St. Michaels Catholic Church at Corner of W. High St. and Antwerp Dr., Hicksville, OH 43526 US - Why be Charismatic

Coming of the Holy Spirits Power

The Jewish people were commanded by God to observe several feasts during the year. They celebrated the Feast of the Passover to remember the time in Egypt they had been "passed over" when the firstborn of the Egyptians had died in the plagues. Fifty days after Passover, they celebrated the Feast of Pentecost (PEN te cost). It was also called the Feast of Weeks, which came on a Sunday and lasted one day. It came at the end of the wheat harvest. The events in this story took place on the Pentecost following the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many devout Jews were in the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. They had come from many districts and spoke many languages. After the death of Judas, Matthias (muh THI us) had been chosen to be an apostle, and he was added to the eleven apostles. Suddenly a loud sound filled the house where they were meeting. It sounded like a great wind blowing. Then something that looked like tongues of fire appeared, then separated and sat on each of them. They began speaking in other languages. The Holy Spirit was causing them to talk to the others in languages which they had never learned! Can you imagine being able to carry on a conversation with a foreigner in his own native tongue, even though you had never spoken that language? The wind sound was so loud that people ran to see what was happening, and when they heard the men speaking in their own languages, they were amazed. "Aren't these men all Galileans (gal uh LEE unz), or men from Galilee? How is it that each of us hears in our own native language?" Some thought the men were drunk, but that was unlikely because it was only 9:00 in the morning. Most people who get drunk, don't get drunk that early in the day. Peter stood up with the eleven apostles and began to preach to the crowd. He said that the prophet Joel had spoken of these events many years before. He told them how that Jesus of Nazareth had come, and how that God had shown his approval of Jesus by the signs and miracles that he had performed while he was on earth. Peter accused the crowd of handing Jesus over to wicked men to be crucified. We remember that Pilate wanted to free Jesus, but the Jews had cried out, "Crucify him!". The Romans nailed him to the cross and killed him, but God raised him from the dead, and he was seen alive by many people. When the people in the crowd realized what they had done, they were so sorry, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter told them to repent; to be truly sorry for what they had done, and for every one of them to be baptized in the name of Jesus so that their sins might be forgiven. He said if they would do that, they would receive God's gift to them, the Holy Spirit, to live within them. Those who heard his words and accepted them, were baptized, and about 3,000 people did just that. This wonderful day was the beginning of the Church! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WHEN GOD SHOWS UP The ultimate gift makes its most dramatic appearance in Job. After all the tumult that takes place between Job and his accusers, God the Almighty steps forward -- with all that awe-full power and majesty stuff that theological-types call 'theophany'. The key to the satisfaction found in the book's end is that it is God who is present; in a sense, almost like God was aroused from bed, wearing clouds as a hastily-grabbed bathrobe. No, not some angel on God's behalf, nor a pillar of fire. **GOD**! That alone can satisfy Job's plea, that alone can be reason to get repentance from Job, a most righteous man. In like manner, Moses at the burning bush -- neither bush nor flame nor mountain nor Moses were key to how important it was. God's presence is. The definitive expression of that presence was Jesus, who is 'immanu 'el (God with us), the original Christmas gift. In the Bread and Wine, we celebrate that Jesus is among us. The Father and the Son have each given the gift of their presence in some special way. Wherever they are, the Spirit is at work drawing us into it. The gifts of God's presence and the freedom it creates are related to 'saving grace', the gift that rescues us from sin and sets us right before God. But when we speak of 'spiritual gifts' or 'charismata', we are speaking of a different kind of gift. They do not -- CANNOT -- mark salvation. These gifts are given not to save, but to empower the saved. They flow from what happened in baptism, as yet another way that what happened in baptism keeps happening in us for every new day. Christian freedom is a gift, in and with the gospel, saving us from slavery to self and bondage to the alienating and destructive powers of sin. The sense of freedom which comes with the gospel, the feeling that one gets, the confidence of action which can come with it, are all 'feelable' gifts which show in our actions and our character. The Holy Spirit can make new gifts for new situations: gifts which enrich or make grow the faith of each person or of the Body directly, gifts of witness and discovery. The Spirit is sovereign, and will give out gifts as the Spirit wills it. The Spirit will do what is needed to further the divine purposes even if it is not what we would expect or demand, and even if it has never been done that way before. Even though Paul gave us rather lengthy lists, I suspect he'd be the first to say that there are more gifts than he or anyone else could count. "God is more anxious to bestow his blessings on us than we are to receive them." --------- Augustine of Hippo "We ask you, O Lord, for the gifts of your Spirit........... Teach us to overcome divisions. Send us your Spirit to lead to full unity your sons and daughters in full charity, in obedience to your will, Through Christ our Lord. Amen." -------- from *Litany for Christian Unity*, Pope John Paul II. © Crossroads Publishing Co.

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