Society of Saints
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Resources - Prayer
  • Resources - Prayer 2
  • Resources - Study Group
  • Resources - FBC Group
  • Resources - Listening to God
  • Resources - Other
  • Could God be real?
  • Could Catholicism be true?
  • Publications
  • About Us
  • Contact us

Some thoughts as we enter the Vigil of Pentecost

18/5/2018

0 Comments

 
​This particular Pentecost has had a huge build up, and expectations are running high. Please God, this will be the breakthrough we have all been longing for, the long promised tsunami of grace.

So what should our final preparations be?

Firstly a recognition that this is God's work; not ours. The primary witness to the resurrection of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The rest of us are secondary witnesses. Without Him we can do nothing.

Secondly a willingness to let the Holy Spirit surprise us; an openness to Him working in unexpected ways that might initially make us feel uncomfortable.

Thirdly, and most importantly, total surrender to Him. What does this consist of? What does it look like? Putting all your hopes and dreams and plans in God's care, and being happy if none of them come to pass - as long as God's will is done in us and through us. At the beginning of the rite of ordination to the priesthood, the candidates come forward, and lay down prostrate on the floor to symbolise that they are giving themselves completely to God for His purposes, and the renunciation of everything of their own will in favour of His.
​
Our model and our hope in these final preparations is the mother of Jesus. With her assistance what is most difficult becomes easier, and whatever obstacles there are decrease and dissolve. May her intercession obtain for us the grace of complete co-operation with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
0 Comments

A possible interpretation

4/5/2018

0 Comments

 
​There are a lot of 'high expectation' prophetic words flowing around online in Protestant and non-denominational circles at the moment. Gauging what is happening in prophetic word from Catholic circles is very difficult, because it doesn't get shared online unless there has been some heavy duty discernment. However the more I read, and ponder and pray, a possible interpretation emerges that has implications for both sets of circles.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, and maybe something even more wonderful is afoot behind the scenes.

Some of the recurring themes are increase, acceleration, breakthrough, harvest, letting go of the old and taking hold of the new, surrender and humility as the path to these treasures, an army prepared for battle, the opening of doors and deep wells, an invitation to more, an invitation to intimacy and lingering with God, hunger for God, sudden divine appointments and sudden divine alignments, new mantles of gifting and of authority, huge release of resources, growth coming from unexpected directions.

What if you looked at all of these themes through the lens of the journey home to the Catholic church?

Under this lens the need for acceleration makes sense. Why? The process of the journey home to the Catholic Church is normally slow and gradual stretching over 5, 10, and in many cases 20 years or more. With special grace that process can be accelerated.

The same can be said for the initial process of conversion to Jesus, it is usually slow and gradual too. Sudden conversions like what St Paul experienced are infrequent. But since the messages are for those who are already Christian, maybe God does want to accelerate the process of the journey home to the Catholic Church.
​
Part of that process is the stirring of the heart to want more of God, and to be dissatisfied with anything less. I'm going to quote from Nate Johnson here, because he describes it well:
I want to be honest...I haven't been satisfied for a long while now, and I could pretty much say I have been like this my whole life. Always peering around the corner, curiously wanting to see what was to come and living in the tension of what is now and what is to come. But there is a LONGING for more that myself and many others are experiencing right now which has been very different.
One morning in early December, I was so overcome with the presence of God that out of me came this cry of: "I want more Jesus, I want more!" I was not saying that He was not enough or that I was ungrateful, but it was something He was doing in me to reveal the untapped vastness of His person – His glory – that I was not yet experiencing or seeing others experience.
It was a dissatisfaction that ran so deep that it seemed like all other appetites evaporated or waned instantly in light of the hunger that was erupting from my spirit. God began to show me that in this season He is rolling back the curtain and the veil, so we can see what is available. He is calling the Church out of stagnancy and "church as usual" to develop the appetite we were designed to have...for the unlimited riches of His glory!


Does this feel to you like a hunger that could only be satiated with the Eucharist?

