​The Gospel for this Sunday, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, is taken from St Mark Chapter 10 and tells us what happened when Jesus was interrupted with a man’s nagging question.

Jesus had just been to the man’s locality and had presumably done His normal preaching, teaching, and healing in the public gathering areas of that locality. Whatever Jesus said has caused a stirring within the man.

We might ask, why didn’t he ask this question earlier?

It is a real interruption to the schedule Jesus had, and we aren’t told what the consequences of setting out then and there actually were, eg not getting to the next place before night fall; having to stay an extra day where they were, missing a meal or celebration, maybe spending the night on the ground instead of under a roof. But Jesus doesn’t complain, He patiently listens to the man, and gives him His full attention.

Unlike the question the Pharisees put last week, this question is real and authentic, and we’ve all heard someone ask a version of it.

He asks, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’

In other words, What’s the minimum I have to do to get a dead-cert entry pass for heaven?
Or, ‘If there a one-stop, fix, set-and-forget way to obtain eternal life?’

This man is thinking in terms of a transaction, like buying a plane ticket or a car.

But this question must have been niggling at him for a while.

I can imagine an internal battle going on inside him:
Do I really want this question answered?
How much do I want this question answered?
What if I don’t like the answer?
This Jesus person is the only person I’ve come across who could really answer this question.
So are you going to approach Him or not?
Does my desire for the answer outweigh the possible public notoriety for asking it?

He’s possibly been wrestling with himself for days, ever since Jesus showed up; and it is only the thought of missing out on ever getting the answer - because Jesus is leaving and unlikely to ever return - that eventually pushes him into action but at the last possible moment.

Jesus now seeks a bit more background before He answers. It isn’t quite like answering a question with a question as He did with the Pharisees, but it is similar.

From the 10 commandments, Jesus selects only those that are about our relationships with each other, and not in our memorized order either, No 6 You shall not kill; No 7 You shall not commit adultery; No 8 You shall not steal; No 9 You shall not give false witness, an interesting spin on No 10 You shall not defraud; and No.5 Honour your father and your mother.

The man replies, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my earliest days’; in other words: ‘I know these are not enough, otherwise I would not have come to You, I sense much more is required, but I don’t know what that ‘much more’ is, and I do want to know’. To be capable of desiring the ‘much more’, the man would have to be feeling restlessness and dissatisfaction with his current life.

Aha! It is God Himself who has been stirring within this man if he is able to verbalize this truth.

Jesus gazed at him with ‘agape’ love and gave him the momentous answer; ‘Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven; then, come, follow Me’.

‘Come follow me’ is what Jesus said when He invited each of the apostles into special relationship with Him.

Later on, when the man has left, Jesus speaks to His own, and He gazes at them with the same ‘agape’ love.

Answering like this, Jesus tells the man (and us), that heaven isn’t an object to be purchased, but a relationship with Him that requires 100% ongoing commitment.

For this man, used to purchasing all he desires through material wealth, the price of eternal life is far too high. Purchasing objects needs zero emotional involvement; entering an apostolic relationship with Jesus needs total emotional commitment, and total commitment from every other area of his life.

High calling, high reward, requiring high personal cost.

Who can make and keep such an audacious commitment to the person of Jesus?
Only those called and empowered to do so by God.

This is what sets the vocational call to consecrated, religious, or priestly life beyond the regular baptismal call to holiness.

As Jesus promises, it is this 100% giving of themselves to Him, the leaving everything and following Him, which gets rewarded a hundred-fold in this life, and in eternal life.

Notice that Jesus leaves the man completely free to decide, He neither badgers, coerces nor entices. He just offers an invitation.

We know that the man walked away sad. He was offered the Great Treasure, an apostolic calling, yet he rejected it.

It is reasonable to assume that Jesus was saddened as well. Who knows? If this chap had said ‘Yes’ maybe today he would be a household name of the same magnitude as Peter or Paul, instead of a nameless cautionary tale.

Where does that leave us?

Firstly it leaves us praying for those whom Jesus is calling into an apostolic commitment to Him, that they may be given the heavenly help to say their total Yes to Jesus.

Secondly it makes us take a good hard look at our own commitment to Jesus, and the things that we are, and aren’t, willing to give up for His sake.
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Finally if you have been experiencing that same restlessness, dissatisfaction, and sense that there must be ‘much more’, and that you want ‘much more’, then put the terms ‘Vocation Director’ and the name of your nearest regional or capital city into an internet search, and give that person a call.

Knowing how to sift true from false prophecy is something that everyone needs. It may be easier to understand if some case studies are used.

This need came to my attention through a friend who had been sent an unsolicited prophetic word by an email. The friend had no idea where the prophet had obtained the email address from. However, it was a lengthy piece, and it spoke into all the hopes and frustrations this friend was experiencing, ie it was exactly what the friend wanted to be true.

Thankfully the friend had the courage to share it with me.

The very first thing after reading the prophetic word and ascertaining that it contained nothing specifically pertaining to the life of this friend, ie there was nothing in it that couldn’t easily be applied to the life of just about anyone else (warning flag 1) was to search the internet for what could be learned about the prophet.

The website had a pleasant feel, and a link to what must be a very inspiring conversion story, and some very basic Christian teaching without any perceived denominational biases. But it did contain a few things that gave me significant pause; a few very general prophetic words that were undated, no contact information or details, and no affiliation with any faith community.

It is so unusual for a prophetic word to be undated (warning flag 2). No address, no social media links, no email address, no contact form where you would expect it to be (ie an easily visible Contact page), but given bit by bit under a ‘please support this ministry’ sub-page that begins by asking for donations (warning flag 3). There is no indication on the website that the prophet is part of a faith community, in leadership of a faith community, or anything other than a lone ranger. Ideally a prophet should have a regular small group to which he/she is personally accountable, and should also be under some form of leadership to whom he/she is also accountable. Otherwise there are none of the normal and natural checks and balances that come from community life where people are invested in you enough to ask the odd quiet question if you are looking like going off the rails, or when your walk doesn’t match your talk. (major warning flag 4).

If something is exactly what you want to hear, (eg in order for the destiny God has for you to unfold, don’t let anyone box you in to their mindsets) and it doesn’t contain any invitation to transformation that leads to a deeper relationship with God, that should put up a warning flag too. It is a hallmark of the Gospel accounts that Jesus always invited people to the next level of relationship with Him, requiring either a change of heart or a change of life.

There were enough warning flags to safely dismiss and delete that email.

Around the internet at present there is a set of major ‘doom and gloom’ prophecies going around. The prophet is not a regular prophet, but is in leadership with a Christian community, and has had some vivid dreams that were felt to be prophetic for a national and global scale.

Can God call anybody to deliver a message? Yes, He can, for example the prophet Amos. However, it is more usual for an important wake-up call kind of message to be given to someone who is mature in the prophetic gifting and widely recognised as such, with a reasonable track record for accuracy.

There is also a difference between a Jonah-like warning message that invites to repentance and a Daniel-like message declaring that God’s judgement on bad behaviour is going to manifest in specific ways. Neither are certain; the former can be mitigated or even avoided by repentance (Ninevah); the latter can be mitigated by intercession (2 Sam 24). But even the most dire of messages warning of austere times to come contain an inkling of hope, that after punishment and exile that there would be restoration and return (Jeremiah).

However if the prophet reveals that his/her consumption of news media is greater than his/her consumption of God’s word in scripture, then extra caution is required.

Many years back this lesson was given to me. It happened like this. The community I was a member of at that time was receiving lots of apocalyptic sounding prophecy. It somehow happened that I was able to have a chat to one of the most accredited prophets in that community about all this apocalyptic stuff. His response was that many in the community had been reading the same spiritual/devotional literature that contained that kind of language. The ideas you consume eventually come out again, and often get processed in dreams and can be expressed in prophecy. And that was what had been happening in that community situation. You can see it too in less mature prophets who drink in what a lot of other prophets are releasing online. Sometime down the track, all of that prophetic soup will emerge in a very generic prophecy (and very sincerely given) that is a reasonable summary of the main flavours of the soup.

Such known human weaknesses do make it less clear to discern whether God is telling everyone the same message (in which case, Pay Attention!!!), or whether everyone has collectively gone off on a non-God inspired tangent. For this reason, keep aware of times of the liturgical year that various messages arise.

