​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.
​
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.