It does to me.

Another part of that process is the discovery of ancient sources of renewal that are available to all, but few people know how to find or to value them. For example, the places hallowed by the prayers and lives of the Saints, the writings of the Early Church Fathers, the writings of the Doctors of the Church, the Sacraments, sacramentals (medals, holy water, icons, scapulars etc), the hymns of St Romanos the melodist and St Ephrem. Could this be what the Holy Spirit is referring to in these words from Michele Stickells?

I saw an angel stirring the waters, then I hear, The angel is stirring up the waters of ancient wells, that have become dry and redundant. I see it's time that God wants to restore the wells that hold the ancient anointing, to bring forth the end time anointing that will bring revival. I also see mantles lying in the dust, waiting to be picked up; they also carry past and ancient anointings. The Holy Spirit is moving across the nations looking to see who will see what He is doing, and be ready to receive from past ancient anointings that have remained dormant and hidden for an appointed time, for it takes an ANCIENT ANOINTING TO RELEASE THE END TIME ANOINTING !!!

At the same time there are various calls to lay down our own agendas and ideas and those things that have worked in the past, and to pick up God's plans. Nate Johnston explains it like this:
I had a vision of a hot air balloon that is being fired up to take-off, but it was being held down by sandbag weights all around it. I heard the Lord say, "You have to lose your sandbags to ascend." Then I began to see many obstacles in the spirit that many of us experience when God is inviting us to ascend. To my surprise, they were not just fears, worries, and concerns, but they were more like concepts. They were things like holding onto old patterns and ways of thinking – not wanting to shift from the way God was moving to the new way He was flowing and taking us. These sandbags were also the mindsets of wanting to stay behind the wheel and control the direction of our lives, the process, and orchestrate the outcomes. Not yielding to the Holy Spirit stops the fruit from growing. It's an interesting thought that you can look like you are full of fire and ready to go, but without letting go of the old and surrendering to the shift, you stay grounded. LET GO, and watch Him build and increase you beyond your own means.

And Lana Vawser explains it like this:

I had a powerful encounter with the Lord recently and in this encounter I saw Jesus and He was inviting the Pioneers into the most beautiful room in the library of heaven. The interesting thing about this room in the library of heaven was the door was VERY SMALL. The door was tiny, so to “enter into this room” and to move into the invitation the Lord was releasing, there was a significant call to “lay down, and go low”. There was a deeper place of surrender, humility and yieldedness to the Lord that had to take place, it is not a place of “striving” to “be humble” but a recognition that He is Lord, and we are not. He is the One who we hand the reigns over to, to lead, to guide, to speak. We hand the reigns of timing over to Him. We hand the reigns of “the way” over to Him. We hand the reigns of how things are “built” over to Him, it was a place of such deeper surrender to Jesus and trusting Him in His way and timing. The beautiful thing is I could feel so strongly in the invitation to continue to ‘lie down’ and ‘go low’, is the plans, purposes and manifestation of what He is building is bigger than what is even being dreamt about by the Pioneers.

What could be harder or more difficult than to lay down any anti-Catholic sentiments and to yield any long held teachings that are not truly biblical? And yet what is more necessary for true growth and the finding of untold treasures of grace?

So if you are a Christian and odd things seem to be happening in your life that are pointing you towards the Catholic Church, receive them as invitations from God to the more that He has for you and start to investigate what the Catholic Church actually teaches. If you are looking for a starting point, remember that burning question that you shelved because you couldn't get a satisfactory answer? Take it out, look at that question again, and find out from reputable Catholic sources what answers the Catholic Church has to that question.

So if you are Catholic start talking and thinking about what your parish would need, and what would need to change if the number of people wanting to do the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (R.C.I.A.) multiplied by ten. What would you need to do if it multiplied by a hundred? Start working on increasing the budgets, recruiting and training additional R.C.I.A. team members, and gathering the resources that the spiritually hungry are going to need when they arrive.