Sometimes they are collective wishful thinking born of deep desire to see God act in powerful ways, as what often happens as Easter, Pentecost and Christmas draw near or something related to the Jewish liturgical calendar. You see this big crescendo of expectation, and then as the special date passes, there is a lull until someone comes out with a statement that the date was still very important, and we will find out why in due time things didn’t manifest in the natural and there’s even bigger and better things coming in a month or 3 months’ time. Yes, it is easy to become cynical, but we do have to fight against that lest we dismiss a true message from God. That’s why growing in discernment is so important and so necessary.

Discernment can take time. And it is easy for us to get it wrong.

Just recently I have had to sadly acknowledge that someone I had on my short list of trusted online prophets was no longer worthy of being on that list. When the messages are exactly what you want to hear, and those messages get picked up and promoted by others and there are online followers in the order of tens of thousands, then of course you are biased towards the messages being true prophecy. But slowly some question marks began to arise. The first question marks happened when some of my cautionary comments that had logical merit were rejected out of hand. The second question marks began when there were more lists of how to do this or how to respond to that, which were all just human thoughts. The third set of question marks began when ‘sign up for my online course’ appeared at the end of prophetic messages, and it was an almost seamless segue. The final question marks were due to the disclosure by way of sharing personal background that this was, despite friendships and recognition from other prophets in good standing, very much a lone ranger ministry although it was couched in pioneer terminology. So I went back and took a more detailed look at the associated website, and the lack of accountable relationships became apparent.

It is like this, as far as possible there should be no conflict of interest between the ministry of a prophet and the way a prophet earns a living. The whole ‘God showed me how to deal with issue X in a whole new and effective way, but you need to pay $$ before I will share it with you’ thing flies in the face of ‘you received without charge, give without charge’ Matt 10:8. At the same time, a labourer is worthy of his hire, so there is no objection to a Donate/Give page. But when the prophet’s main source of income is online mentoring courses or similar, how can the prayers and natural desires for a good sign-up rate not transmute consciously or unconsciously into the prophetic messages, particularly when those messages are squarely aimed at hidden and forgotten ones who have a big destiny in God’s plan? Isn’t this what we all long to hear when we feel that life has passed us by, thus making us very vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation?

Then again, some things are presented as prophecy, when in fact all they are is teaching or preaching on some topic of the life of faith. Weigh it for what it is, not what it purports to be.

In this age of prophets with some celebrity status, it is well to remember that popularity is not a guarantee of accuracy. In the time of Jeremiah there were plenty of prophets announcing times of prosperity ahead, and only Jeremiah repeating God’s warning that the punishment of exile for their sins was coming. Of course the people of that time wanted to listen to the other prophets who spoke what they wanted to hear, and of course they wanted to shut Jeremiah up by any means necessary.

There will be times of restoration and refreshing, just as there will be times of trial and testing, therefore the maxim, ‘test everything, and hold onto what is good’ has to be our guide, as well as frequent prayers for guidance and discernment.

Why is the accountability thing so important? Because a true prophet is going to have enough humility to mistrust his/her own judgement, and be open to correction and submission/obedience to leadership. Even the best of prophets don’t get it 100% right every time (1 Cor 13:9). Obedience to lawful human authority despite what the prophet believes God has told him/her is the ultimate test of legitimacy. If it is of God it will come to pass, despite setbacks, delays and misunderstandings. Any prophet who thinks that everything they receive is always 100% from God is deluding themselves, and a big danger to themselves and others. Do you know what the worst punishment is from God? To be let drift into error. Because unless someone intercedes for you, there’s no way out. (read St John of Avila’s ‘Listen Daughter’ a.k.a. ‘Audi Filia’ for the best ever explanation of this.) Even Moses had his father-in-law Jethro as someone willing to speak truth into his life.

Now should a prophet make a grand prediction, and it doesn’t come to pass, eg a major share market crash during the visit of a specified world leader, then said prophet is automatically and completely discredited.

Particularly when it comes to dreams and visions, it can be crucial to separate the raw material of the prophecy from the interpretation of the prophecy. Quite often the raw material is correct, but the interpretation is incorrect or immature (ie the prophet has only grasped the first layer of the interpretation and not yet the underlying layers of interpretation.) In essence they are similar to parables. With time and diligent prayer, usually the full meaning comes to light.

Sometimes a prophecy (particularly to a community) is an invitation to go deeper, and the ‘more’ that God intended doesn’t happen because the response to the prophecy was mismanaged. For example, someone in that community who has been growing in the prophetic gifting shares that God has shown a vision of angels, surrounding the prayer meeting, who are waiting to be sent on assignment. Responding with a call to those at the prayer meeting to present their petitions to God is level 1. If you took that word seriously you would them get the prophet back and ask if there were any angels left, and if so, how many? (level 2) and if the answer wasn’t zero, you should then either get the people to petition some more, or better yet, ask the community to pray for wisdom in order to petition according to God’s desires (level 3) and delegate a leader to question the prophet about any details not disclosed in the initial message (ask if the angels were all the same size?, were they perhaps in groups?, was there anything to distinguish the groups eg colour, what they were holding?) which might give clues to the How to pray. If there is any sense that this might be a more significant word than first ascertained, then and there, or soon afterwards, get the prophet to have a go at drawing what they saw in as much detail as possible, and then share both the verbal and drawn parts with leadership and other prophets to pray over, discuss and ask further questions. After all, if it was God’s intention to lead the group into prolonged and specific intercession for local political leaders and business leaders, or for the bringing down of some stronghold that was preventing the conversion of the region, and everyone prayed for those they knew in personal, financial or family stress, then that was a comparatively poor outcome.

Some prophecies don’t find fulfilment for a year or several years, some don’t find fulfilment in our lifetimes. Because of this, some interpretations take a while to become clear. For example, St Catherine Laboure was convinced that much needed funds would appear if an area was dug down to a certain level. Everyone else thought she was crazy to keep insisting upon it. Yet in the years ahead, that area was the place where her body was buried, and not too long after a very sizable donation was anonymously placed on her tomb.

Care should be exercised when reading prophecies from years past and seeing in them relevance for today. That can indeed happen. However it is also possible that the mindset with which you read it today prejudices you into believing that it is solely about the current times. For example the pandemic situation the world has recently found itself in has seen a lot of re-evaluation of past prophecies. Many of them read like they were written for us today, and some of the phrases that were glossed over back then, now seem to carry increased meaning (eg A great shaking happening among the nations, and peoples locked down by a spirit of fear). ‘Lockdown’ carries a whole new level of meaning now that it didn’t pre-Covid19, as does ‘lawlessness’ in the wake of the George Floyd riots. Yet there is no guarantee that this is the only era it was meant for, or even if it was the primary era it was meant for.

We do know that God never takes back or revokes His gifts, and that He always invites us to grow. The intended life cycle of a prophet is that as they grow in experience, they also grow in holiness, and weightier and more important prophetic words can be given through them. However this doesn’t always happen; what started out relatively pure can become increasingly sullied with human frailty and error; or what started out pure can go through a wilderness period away from the moral life and then re-emerge stronger than ever after a sincere conversion. Sometimes there will be only a single season of profound revelation, and then no more, if that is God’s plan for them. St Bernadette is an example of this; and saw herself as a broom that was used by God for a while, and then put away. Always the revelation is firstly for the prophet, and then for others. If the prophet is growing in response to the revelation, and growing in holiness and in moral character, it is an indication that what they are receiving is God inspired.

If God is trying to get a message across, He will use more than one messenger, and probably from diverse sources. Therefore, if a message is of a personal nature, it will confirm something He has already called you to do, or in time to come it will be confirmed via other sources. So never change your life on the strength of a single unconfirmed word. Write it down, store it somewhere, refer back to it every 3-6 months, it may make more sense then. If it doesn’t, and there haven’t been any confirmations of it, you can safely forget all about it.

These are only general guidelines born of experience for sifting out the questionable. For every general guideline there are exceptions, because God is not limited and He sometimes chooses to use the unusual or discredited to get our attention and loosen our pre-conceived ideas.

Here are some scriptural reminders that the gift of prophecy is a good gift from God, and needed, and worth the effort of time in discernment and interpretation:

1 Thess 5:19-21 Never try to suppress the Spirit or treat the gift of prophecy with contempt: think before you do anything – hold on to what is good.

2 Peter 1:19b-20 You will be right to depend on prophecy and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds. At the same time, we must be most careful to remember that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual.

I Cor 14:3 The man who prophesies does talk to other people, to their improvement, their encouragement and their consolation.

