January 2010
GLEANINGS Theme Article
WWCCR Pastoral Focus for 2010
Unleashing Spiritual Gifts in Community
At their
meeting in November, 2009, the WWCCR Board of Directors completed the process of
discerning a pastoral focus for all the initiatives of WWCCR in 2010.
This process involved several months of prayer, brainstorming and
discussion. The focus statement that
was discerned is: “Unleashing Spiritual Gifts in Community.”
Deacon Richard
Labrecque, newly elected Vice President of the Board of Directors, wrote the
following reflection on this focus statement.
Unleashing
Everyone who
has been baptized has within them the gift of the Holy Spirit – this is the seal
the Lord Jesus Christ places upon His elect as a promise of our final
redemption. This gift involves the indwelling of the third person of the Blessed
Trinity who now takes residence within our very person, deep within our soul. It
is this gift that marks those who enter heaven’s doors as a member of the Body
of Christ.
From the day
of our birth in Christ through Baptism, we have the power of the Trinity alive
within us. It is like having an outlet directly to the largest power generating
dam in the world. But just like the dam, unless we tap into its power, this
power is merely a potential, a future possibility. It takes willingness on our
part to participate with and through the Trinity to unleash this power for
conversion and transformation – both for ourselves and for the world around us.
Visualize
yourself standing with the power cord in your hand, with Christ encouraging you
to plug it in. The outcome entirely
depends upon your free will. We can
choose whether or not to place the plug into the outlet and unleash the power.
Unleashing
the power doesn’t necessarily happen in a dramatic way.
For many individuals, more and more power is released over time, as we
are taught and encouraged to know and accept the graces we have received in our
Baptism. As we grow older, our relationship with Christ becomes more personal,
and the activity of the Trinity in us becomes more of an actuality. There may be
major increases in faith as we celebrate the
sacraments, receiving His Body and Blood as our nourishment, finding forgiveness
in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and stepping forward to become a soldier in
the Body of Christ.
The experience of baptism in the Holy
Spirit involves a deeper level of surrender to the power and graces of the
indwelling Godhead, allowing ourselves to be immersed in the very fire of the
Trinity. As we continue to live out
“life in the Spirit,” we recognize an invitation from God to grow even closer to
Him. Deeper surrender to Him brings
new freedom, peace and power. God acts within us, transforming us supernaturally
into the very image of His Son. It
is truly this process that makes us saints here on this earth, ready to bring
others into the
kingdom of
God.
God is ready - are you ready to plug in and power up?
Spiritual Gifts
Up to this point, we’ve just been
looking at unleashing the power of God in our lives.
But our focus statement speaks of unleashing spiritual gifts.
The power of God is made manifest in a very tangible way through the
gifts of the Holy Spirit and also through the fruits of the Spirit.
Part of our deeper relationship with
God involves the release of gifts within us for the edification of His Body, and
as evangelization tools to bring others into His Kingdom. It is like an
architect who sets out to build a great cathedral. The architect understands
what tools it will take to accomplish this job, and he in turn provides plenty
of these to the builders. God is the most perfect of architects. He supplies
just the right tools to just the right workers at each stage of construction.
For anyone to neglect these tools is to work against the architect and
jeopardize the success of the building.
Which of the tools or gifts are most
important? The tools/gifts are all selected because of their function. Can one
say the hammer is more or less important than the saw or the level? All the
tools are needed. Each has its vital
and important role to play for the success of the process of building the
kingdom
of God.
Nothing shows us this truth more than
seeing how Jesus Himself ministered. Did He not use the wisdom of God in
explaining the things of God to those who had lost their way? Did He not use the
word of knowledge to understand how He must pray for healing, even to the
point of identifying root sins? Did He not perform miracles in walking on
water, controlling the storms at sea, and raising the dead? Did He not exude
great faith in accepting the way of the cross? Did He not
exhibit all the fruits of the Spirit in His compassionate, loving and
understanding ministry to each person He encountered?
We in the Church need to exhibit these
same gifts and fruits that our Lord and King exhibited. He commanded us to build
the Kingdom of God and these are the tools He has left us to perform this
ministry. We cannot go wrong using these gifts in their fullness, realizing that
behind them stands the power of the Trinity to accomplish all God destines for
humanity. He only awaits our surrender and obedience.
In Community
God is a family – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He created us to become part of
this intimate oneness. All creation is on a path to become one with this united
family (heaven), or eternally separated from it (hell).
God called mankind to Himself when He called Abraham and the nation of
Israel. This was a covenant call to unity both
with God and with the people who would respond to His call – all together as
one. The fullness of His Kingdom was inaugurated with His death on the cross and
the descent of the Holy Spirit upon His followers. This process of becoming one
is still unfolding and will only be completed with the second coming of Jesus.
It is said that no one comes to God on their own, but through the grace
and blessing of others who have prayed for them and stepped out in boldness to
share the good news. Likewise, we are all called to community, to one body, all
functioning together in love and compassion, living stones that make up the
Church, His body here on earth. That is why the Eucharist is celebrated in
community - believers joined as one, praising God for all the blessing and
graces He has showered upon us. We
are never meant to function alone, to reach heaven alone.
We are meant to come into oneness with God along with all our brothers
and sisters who are intimately tied to us.
Our Lord is calling us to place our hearts in union with His and by doing
so, be one in the Spirit. By uniting
our hearts with His, and living the Word now and tomorrow, we are helping make
His Presence real and living in a concrete way.
Reaching out and touching those in need through the gifts we have been
given and the love of a strong community will bring about transformation. This
is what we mean in our mission statement when we talk about “renewing the
face of the earth.”
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