Mary, Mother of the New Pentecost, Star of the New Evangelisation, pray for us.
0 Comments
    Picture

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    10 Commandments
    1st Rite Of Reconciliation
    24 Hours For The Lord
    2nd Rite Of Reconciliation
    3rd Rite Of Reconciliation
    Abortion
    Active Participation
    Act Of Contrition
    Adoration Of The Blessed Sacrament
    Adultery
    Advent
    Agony Of Jesus In The Garden
    Anniversaries
    Apologetics
    Apostolic Nuncio
    Apparitions Of Our Lady
    Archbishop Porteous
    Archbishop Prowse
    Ark And Dove Week 2019
    Asking The Vocation Question
    Aussie Pilgrims
    Australian Prophetic Summit
    Baptism
    Be Prepared
    Berthe Petit
    Betty Cavanagh
    Book Review
    Broken Bay Diocese
    Building The Kingdom
    Burnout
    Cardinal Pell
    Caroline Chisholm
    Catechumenate
    Catholic Charismatic Renewal
    Catholic Church
    Catholic Newcomers
    Catholics Returning Home
    Catholic Tertiary Education
    Catholic Universities & Colleges
    Cautionary Tale
    CCR
    Central Coast Diocese
    Charisms
    Christian Book Publishing
    Christian Unity
    Church Fees
    Clean Vs Unclean
    Clericalism
    Comensoli Homily
    Commitment
    Communication
    Conference Design
    Conference/Summer School
    Confession
    Confession Of Sins
    Confirmation
    Consecration Prayer
    Consequences Of Rejecting God
    Conversation Answers
    Corruption
    Covenant Communities
    Creative Lectio Divina
    Culture
    Death
    Decision Making
    Decision Time
    Deliverance From Evil
    Denominations
    Desperate Situations
    Devotion
    Diaconate
    Diocesan Plan
    Disabilities
    Discernment
    Divine Mercy Sunday
    Divine Office
    Divine Renovation Conference DR16
    Divine Renovation Conference DR18
    Doctor Of The Church
    Dying
    Dying Process
    Easter
    Eastern Rite Liturgy
    Ecumenical
    Ecumenism
    Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
    Elder Technology
    Employment
    Encounter Jesus
    End Of Life Stories
    Engagement
    Eternal Perspective
    Eucharist
    Eucharistic Adoration
    Evangelii Gaudium
    Evangelisation
    Ewtn
    Exodus 90
    Expectant Faith
    Facilitating Connections
    Faith
    Families In Sorrow
    Family
    Fatima
    Federal Plebiscite
    Feminism
    First Communion
    First Line Welcomers
    First Nations
    First Nations Seminary
    Forgiveness
    Four Last Things
    Fr Bill Meacham
    Free Speech
    Fr George Kosicki
    Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR
    Friendship
    Gerald Coates
    Gift Of Tongues
    G.K.Chesterton
    Glorious Mysteries
    God's Decrees
    God's Love
    God's Modus Operandi
    God's Plan
    God's Reset
    Golden Jubilee
    Gospel Reflection
    Guest Blog
    Happy Meetings
    Hashtags
    Healing
    Helping Young People
    Holiness / Character
    Holy Communion
    Holy Door
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Thursday
    Holy Water
    Holy Wounds
    Homelessness
    Hospitality
    Hour Of Grace
    Human Traditions
    Human Vs Divine Solutions
    Hypocrisy
    ICCRS Charism School
    Ideas
    Immaculate Heart
    Inclusion
    Inclusive Language
    Inculturation
    Indigenous Peoples
    Indulgence
    Integrating Newcomers Into Parish Life
    Intercession
    Intercessory Prayer
    Interpretation
    Interpreting These Times
    Jennifer Eivaz
    Jesus
    Jim Murphy
    Joseph Chircop
    Joyful Mysteries
    Katherine Ruonala
    Kerygma
    Kingdom Wishlist
    Larry Sparks
