knew that wind and Spirit share the same name('ruach' in Greek). The wind is a symbol of the power of God. The wind can take many forms; sometimes so strong as to shake the ocean. No one can stop the wind. We can bottle electricity, but not the wind. This shows us how foolhardy it is for us to try to control the Spirit. Wind is also something very gentle, such as our breath. If the breath stops, we die. Wind is a symbol of the power, the gentleness, and the intimacy of God, and it is both outside of us, and within us. They saw something….tongues as of fire. This meant something to the apostles. John the Baptist said "I baptise you with water, but another is coming who will baptise you with Spirit and with fire." The fire is the symbol; the Spirit is the reality. After Easter, Jesus breathed on them, and said "Receive the Holy Spirit", once again using the symbol of breath. The wind is the power of God, and the fire is the refining power of God. Heat and flame can purify. The apostles were in a state of silent expectation. In their minds they were ready; the signs had come; and now the reality. The central line here is easy to skip over: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit." (How often have we heard or read these words without anything happening, because we didn't expect anything to happen?!). "Holy Spirit is the love of God" What did this mean to the apostles? They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? We know from Theology that the Holy Spirit is the love of God. The Holy Spirit is the flame of love which burns between the Father and the Son, and is so objective (real) as to be a Person. Instead of Love, we could use the words Life, Happiness, Gratitude, etc. "They were filled with the Holy Spirit = They were filled with the Love of God". In Jesus' time being baptised wasn't just pouring water over a person's head; it meant total immersion. The apostles were fully immersed in the Life of the Trinity. The door was opened and the Niagara of God's love flooded down upon them. St. Paul(Rom. 5:5) explains Pentecost this way: "The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit". I checked the answers to the Questionnaire sent out before this Consultation, and to the question as to what people had received from CCR, the answer invariably was "A much greater awareness of God's love." Some people said that the main fruit of the Baptism in the Spirit was experiencing the reality of the Father's love and compassion. My own experience was to become deeply aware, for the first time, what it means to be loved by God. That was the experience of the apostles at Pentecost. "Role of Mary" We know, even on a human level, that only love can bring happiness. Imagine the happiness of the apostles! Imagine the sheer joy in the face of Mary, as she watched them proclaim their own version of their Magnificat. Like Mary, the apostles were now overshadowed by the power of the Most High. There is a direct parallel between Mary/Annunciation/Magnificat, and what happened to the apostles at Pentecost. St. Luke makes this connection as, in his gospel, he tells the story of the Annunciation, and in the Acts, he tells of the apostles' experience at Pentecost. The love of God is not just something gratifying and affirming; it is much more than that. It is an objective reality(something REAL), which the New Testament calls "new birth", "charity", or "new heart". Theology calls it Sanctifying Grace. This involves the indwelling of the Trinity. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that they were filled with the Trinity. This needs some explanation. Let us go back to the beginning of the account of Pentecost. "When Pentecost Day came around…". Like Easter, Pentecost was the fulfilment of a prophecy. Each thing that happened to Jesus had been predicted by the prophets, to prove that He was indeed the Messiah. What was the hope for Pentecost? What had the people to look forward to in what we might call the 'Old Part'? "Meaning of Pentecost in the Old Testament" Formally, Pentecost was an occasion for offering agricultural products to God. It then became the occasion for celebrating the Law, going back to the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. They celebrated the Old Covenant when Israel was chosen as a holy nation, a people set apart, a chosen race. Today, Jews celebrate Pentecost as the Feast of the Torah(Jewish Bible, Old Testament). They had the immolation of the lamb of sacrifice, and 50 days later Moses was given the Law on tablets of stone. 50 days after Good Friday, the finger of God again writes the Law, not on tablets of stone, but on the flesh of human hearts. The Holy Spirit is the New Law. Ezekiel: "I will make a new Covenant with my people. I will write my Law on their hearts." "I will give you a new heart. I will put my Spirit in you, so you can keep my laws and statutes." (Only when we receive the Spirit can we do this). Paul in Romans 8, the great poem on the Holy Spirit, says: "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit, which gives life in Jesus Christ, has set us free from the life of sin and death." There are many millions still seeking and longing for this Good News today. The law of the Spirit is, of course, the love of God, the New Commandment, which summarises all the Laws and the prophets. What are the external manifestations of this change? "Pre-conversion God is seen as an enemy" Martin Luther speaks most eloquently about this - How does this radical change take place? To someone from a previous age, pre-Pentecost, God can appear as an enemy, an adversary. Why? Because each person is drawn to follow certain things, e.g., power, pleasure, money, success, etc. God appears as a 'Spoilsport', who blocks the way, and says "You must not do this; you must not do that". In this situation, God is seen as the enemy of life, and some people wish God didn't exist at all! All of us, deep down, by nature, are like that. Young people see following God as saying goodbye to a happy life! The Spirit however makes it possible to overcome the urges and tyranny of the flesh. When the Holy Spirit comes He opens up to us a new eye. He makes us look at God, not as an adversary, but as someone who loves us so much that He sacrificed His only Son in order to set us free. He is someone who loves us into the fullness of joy, happiness, life, and love. The Spirit is Someone who wants our fulfilment, our human joy on earth. He knows better than we do what real joy is. Gradually, that 'old' image of God is destroyed, and God emerges more and more as Abba, daddy, Father. When you can turn to God and call Him Abba, Father, you are born again, which involves discovering the Father's love. Henceforth the way we live the Christian life changes---no longer out of fear of punishment, but out of attraction. There are two kinds of laws: External Laws, Commandments, Precepts, civil, etc. These you have to obey or you will be punished. They act by force. Internal laws, on the other hand work not by pushing or pulling, but by attraction. We do not act out of fear, but with joy and enthusiasm. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". You obey God totally because His love gives you great joy. This is a new way of living the Christian life. "Attraction rather than fear" This is one of the main contributions of CCR to the Church.
People are part of it because of love and attraction, and not because
of obligation and fear of punishment. Without this, we live whatever idea of God we have in our mind. The quality of people's minds plays an important part in the Church today. A study in France, to discover the idea of God being presented by the Church today, makes for depressing reading. Many Christians are still living with a concept of God from the Old Testament. They have failed to understand the passage from law to Christ. We should never grow weary of repeating "Christianity is a religion of GRACE". Christianity differs from all world religions in this: Most religions tell you what to do, and what not to do, if you want to get to God. Christianity is NOT what we do for God, but what God has done for us. The foundation of Christian morality is thus gratitude, not rules or obligations. All of this is not yet fully accomplished. We need the CCR to remain alive, because there are millions of people still waiting for this message.
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