1 Cor 14:32 Prophets can always control their prophetic spirits, since God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
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For more detailed guidance on prophecy, interpretation and discernment, please read the attached document, particularly pages 11-16 and pages 18-20.

On Pentecost Sunday 2020 the Reports from the Plenary Council’s six Writing and Discernment Groups were released. I have read Philippa Martyr’s and Fr John Miechels’s commentaries on these Reports. Both commentaries are well worth reading. But they do make a person reluctant to read the Reports themselves.

But read them I sadly must.

Before I do that, I wish to outline the lens from which I am approaching these documents.

From the start I thought that the process was flawed, because we know what God wants us to do – it has been outlined in Novo Millennio Ineunte and in Evangelii Gaudium. The question is how to do it authentically in an Australian context.

While the phases of the Plenary Council up till now have had paperwork reminding us to ‘Listen to what the Spirit is saying’ and ‘What do you think God is calling us to do’, in practice people have been answering very different questions, viz ‘What do you think the Church ought to be doing?’, ‘What would you like to see change in the Church?’, ‘What could we actually, concretely do, towards these themes at diocesan, deanery and parish level?’. Notably absent has been any question about what God wants me to do to contribute, and likewise absent any consideration about where all these mythical people and unlimited resources who are going to make it happen are going to come from (and how to motivate them). In practice people have been told, ‘This Plenary Council is your chance to change things, speak up for what you want, the more vocal you are, the more likely something will happen’.

In such a climate, consensus is not a reliable indicator of the will of the Holy Spirit.

Further absent, and most disturbing, is how often God’s action is left out of the deliberations: it’s a kind of, ‘He can join in if He wants to’ mentality, instead of seeking His input, guidance and power first and foremost. How strange it is when we say we are guided by the Holy Spirit, and then act as though only more committees and layers of hierarchy are needed to achieve anything.

God’s will and purposes have not changed. Always He calls us back to the original blueprint. Even before the Bible existed, family was the foundation of God’s plan. The Bible is the story of the family of Abraham, and it contains the accumulated wisdom about how God wants that family to live in fulness of life. As the family goes, so goes the Church. Where do we get the power to live as members of the family of God? From the Holy Spirit. A new evangelisation is not possible unless there is a new Pentecost, and there is no Pentecost without the Holy Spirit.

Thus for me, Scripture, Family and the Holy Spirit are the non-negotiable essential keys for discovering what God wants us to do in this Great Southern Land of the Holy Spirit. However none of them were referenced in the titles of the 6 Themes of the Plenary Council, and this continues to disturb me greatly.

So as I read (plough through) the 6 Reports, I am going to tally up any references to Scripture, Family and the Holy Spirit, and if I come across any ideas worth pursuing, I will list them.

Obviously it was not an easy task for the Writing and Discernment Groups because they had so many answers to the wrong questions to sift through.

Scripture references are counted when they occur in the body of the text (not in the footnotes) and are recognisable quotations (not cf.’s). Family has to be specifically referenced, references to parts of families eg women, children, elderly etc do not count. All too often we do not view families holistically, which is strange if we believe that each family is a domestic church, and when there is plenty of evidence in the Scripture for God entrusting specific ministries to specific families in perpetuity. Recently during the pandemic lockdown without the usual institutional church structures, we had to live church as domestic churches and began to rediscover this ancient reality. Both ‘Spirit’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ are counted.

Please take these as ‘about right’ numbers and not as exact tallies. Your own tally is likely to be different to mine, but definitely similar.

Theme 1: Missionary and Evangelising
Scripture references: 23
Family references: 6.5
Holy Spirit references: 10
(from page 6) The renewal of our world begins with personal renewal of our lives lived according to the Gospel which invites us to a personal encounter with Jesus, who offers us the gift of God’s love.
(from page 12) For our sacramental initiation to bear fruit, our journey will be one of growing in our relationship with Jesus, the community of His followers and our wider society. This growth is facilitated through the family, the school and the parish community.
(Prioritised Question 6) Given the importance of the family for the missionary and evangelising activity of the Church, how can we best promote a Catholic vision of marriage and family?

Theme 2: Inclusive, Participatory and Synodal
Scripture references: 16
Family references: 4
Holy Spirit references: 7
(from pages 6 & 10 ) Inclusion recognises that every person is a doorway into the mystery that is the Body of Christ.
(from page 9) Our society has become increasingly indifferent, sometimes even hostile, to family life in all its stages, and to those who make family a priority. At each stage of the growth of their children, families experience unique joys but also struggles which, if left unattended, can lead to disengagement and rift, both with each other but also the Church.
(from page 16) Catholics must tirelessly and fearlessly affirm the unique dignity of each and every child, and the inestimable value of the labours of every parent.

Theme 3: Prayerful and Eucharistic
Scripture references: 15
Family references: 6.5
Holy Spirit references: 11
(from page 7) The family is the usual birthplace of faith and the Church recognises that parents are the first and foremost educators of their children (Gravissimus Educationis
(from page 12) When we are formed in the Gospel, God’s people recognise Jesus in daily life.
(from Proposals for Change 1b) Equip each of our Church communities and organisations to support the creation of small communities of faith and life, centred on prayer with Scripture and sharing heart to heart. Encourage these small communities to gather regularly for the development of faith, the sharing of life over a meal and for spiritual nourishment.
(Are not families also small communities?)

Theme 4: Humble, Healing and Merciful
Scripture references: 13
Family references: 1.5
Holy Spirit references: 5
(from page 11) We are invited to witness the wounds of Jesus in those who have been wounded by the Church.
(from page 12) God is asking us to recognise it is restoration to the family of God that brings true wholeness, and that all the faithful have a role to play in the healing of the wounded.
(from page 12) We cannot separate Christ from the wounded: “just as you did it to one of the least of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).

Theme 5: Joyful, Hope-filled Servant Community
Scripture references: 3
Family references: 5.5
Holy Spirit references: 1
(from page 5) Australia is a land that prizes freedom, equality and egalitarianism, a ‘fair go’ and mateship. However, mental illness, sickness, loneliness, family or financial pressures afflict many Australians.
(from page 8) “the joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church.” (Amoris Laetitia)
(from Challenge 1, page 11) Particular attention should be given to the reasons why so many young people and their families are absent from our parishes, and how schools and parishes might address this concern.

Theme 6: Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform
Scripture references: 5
Family references: 3.5
Holy Spirit references: 3
(from page 5) “...if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be ‘the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters.’” (Evangelii Gaudium 28)
(from page 11) The consultation highlights the importance of a personal encounter with Christ as the basis of the life of faith, and the need for a supportive and faith-enriching Church community in which to deepen and live out our Catholic identity. Catholics sense a call for greater integration of faith and life, for discerning ways of discipleship — at home and at work, online and in local communities.
(from Question 2a on page 15) How can the structures and ministries of the local churches reach out and be more connected to today’s Catholics in their family life, communities, workplaces, culture and leisure?

                         - - -    - - -   - - -  

If we believe that the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, and the goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit (St Seraphim of Sarov), then is it not exceedingly strange that the charisms of the Holy Spirit were not referenced in any of the Theme Reports? How can we possibly do the work of the Kingdom of God without prophecy, healing, intercession, discernment of spirits, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, miracles, deliverance, signs & wonders, and those with anointings from the Holy Spirit to preach, teach and evangelise? Working out how to make room for them in normal parish life, and normal family life, is what we need. Because without God all of our efforts will be fruitless, and utter wastes of time.

It is said that where you have been under the greatest attack from the evil one is the very place to expect the greatest victories. All aspects of family life, from conception to the grave, have been under extreme attack. Is not this where we should no longer be on the defensive, but positively placing our resources to assist the growth of families as domestic churches and households of grace?

And neither can happen without returning to the Scriptures and sincerely studying how God relates to families, and how to co-operate with the Holy Spirit.
  
To focus on family, on the Holy Spirit, and about what God has to say about them in the Plenary Council deliberations, with those two aforementioned papal documents for guidance, now that would be truly worthwhile.

#plenarycouncil  #plenarycouncil2020

​The discernment part of the Plenary Council is supposedly in full swing, although it seems only group submissions are being accepted. Since I don't have a group, and it would be a dishonesty to submit something from a group of one, I will blog it instead.

My catalyst for writing is reading through some 20 pages of a group submission a relative of mine has been involved in. Those some 20 pages cover the 6 themes, with a reasonable amount of overlap between the themes. Having actually read other submissions from the consultation stage, online and offline, it is substantially representative of what the discernment groups have been receiving.

The other catalysts are the recent message from Queen Elisabeth II that repeatedly mentioned small steps as necessary on the way to greater good, and some videos from Dr Henry Cloud on YouTube about leadership: in particular the notion about focussing on what we can actually control, and giving people permission to work on those things they can actually control even if it is as seemingly small as smiling at your customers.

As I see it, there's a problem with all the 'we should do this', 'we should have that', and 'we need/must do this's that form the backbone of most submissions -
a) it all sounds like it is going to be done by an eager group of nameless people with infinite resources, time and talents
b) it doesn't take account of the already depleted/overextended people currently trying to hold together all that the parishes are already doing
c) by and large it lets 'me' off the hook.

So I am going to do something novel and look at the 6 themes from the angle of what small step or steps could someone in the pew actually do towards making the vision of those 6 themes a reality. Lots of people doing one small step, and encouraging each other to do that one small step, could make much more of a difference than we ever would have thought possible.

All of them need to be, 'Hey, yes, I could do that!'

Just choosing one step from each theme would be a very good start.

Theme 1: Missionary and Evangelising
•Take the time to think about and write about a time where God was very active in your life; what was the situation, what did God do? how did you know it was Him? what changed in your life because of this. 1 Pet 3:15
•Pray a short prayer every day for a friend or relative to be given a life changing encounter with Jesus
•Simplify your life so that there is room in it to take up a hobby that brings you in to interaction with people outside your parish community
•Once a month sit down and watch an episode from The Journey Home programme produced by the Coming Home Network https://chnetwork.org/about how God brought someone home to the Catholic church. Doing that will teach you that God is active in everyone's lives, and give you some simple ways to explain why Catholics do what they do if someone asks you.

Theme 2: Inclusive, Participatory and Synodal
•Be connected to what is going on at diocesan, national and global level by adding feeds from your diocese, Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference and Pope Francis to your favourite social media platform.
•Do something intentional once a month to learn about the actual experiences of people with disabilities. That could be online learning: http://disabilityandjesus.org.uk/ is a good place to start, as is the #actuallyautistic hashtag. Or it could be offline learning: having a chat to someone is the parish with low vision; or who wears hearing aids; or who comes to Mass with a walking stick; or visiting (with permission) a family of a special needs child.
•Once a month get to know someone's full name at church, and something about them, because to a certain extent most of us don't feel like we belong unless someone notices those times when we are missing.
•Understanding increases participation. Once a week read a page from the Catechism of the Catholic Church from the section on the Sacraments https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM, or a page from the documents of Vatican II or a page from a papal encyclical.
•If you are not already contributing to the parish community in some way (eg. choir, church cleaning, St Vincent de Paul society, counting team, taking Holy Communion to the sick, welcomer etc) seek God seriously about what how He would like you to contribute your gifts and talents, and then act on it.
•Smile at everyone whom you come across at church, particularly anyone who seems to be struggling or who seems uncertain about the responses and when to stand, sit and kneel, or at anyone who has made the extra effort to bring their children to church.

Theme 3: Prayerful, Sacramental and Eucharistic
•If you do not already have a regular daily prayer time, commit yourself to 10 minutes of prayer a day.
•If you do already have a regular daily prayer time, increase it by 5 minutes.
•Find 5 minutes to spend quietly with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament every week. That could be before Mass, after Mass, or a special visit during the week to an open church or Blessed Sacrament chapel.
•Find a prayer of Spiritual Communion that you like, and pray it once a week, or more frequently if you wish.
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/act-of-spiritual-communion-339
https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/spiritual-communion.html
•Do you have a holy water stoup at home? Keep it filled with holy water, and bless yourself with it every time you leave home. If you haven't got one, get one, and use it.

Theme 4: Humble, Healing and Merciful
•Make a commitment to listen whole heartedly to anyone who wishes to share their burdens with you, and to only offer advice if they ask for it.
•Start a regular practice of contributing to the lives of those less fortunate than yourself. It might look like putting some money in to the St Vincent de Paul poor box each Sunday, or finding a worthy charity and setting up a monthly direct debit donation, or volunteering to regularly do grocery shopping for an elderly neighbour.
•Once a month to take a few minutes to think about the people in your life with whom you are not at peace, and to ask for God's help to forgive them, and to seek forgiveness from God for holding onto resentments.
•Choose a short prayer you like that you could pray every day for all those you know, or have been told, who are sick or seriously ill or suffering from mental illness – and pray it daily.

Theme 5: A Joyful, Hope-filled and Servant Community
•Make a list every day of at least 3 things you are grateful to God for eg. quality time spent with a friend, being able to hear the birds sing, an answer to prayer.
•Go looking for a story every week about how God has been active in someone else's life. You might find that testimony on a video or blog, in an autobiography or over a coffee with a friend; and let that story nourish the hope within you that God is just as active in your life.
•If you are in leadership, start regularly asking your team members the question, 'What can I do to help you reach your ministry goals?' It might mean getting a light bulb replaced, or recruiting a helper, or diffusing an issue of conflict, or similar. And do it to the best of your ability.
•If you don't already know them, find out the dates of your baptism, confirmation, first Holy Communion and do something intentional to celebrate them every year; and make special effort to celebrate and acknowledge the wedding anniversaries, ordination anniversaries and religious commitment anniversaries of those God has placed in your life.
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Theme 6: Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform
•Read a passage of the Word of God every day, or two chapters from the Bible every week. Soaking our minds in God's truth will gradually show us where we are out of alignment with His ways and strengthen our wills to get our lives into alignment.
•Make a commitment to going to confession (Sacrament of Penance) monthly.
•Find a prayer to the Holy Spirit that you like, and make it part of your daily prayer time.
•Make a commitment to setting aside an hour every month to ask God what dreams He has for you, what things He would like to see happen in your family life, work life, ministry life, community life, and write down any ideas and out-of-the-blue thoughts that come, and share them with someone you trust who can help you sort out which ones have God's touch on them.

Firstly a rough transcription of the prophetic words given that night; some prior to the talk, some afterwards:

•Find your shout and declaration again. Angels are putting trumpets to our lips. Declare what God is saying and not what anything else is saying. The truth of God is being rewritten over minds and hearts. God: 'But what do I say?' Pay attention to that and not to your circumstances. Echo what God is saying over us.
•(sung) There is a mighty echo. Come up higher. Can you hear the echo? See His angels all around. Let the trumpets sound. Let the people gather round. The Lord is coming on the clouds. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Holy ones I am calling You to Myself. Re-sound the sound of the trumpet sound. Holy mantles. Holy mandates. High and holy ones, you are My hope.

(the talk took place, see below)

•This council of the Lord is not just for church services, it is a realm that God is inviting us into as parents, and business leaders throughout the week, an invitation that doesn't require a building or a worship CD as access points. I am training My people to be supernatural in a very natural way.
•There are so many angels here. We have so much authority because we are in Jesus and He is the supreme authority over everything. In the story of Daniel it says, 'As soon as you prayed a command was given'. The angels are waiting for us to pray and declare so that they can be given their assignments.
•We were in the throne room, all of us, with Jesus on the throne. The four beasts with wings were there and the lampstands. The angels were singing, and we were singing with them. The elders bowed down and worshipped Him, and all their crowns came off because they were so bent before Jesus. When we come before Him in worship we are to be like them and bow down so low before Him that our crowns come off. As we walk closer and closer to Him we are bowing further before Him. We need to be bare before Him in order to receive from Him and give to Him.
•In a similar way to how native American wind-talkers were used in WW2, God wants to give us messages that the enemy cannot decode.
•God is repositioning us into different levels and areas of our lives e.g. spiritual warfare, intimacy, intercession, spiritual realms. We need to do something in the natural to co-operate with, appropriate and come into agreement with this action of His. (It was suggested that as a sign of our Yes we swap places with the person beside us).
•Isaiah 51:16 'I put My words into your mouth. I hid you in the shadow of My hand, when I spread out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations and said to Zion, 'You are My people.'' It is time for rain. Contend with Him for the promised rain. The rain will be a sign in the natural of what He is doing in the supernatural. God wants us to be reminded of the prophetic words that have been planted. He is raising up blueprints and strategies and He was a holy 'DO' partnership, people who don't just listen but who act upon His word. This is a multigenerational thing. A time when newer generations pick up the neglected/forgotten/as-yet-undiscovered destinies embedded in their families and run with them; to take on the family legacies given by God and to see them happen.
(This was primarily for the Central Coast, but for people all over the world as well.)
 
Secondly a rough transcription of the talk given by Larry Sparks, international speaker and publisher at Destiny Image  Publishers who studies how God has acted in past movements of the Holy Spirit and who seeks out the prophets God is raising up in our day in order to help relay the messages of God to the people of God. He is an American, married, and has a much loved daughter:
 
Australia is a testimony nation to the earth.
(speaking to the HopeUC worship team): Worship teams have the capacity to be key leaders in the council of the Lord, places that are reserved for His friends. He invites you there, and desires to share His secrets with you there. Songs birthed in the council of the Lord release the thunder of Heaven. We want those songs. They carry God's active power. The gift and inspiration of those songs belong to those who want to be a friend of God far, far more than they want to be professional, successful musicians.

This message is for Australia, but also for the nations.
Be obedient.
God is reforming or language a bit, explaining what standing in the council of the Lord means.
'Holy, Holy, Holy' is the song of Heaven that never gets stale, tired or old.
New encounters with God often occur when we tap into the ancient songs.
You can tell that someone has had a genuine encounter with God if they tremble with the awe and reverence of God upon their lips.
In this atmosphere tonight there is a sense of reverence.
At a recent prophetic roundtable I met a young woman named Hannah Brim, granddaughter of Dr Billye Brim, and she said, 'I see myself as a friend of Jesus, not as a prophet'.

Our identity in God has three levels.
First identity: friends of God, those who see and hear the Word of God in the council of the Lord.
Jer 23:16-18 'The Lord God of hosts says this: Do not listen to what those prophets say: they are deluding you, they retail visions of their own, and not what comes from the mouth of the Lord; to those who reject the Word of God they say, 'Peace will be yours', and to those who follow the dictates of a hardened heart, 'No misfortune will touch you'. But who has been present at the council of the Lord? Who has seen it and heard His Word? Who has paid attention to His Word in order to proclaim it?'
Second identity: intercessors with God, who know what to do with what they see and hear - including who to share it with, and when, and how. They ask Him, what you have revealed to me, is it for me alone? There are some secrets that God wants to share with us personally that are for us alone. Is it something I should share with four crazy faith-filled friends to help me process and steward this revelation? Is it for someone else, of for a group? Or is it for me primarily, and shareable with others later on?
Third identity: prophet of God, declaring what God authorises you to declare.
In our times we have great need of people secure in these three identities who can reliably and reputably receive God's messages for our region, our city, our church community, our nation, and who are in right relationships with church authorities and not itinerant lone rangers.

The realm of the council of the Lord is available to everyone, but highly exclusive, because it belongs only to those who prize their relationship with God above everything else.
Study Abraham and Moses, who are friends of God. Their bold prayers were actually high reverence because they knew the character of God so deeply. They were able to 'be confident then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from Him and find grace when we are in need of help' Heb 4:16.
Friends of God are invited to know what is coming. If it happens to be negative, then they pray for that situation not to happen or for it to be mitigated, because they know God's delight is to show mercy. They appeal for mercy, even when judgment is deserved, eg Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses concerning God's repudiation of Israel after the golden calf incident. If no one ever finds out that their prayers for this potentially negative situation were effective, then that doesn't bother them at all. They remind God what He has promised until that promise is fulfilled, no matter how long that 'until' takes. They contend for those promises with supernatural grit. They know that God has not forgotten the promises He made, even if it feels completely otherwise.

The Hebrew word for council means 'a circle of familiar friends'.

What distinguishes a true prophet of the calibre of Isaiah, Ezekiel etc from the rest of the prophets are their throne room encounters with God and their ability to stand in the council of the Lord where He reveals His plans. What qualifies prophets like this, are the encounters with God that leave a person completely undone.

For friendship with God obedience is necessary viz John 15: 14-15 'You are My friends if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from My Father.'
Amos 3:7 'No more does the Lord God do anything without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets.'
God wants us to know, 'You are welcome in My room'.
Heb 12:22-23 'What you have come to is mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a 'first-born son' and a citizen of heaven.'
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All of us are invited, but responding to that invitation requires much from us, including that we seek Him solely for the prize of the pleasure of His company.

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​Below is a printer friendly version (3 x A4 pages)

Remember, these are but rough notes that give the gist of the content of that night.

The next stage of the Australian Plenary Council 2020 https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/ has begun with the release of the 6 themes aggregated from responses across the country. Here they are:

Missionary and evangelising
Inclusive, participatory and synodal
Prayerful and Eucharistic
Humble, healing and merciful
A joyful, hope-filled and servant community
Open to conversion, renewal and reform

It is a significant feat to have found 6 themes, especially since the earlier iterations of the website expected 20 themes.

Of themselves the themes seem innocuous enough. The trouble starts when you look at the quotations grouped on the sub-pages of the website. Many, many of those quotations show how poorly the ancient deposit of faith has been presented to our current generations.

While I can understand the argument that what people actually said has to be acknowledged, it does give the false impression that these things will be discussed. I doubt that those preparing the Plenary Council want it reduced to a lengthy session of catechesis.

I am just as sure that many of these quotations answered the questions, 'What do you think? 'Where do you think the church in Australia needs to change?' and 'What do you want to tell your bishops and those in leadership?' and not the actual question: viz, 'What is the Holy Spirit calling the church in Australia to do?'.

I know that the preparation session I attended was a travesty of what it was designed to be. We were supposed to independently write down our answers to that fundamental question, and then share them. Similar answers were then supposed to be grouped together, and the biggest group (consensus) was to be discussed in depth. The leader of my session didn't do that at all; the leader rattled off a long list of controversial themes and encouraged people to make personal submissions on those themes. Several attendees didn't get a chance to say anything. We were supposed to be listening to the Holy Spirit and to each other, but we really only got to listen to the leader of the session.

I have heard that some places did it properly, and for that I am very grateful.

But I have also read the results from one parish's feedback, around 200 individual responses, and none of them began 'I think the Holy Spirit is calling us to……'; they were all comments on what mattered to them. Of those responses, the biggest consensus was a profound concern for effectively handing on the faith to the young.

That this overriding concern was not a theme of its own is a worry.

It is the very first thing Jesus asked Peter to do if he loved Him, 'Feed my lambs'.

I find that correlation of the sensum fidei rather consoling.

Before I go any further, let us put some matters to rest
•Women priests. If Jesus did not ordain His mother and Mary Magdalene, then He didn't want women ordained as priests. If Jesus didn't do it, then we have no mandate to do it.
•Married priests. This is not a solution to the vocations crisis, nor a solution to the child abuse crisis. It might make the married priest less lonely than the celibate priest, but it places enormous burdens on the wife and children. What happens if he dies? What happens to them, then? What happens if they divorce or one of them is accused of adultery? Your wife is ill and you get a call to visit a dying parishioner – who do you put first? – and how to do live with the consequences?
•Support same sex marriage. It isn't going to happen! God made them male and female and said be fruitful and multiply, He designed our bodies, He created family and marriage.
•Restore the 3rd Rite of Reconciliation. After all the abuses that happened while it was permitted…it isn't going to happen. The 3rd Rite was designed for emergency life and death situations faced by a group of people eg. going into battle, going into a rescue situation where your own life is at risk, sudden situations where there just isn't time to hear the confessions of everyone, with the expectation that if they survived they would make a proper personal confession afterwards. Did you see any of the multitudes coming together prior to Christmas and Easter for the 3rd Rite going to a personal confession in the weeks afterwards? Me neither.

Another worry is this refrain, 'We want more …..', 'We want better……', 'We need to do better at ……..'. It is a worry because at no point did I ever see a 'and I am willing to do the hard work to make it happen'. There's this strange expectation that all I have to do is ask, and someone else will dedicate themselves to making it happen. Call it a consumerist mentality if you will. Perhaps we may have received more quality responses if the question was, 'What is God calling me to do?' rather than 'What is God calling us to do?'

But then what God is calling us to do is already clear: to be missionary disciples of the Gospel. The real question is: how is He calling us to do this effectively in our lives as Australians and as His church in Australia? What we need is to seek His strategies that will engage our Australian culture and bring Australians into a life giving encounter with Jesus. That is the true work of the Plenary Council.

Yet it isn't enough to seek God's will and His strategies, because if we don't also ardently seek His power to accomplish it we are doomed to failure.

To see a theme about growing in responsiveness to the Holy Spirit and about ways of accessing and releasing His charisms for ministry, and learning how to use those precious and powerful charisms in teamwork would have excited me. It is the only thing that really matters. If a gift of preaching gets released multitudes get saved, not just a few hundred. If a gift of discernment of spirits gets released, spiritual battles get won and the rubble is cleared away for many conversions to take place. Without His charisms, without His power, we can achieve nothing. With His charisms, with His power, the whole nation can be converted.

May the Holy Spirit mercifully take control of this whole Plenary Council process. Amen.
​
Only with Him in charge do we have any hope of avoiding the numerous pitfalls along the way. 

​'Where is the Holy Spirit blowing in your local area?'

I put this question, or at least a version of it, to a well-travelled clerical friend of mine recently, and his answers were perplexing.

He mentioned a recent ordination to the priesthood. While that is truly wonderful, and an extraordinary grace for any parish; it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work over a ten year or longer period.

He mentioned the good work the nuns were doing in the parish. Again, that is awesome. But it too is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work in the hearts of women born some 10 years ago or more.

Then he mentioned a rather exciting regional meeting of bishops from several countries happening within the next 12 months. Absolutely wonderful, and it will hopefully be very fruitful for the whole region, but that's the Holy Spirit's work at a hierarchical level and not a local level.

Next year his parish celebrates 50 years of existence. This is a wonderful opportunity to give thanks and praise to God for the blessings and achievements of the past 50 years. Many special graces can come from an event like this, especially if time is taken to think through how the Holy Spirit has worked historically in this local area with a view to discerning His longer term plans. But again, it's not really about what the Holy Spirit is blowing on at the moment.

Why was I perplexed? Because his answers focussed on the activity of priests, religious and bishops who are a tiny proportion of a parish containing thousands of lay people in it. Because there is a big difference between serving a parish and empowering and encouraging a parish to respond to what the Holy Spirit is calling them to do.

It is really difficult to co-operate with the Holy Spirit's plans if you are having trouble noticing where He has been active. A pastor is best placed to notice these things, because he usually gets the best information.

For example if there has been a noticeable uplift in the numbers of couples coming to talk to him about how to grow in their marriages – that's a clue that the Holy Spirit is working locally in the area of marriage. If you notice that, you can put more emphasis on marriage enrichment courses and programmes and can preach more on communication, listening, forgiveness and showing love in daily acts of kindness.

For example in confession there has been an increase in people returning to the sacrament of penance and confessing struggles with addictions of various kinds – that's a clue that the Holy Spirit is wanting to do a major work to set people free in this area. If you notice that, you can invite people into the parish who are gifted by God in setting people free from addictions. Also you can put on an afternoon of prayer inviting the whole parish to come and pray that their loved ones be set free from addictions, and see what happens. If it goes well, and people testify to God setting them free, do it again in a month's time.

But if you are not noticing and paying attention, how can you even begin to co-operate with what the Holy Spirit is blowing on?

Some things might take a bit more digging and research to uncover.

For example, do you know what spurred your recent batch of RCIA candidates to begin the final leg of their journey home to the Catholic Church? Maybe over half of them had an encounter with the Mother of Jesus. If so, put extra effort into the next major Marian feast day, do a parish novena leading up to it, put on a free movie about an approved Marian apparition on the feast day, and a talk about how to pray the rosary.

For example, do you know what spurred your newest arrivals at daily Mass to attend? Go talk to them and find out. Maybe they were all positively influenced by another parishioner. If so, go and talk to this parishioner about how God has been leading him/her and see if there is any way you can support them in their efforts (eg books, pamphlets, rosary beads to give away, or direction to good resources for the most common questions people ask him/her).

Other clues to the Holy Spirit's action in your parish could just come up in conversation, or could be relayed to you by staff members. For example two women having opportunities to meet with long estranged family members could be a clue that the Holy Spirit is currently working on the restoration of family relationships. Finding a third person in this situation would be a call to action. One way to partner with this movement of grace would be to let parishioners know that the next Saturday morning Mass would be offered for the restoration of family relationships, and use one of the Eucharistic Prayers of Reconciliation, the Proper set out 'for family' or 'for relatives and friends', and specially written prayers of the faithful.

Another way to get an idea of what the Holy Spirit is blowing on; is to have a listening session. What you want to do is to identify people in the parish who have solid prayer lives and sacramental lives and are in various service roles in the parish. Invite them in groups of ten for morning or afternoon tea. Then when you are together, ask them what God has been doing in their lives recently, and pay close attention to any patterns that emerge or murmurs of agreement when something is shared that the rest can relate to. If you hear common threads of God asking them to slow down and spend more time with Him, organise a one day retreat. If you hear common threads of God asking them to trust Him more, find some stories from the internet or elsewhere about how God worked wonders when people trusted in Him, print them off, and share them around as encouragement.
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Obviously if you can pick up on the Holy Spirit's clues, what you do to partner with His action in your people's lives is going to be many times more effective than a 'let's try this new programme and hope it works' approach.

Write Non Fiction In November : #WNFIN Day 10
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This one's from the depths, because it is not easy to silence the thoughts of 'What if it's all wrong?' For the record, I certainly hope that what the prophets of our day are saying comes to pass, and comes to pass quickly. But that doesn't mean that qualms about whether they are all under a collective delusion are easily extinguished.

It would be so much easier if they were preaching doom and gloom. Because it takes real courage to tell people the truth that they don't want to hear, and consequently it is easier to sift the real from the fake.

However it is a whole different ball game when you start talking about harvest, breakthrough, increase and extraordinary moves of the Holy Spirit. All of us want to see that, and to experience it. This is stuff that we want to believe and want to be true. Who among us doesn't like hearing that the time of sorrow is over, that the time of reward has come, and that God is going to take you out of obscurity and give you a mission?

Because of those desires for good things, true discernment becomes much, much harder – and it is much easier to be led astray by false messages.

There's nothing wrong with waiting for God to move, if He has truly promised it. Many things indeed wait upon His perfect timing. But if He hasn't promised it, we are going to be waiting forever, losing faith as the wait deepens, and not doing the normal things that would generally bring about those outcomes (eg works of service, networking, developing relationships, and getting on with life).

This is why we need to seriously pray for the gift of discernment.

Sometimes it is obvious that a message is full of wishful thinking and a repackaging of other current messages. Drop them off your watch list. If some message cuts to the heart and produces a response filled with the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience etc), then it deserves more careful discernment.

If God is trying to get a message through to you, especially one which requires a life changing decision as a response, then He will be using multiple ways to do it. Should it truly be from Him messages will come from unexpected sources to confirm it.

Even with confirmation of a message, the need for faith doesn't go away.

My own dilemma goes like this. Everything I have initiated over the past few years has ended in spectacular failure, despite lots of prayer, dollars spent and preparation. I've taken it as a pretty clear sign that I've got to wait for God's initiative. But it is soooo hard to do. I prefer to be active and doing something that could make a difference. Thus I am full of frustration and impatience, since there's no sign of any actual Godly initiative on the way.

What if He never comes, and this is as good as its ever going to get?

Part of the frustration is that I can see what needs to be done, and how to get it done. 'Come away does not mean delay' and 'delay does not mean denial' has been extremely hard. Promises abound that all the delays will be miraculously caught up, and that all things will suddenly be right. God can surely do those things. But in the meantime there's a whole cohort of people who aren't being reached out to and evangelised. God can certainly do it, but will He do it, and will He do it in my backyard, and will He let me be part of it?

Only time and prayer will tell.
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When Lord will You come? When will You come with Your right hand and reply? When will Your prophets be shown worthy of belief?

Workshop 1B – Discerning Charisms, Discovering how the Holy Spirit enters our lives, our community and our world.

This workshop was led by Clara Geoghegan, co-director of the Catherine of Siena Institute . More information about her is available through LinkedIn and she is active on Twitter.

(NB. These notes are only rough.)

By discerning charisms we work out how the Holy Spirit is active in our lives. Our purpose and mission as Church is to preach the Good News. How do lay people take part? The laity, present and operative, make the Church present in those places where only they can go. Being on a parish roster is derivative of the mission of the clergy. The role of the laity is to go where the clergy can't go: shopping, workplaces, clubs.

Lumen Gentium 33b : The lay apostolate, however, is a participation in the salvific mission of the Church itself. Through their baptism and confirmation all are commissioned to that apostolate by the Lord Himself. Moreover, by the sacraments, especially holy Eucharist, that charity toward God and man which is the soul of the apostolate is communicated and nourished. Now the laity are called in a special way to make the Church present and operative in those places and circumstances where only through them can it become the salt of the earth. Thus every layman, in virtue of the very gifts bestowed upon him, is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church itself "according to the measure of Christ's bestowal".

Where is God calling me? What is my mission? Do you know that God has a plan for you? Do you have the road map? The sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation give us the equipment: gifts of sanctifying grace for us to keep; and charisms for us to give away. The charisms are a clue to our vocation in life. Once we know them it is easier to know what we are meant to do.

1 Corinthians 12:7-12 gives us a list of charisms, but it is not the only list.

'The particular manifestation of the Spirit granted to each one is to be used for the general good. To one is given from the Spirit the gift of utterance expressing wisdom; to another the gift of utterance expressing knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit;  to another, faith, from the same Spirit; and to another, the gifts of healing, through this one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the power of distinguishing spirits; to one, the gift of different tongues and to another, the interpretation of tongues. But at work in all these is one and the same Spirit, distributing them at will to each individual. For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts -- all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body -- so it is with Christ.'

Other lists are found in the bible at 1 Peter 4:10-11, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:1-12, 1 Corinthians 12:28 and even they are not exhaustive - lacking celibacy, redemptive suffering, intercession and many other ways the Holy Spirit bestows charisms.

Supernatural gifts are meant to have supernatural results.

We read in the life of Caroline Chisholm how she prayed and fasted for the whole of Lent one year, begging God to bestow on her at Easter all the gifts needed for the task to which God was calling her. (More good information is available at https://mrschisholm.com/ )

“On Easter Sunday 1841, I was enabled, at the altar of our Lord, (at St Mary’s Cathedral) to make an offering of my talents to the God Who gave them. I promised to know neither country nor creed, but to try to serve all justly and impartially. I asked only to be enabled to keep these poor girls from being tempted, by their need, to mortal sin; I resolved that to accomplish this, I would in every way sacrifice my feelings – surrender all comfort – nor in fact consider my own wishes or feelings but wholly devote myself to the work I had in hand. I felt my offering was accepted and God’s blessing was on my work: but it was His will to permit many serious difficulties to be thrown my way, and to conduct me through a rugged path of deep humiliation.”

Faith is both capacity and choice
Virtus fidei – is the power or capacity to believe
Actus fidei – is the personal choice to respond to God's grace
It is that personal act of faith which transforms a person from 'can be a believer' to be a believer. By some estimates around 5% of the people in our pews are intentional disciples of Jesus.

Your charisms are a major indication of God's call.
If you are called, you will be gifted. If you are gifted, you are called.

Knowing your gifts helps you avoid ineffectiveness, frustration, failure and burn out. They are all caused by trying too hard to do things you are not gifted for. Knowing the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you makes it easier to make decisions, to avoid judging others and to reduce conflicts.

Different people are called to do different things in different ways. In the same parish there were 2 women who both had a charism of music. However they didn't appreciate each other's music. One of them used upbeat music, the other went for soothing music. It turned out that the first one had a gift of evangelisation with her gift of music, and the other had a gift of healing with her gift of music.

Charisms are the means by which God's provision will reach your neighbour and the means through which Christ will be revealed to your neighbour.

St Vincent Ferrer lived in Spain between 1350 and 1419. He became a priest of the Dominican Order. He had a special God-given gift of preaching. Many people were converted to God just by listening to him preach. St Vincent counted on God. He also asked for the prayers and penance of many people for the success of his sermons. He knew it was not his words or his talents that won people over. That is why he prayed before every sermon. But one day, when he knew that a very important person was going to listen to him, he worked harder than usual on his sermon. He ran out of time to pray. This sermon which he had prepared so carefully did not affect the nobleman much at all. God let that happen to teach Vincent not to count on himself. Another time, this same important person came to listen to Fr Ferrer preach. But this time the priest did not know it. He prayed and counted on God as usual. The nobleman listened to the sermon and was greatly impressed by what he heard. Vincent explained it like this: ‘In the first sermon it was Vincent who preached. In the second sermon, it was Jesus Christ.’ From 'Saints for Young Readers' Volume 1, April 5

From the Concluding document, 5th general conference of the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Section 1.2, paragraph 29 (a.k.a, the Aparecida Document):

'We want the joy that we have received in the encounter with Jesus Christ, whom we recognize as Son of God incarnate and redeemer, to reach all men and women wounded by adversities; we want the good news of the Kingdom of God, of Jesus Christ victorious over sin and death, to reach all who lie along the roadside, asking for alms and compassion (cf. Lk 10: 29-37; 18:25-43). The disciple’s joy serves as remedy for a world fearful of the future and overwhelmed by violence and hatred. The disciple’s joy is not a feeling of selfish well-being, but a certainty that springs from faith, that soothes the heart and provides the ability to proclaim the good news of God’s love. Knowing Jesus is the best gift that any person can receive; that we have encountered Him is the best thing that has happened in our lives, and making him known by our word and deeds is our joy.'

Discovering our vocation helps others to meet Jesus. There is no crisis in vocations, but there is a crisis in discerning vocations. We need to provide vocational discernment for every baptized Catholic.

When we are living out our vocation, and helping others to meet Jesus it becomes easier to share our story and to talk about Jesus. Sadly He is often 'He who must not be named' in our conversations even at parish level. This is what God wants: for us to be using our charisms and gifts to bring Christ's grace into ours and others' lives.

Gary Chapman's 'The Five Languages of Love' was recommended reading. http://www.5lovelanguages.com/

We then had an activity to do in small groups. We were given 2 sheets, one entitled 'Types of Charism' and the other had a list of extraordinary men and women together with the questions:
What methods did these people use to preach the Gospel?
Where did they preach their message?
What might their charism/s be?

It was our task to match the charisms to each extraordinary person. Start with the charism grouping they match with, then go deeper to individual charisms.

Types of Charisms
•Pastoral charisms:
Focus-nurture of individuals and community
Encouragement, Helps, Hospitality, Mercy, Pastoring
•Communication charisms:
Focus-communicating truth to change lives
Evangelism, Prophecy, Teaching
•Organizational charisms:
Focus-structuring an organization or group
Administration, Giving, Leadership, Service
•Lifestyle charisms:
Focus-a lifestyle and freedom for unusual ministry
Celibacy, Faith, Missionary, Voluntary Poverty
•Healing charisms:
Focus-channelling God's healing and restoration
Healing, Intercessory Prayer
•Insight charisms:
Focus-Understanding the ways of God and humanity
Discernment of Spirits, Knowledge, Wisdom
•Creative charisms:
Focus-creative activity that orders and beautifies
Craftsmanship, Music, Writing

Extraordinary People
St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) http://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160#death-and-legacy
Ven Caroline Chisholm https://mrschisholm.com/history-2/
St Damien of Molokai https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/DAMIEN.HTM
St Francis of Assisi https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/FRANCIS.htm
St Catherine of Siena https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CATSIENA.HTM
St Therese of Lisieux http://www.littleflower.org/therese/
Dorothy Day http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/life-and-spirituality.html
J R R Tolkien http://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/
Marjorie Liddy http://www.acountrypriest.com/marjorie-liddy-rip/
Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati http://www.bettnet.com/frassati/ https://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/blpiergiorgiofrassati.asp
St John Paul II http://www.jp2shrine.org/en/bio/index.html
Eric Liddell http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/12/heroic-death-chariots-fires-eric-liddell/

An example of someone with the charism of administration would be Florence Nightingale. It was her diligent keeping of medical records that enabled improvements in hospital care to happen. She was a channel of God's wisdom providing the planning and co-ordination necessary for good things to be accomplished. Part of that is getting resources where they need to be.

An example of someone with the charism of wisdom would be Caroline Chisholm. She came up with creative solutions to specific problems, and made good decisions. She was a channel of God's goodness to many. She had remarkable insight. When she arranged immigration ships from England to Australia, they were the first ships to arrive without a death on board because there was no overcrowding. During the Victorian gold rush Caroline organised shelter sheds at a day's walk apart to help people get to and from the gold fields safely.

An example of someone with the charism of mercy is St Pier Giorgio Frassati. His life was filled with practical deeds of compassion, so that the distress of those who suffer would be alleviated – helping them to experience God's love. Mercy is always practical. If a visitor came to see Mother Teresa she was more likely to tell them to 'go help mix the curry' than anything else.

An example of someone with the charism of teaching is St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. She was a channel of God's truth and wisdom, enabling others to learn skills.

An example of someone with the charism of Helps is Brother Leo, who helped St Francis of Assisi and was called by him 'the perfect friar'. People with this charism serve in the background and not in the limelight. They use their talents and charisms to enable other people to be more effective in the roles and ministries to which God has allotted them. Thus they serve God and help God's people by being like the Brother Leo to St Francis and like the Bl Anne of St Bartholomew to St Teresa of Avila.

How to discern a charism
•How does it feel?
•Is it effective?
•Is it affirmed by others?

If people keep coming to you for something (eg encouragement), then that could be a charism.
If people keep asking you to do something, then they might be seeing a charism operate in you when you do that something.

Discovering how to use our gifts to make the love of Jesus present to our neighbour leads to growth in faith and in effectiveness – and helps us develop our personal evangelising style.

How does it feel? Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire) said, 'When I run I feel His pleasure'. Hugh Jackman, the actor, dedicates his performances to God, and knows a pleasure when he acts that is both frightening and exciting – like falling in love. His prayer becomes 'allow me to surrender'.

Parish is where we are in the business of making disciples and equipping apostles. Parish is the place to form lay apostles.

Some of the best material on the lay vocation is found in St John Paul II's Christifideles Laici, and in particular sections 37-44 which have the headings Promoting the Dignity of the Person, Respecting the Inviolable Right to Life, Free to Call upon the Name of the Lord, The Family: where the Duty to Society begins, Charity: the Soul and Sustenance of Solidarity, Public Life: for Everyone and by Everyone, Placing the Individual at the Centre of Socio-Economic Life, Evangelising Culture and the Cultures of Humanity.

How come we have this 'Don't ask, Don't tell' culture about Jesus that exerts negative pressure? Is it a fear of appearing intrusive and judgmental? Is it a fear of imposing faith and implying a possible judgement on a person's spiritual condition? What is 'normative' in your parish? How do you treat your Daniel's? .Daniel has experienced a major conversion to Jesus. Is he odd or weird? Or is he merely on fire and excited about Jesus? Many disciples are not effective because they are trying to fit into a parish culture of non-discipleship.

The aim is to produce intentional disciples, where priorities change from action not out of guilt but out of relationship with God. There are several stages to this process, from seeker to disciple, and from disciple to apostle. In the Apostle stage, a person takes on responsibility for the mission of the Church, and becomes as Pope Benedict XVI put it, 'co-responsible, not just collaborators'.

From Pope Benedict XVI's 26 May 2009 Address to the Pastoral Convention of the Diocese of Rome:

'There is still a long way to go. Too many of the baptized do not feel part of the ecclesial community and live on its margins, only coming to parishes in certain circumstances to receive religious services. Compared to the number of inhabitants in each parish, the lay people who are ready to work in the various apostolic fields, although they profess to be Catholic, are still few and far between. Of course, social and cultural difficulties abound but faithful to the Lord's mandate, we cannot resign ourselves to preserving what exists. Trusting in the grace of the Spirit which the Risen Christ guaranteed to us, we must continue on our way with renewed energy. What paths can we take? In the first place we must renew our efforts for a formation which is more attentive and focused on the vision of the Church, of which I spoke and this should be both on the part of priests as well as of religious and lay people to understand ever better what this Church is, this People of God in the Body of Christ. At the same time, it is necessary to improve pastoral structures in such a way that the co-responsibility of all the members of the People of God in their entirety is gradually promoted, with respect for vocations and for the respective roles of the consecrated and of lay people. This demands a change in mindset, particularly concerning lay people. They must no longer be viewed as "collaborators" of the clergy but truly recognized as "co-responsible", for the Church's being and action, thereby fostering the consolidation of a mature and committed laity. This common awareness of being Church of all the baptized in no way diminishes the responsibility of parish priests. It is precisely your task, dear parish priests, to nurture the spiritual and apostolic growth of those who are already committed to working hard in the parishes. They form the core of the community that will act as a leaven for the others.'

Discernment of gifts/charisms is best done in the latter part of the discipleship stage. Discernment of vocation is best done in the latter part of the apostleship stage. Discerning gifts comes naturally after doing something like an Alpha course, or after going through RCIA. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) We need multiple, overlapping and diverse ways of encountering Jesus at parish level.

If the discernment of gifts and charisms is done at the right place on the faith development journey it will have the impact it should. If it is done too early – in the still seeking stage – it won't have that impact. That is another reason why we need multiple events during each year so that as people become ready, there is path to help them discern God's specific calling in their lives.

Where these things converge: church teaching, your uniqueness, your time, your place, the things you are passionate about – that is where you will find your vocational call.

'If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.'
St Catherine of Siena

The Catherine of Siena Institute offers a three part Called & Gifted discernment process. The first part is a 10 hour workshop. The second part is a Spiritual Gifts inventory and interview. The third part is Discernment in Depth with 5 small group sessions. Specialized versions are available.
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​My response

It was refreshing to hear that lay vocations outside the church walls are important. Why is it so easy for us to fall into the mentality that only those roles with direct links to the parish's operation matter (counters, lectors, catechists, wardens, sacramental preparation, altar servers, church cleaning, musicians, choir, parish council etc)? Faith filled nurses, doctors, teachers, accountants, politicians, business owners, carpenters, lawyers, and front line customer service people do untold good in our communities and often bring many souls back to Jesus. (Don’t you just breathe a huge sigh of thanks when you discover that your surgeon prays as he operates?!) Why don't we celebrate and acknowledge them more?

Does your parish have pathways for parishioners to discern their gifts with? It can't be seen as an 'optional extra' any longer. If we are serious about doing God's will in our lives, then discovering what He has given us to serve Him with becomes essential. Some gifts will be for building up the body of Christ, and some will be for external outreach. All of us are called to both ministry (internal) and mission (external).

With regard to the groupings of charisms, anyone I have known with a more than ordinary gift of prophecy has also had the gift of intercession. They are like two halves of a whole. Think of the story in Genesis 18 where God tells Abraham what He wants to do to Sodom and Gomorrah (prophecy) inviting Abraham to bargain with Himself (intercession).

Earlier this year a copy of the Spiritual Gifts inventory was made available to me, and I answered the questions. Some gifts have a more wide ranging group of questions than others. For example the gift of music questions seemed to focus exclusively on those who wrote original music and not on other ways a charism of music might manifest itself. For me the inventory results were not as useful as those that came from doing the transferable skills exercise in 'What Colour Is Your Parachute?' and the Clifton StrengthsFinder questionnaire.

Let me explain that better. The results from Parachute and StrengthsFinder confirmed each other. The results from the inventory were all over the place. But that's only for me, it could be different for you. If we believe what St Thomas Aquinas taught, ie 'Grace does not destroy but perfects nature' then charisms should take some of our natural talents to supernatural levels when we co-operate with the Holy Spirit. Knowing what our nature level gifts are (from both nature and nurture) will be the best road map to discovering where our charisms can be found.

Here are the one liners that stood out for me, and that I'd like to see become mainstream ideas in parish life:
The charisms are a clue to our vocation in life.
Supernatural gifts are meant to have supernatural results.
If you are called, you will be gifted. If you are gifted, you are called.
Discovering our vocation helps others to meet Jesus.
We need to provide vocational discernment for every baptised Catholic.
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As much as I loved remembering the lives of the Saints in the workshop activity, it was the story of Daniel that cut to my heart. So often we forget that the lives of the Saints show us what ordinary Christian living looks like. Over the years I have seen many Daniels come and go. By and large we have done a poor job of helping them ground the life-changing spiritual experiences they have had with community, catechesis, sacraments and prayer. Without that grounding, it is hard for anyone to persevere when the well of spiritual experiences starts drying up and God starts inviting them to love Him for Himself rather than for His gifts. All too often we have a successful RCIA, Alpha or parish mission and then haven't planned any follow-up bible studies or small group activities to assist in the 'grounding' process. Instead of seeing our Daniels as disrupters, let us see them as God's gifts sent to help shake us out of our mediocrity of response to His love.
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In the next issue will be notes from the very good Workshop on Evangelising Parishes through the Family and the Couple with Francine and Byron Pirola.