    Leadership
    Leadership Structure
    Learning From Other Churches
    Lent
    LetUsPray2017
    Life Regrets
    Linda's House Of Hope
    Listening To God
    Litany
    Liturgy
    Liturgy Of The Hours
    Love In Action
    Making Disciples
    Marriage
    Marriage Preparation
    Married Spirituality
    Mary Queen Of Apostles
    Mass
    Mass Homily
    McCarrick Report
    Mental Health
    Mercy
    Message / Homily
    Ministry To Divorced Catholics
    Miracles
    Misery
    Mission
    Missionary Disciples
    Monthly Recollection Day
    Movements Of Grace
    Music
    Napoleon
    National Church Life Survey
    New Evangelisation
    Novena
    Obedience
    Obituary
    Obscure Saints
    Open Letter
    Open To Conversion
    Open To Reform
    Open To Renewal
    Opposition To God's Work
    Ordination
    Our Lady
    Our Lady Help Of Christians
    Our Lady Star Of The Sea
    Palliative Care
    Pandemic
    Parables
    Parents
    Parish Life
    Parish Meetings
    Parish Ministries
    Participant Guide
    Paschal Candle
    Patron Saint For The New Year
    Pentecost
    Personal Log
    Pilgrimage
    Plenary Council
    Plenary Council 2020
    Plenary Council 2021
    Plenary Council 2022
    Plenary Council Agenda
    Plenary Council Motions
    Plenary Council Process
    Plenary Council Proposals
    Plenary Council Theme 6
    Political Leaders
    Pope Benedict XVI
    Pope Francis
    Praise And Worship
    Prayer For A New Bishop
    Prayer Groups
    Prayer Of The Heart
    Prayer Request
    Prayers
    Preaching
    Preparation For Holy Mass
    Pre-Synod Youth 2018
    Priests
    Proclaim 2014
    Proclaim 2014 Conference
    Proclaim 2016
    Proclaim 2016 Conference
    Prophecy
    Prophetic Intercession
    Providence
    RCIA Rite Of Christian Initiation For Adults
    Rebuilt
    Recommended
    Reddit
    Renewal And Reform
    Reparation
    Repentance
    Resources
    Responding To God
    Rest
    Retaining New Catholics
    Revival
    Rosary
    Rosary Meditations
    Sacramental Preparation
    Sacramentals
    Sacrament Of Penance
    Sacraments
    Sacred Heart
    Sacred Scripture
    Sacrifice
    Salvation
    Scientists
    Signs Of Hope
    Silence
    Sin
    Social Distancing
    Social Media
    Social Media Apostolate
    Soft Evangelisation
    Spiritual Communion
    Spiritual Life
    Sr Margaret Wall Rsj
    St Anicetus
    StartupAusCC
    Stations Of The Resurrection
    Statistics
    St Augustine Zhao Rong
    Stewardship
    St Faustina
    St Francis Of Assisi
    St Gregory Of Narek
    St John The Baptist
    St Joseph
    St Raphael
    Strengths
    StrengthsFinder
    Suffering
    Summer Camp
    Summer School
    Surrender
    Survival
    Synod On The Family
    Synod Process
    #TakeTheAdventChallenge
    Teaching
    Teams Of Our Lady
    Teamwork
    Tertiary Study
    Testimonies
    Thanksgiving
    The Body Of Christ
    The Fight Back Plan
    Topics Of Controversy
    Tradition
    Trauma
    Trinity
    True Reverence
    Trusting In God
    Tsunami Of Grace
    Unity
    Unity In Diversity
    Via Lucis
    Virtual Pilgrimage
    Vision Casting
    Vocation
    Waiting On God
    Welcomers
    Welcoming Via Websites
    What Ordinary Holiness Looks Like
    #WhyRemainCatholic
    Wisdom
    WNFIN Challenge
    Women
    World Youth Day
    Worthwhile Charity
    Writing Christian Non Fiction
    Writing Christian Non-Fiction
    WYD Krakow
    Year Of Mercy
    Young Men
    Young Parents
    Youth Group
    Youth Ministry
    Youth Synod 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly