By Mike Miesch

When Ann and I started dating, I told her I would not ask her to become a Catholic, but that I would like her to be familiar with the Catholic faith. I made arrangements for Ann to take instructions from my cousin, Father Francis Miesch while we were dating. Now, Ann’s parents were Pentecostal, but Ann had never accepted the Pentecostal faith. She was going to a Baptist Church at the time, and when we became engaged, Ann’s parents were very upset. Ann’s father said, "This is not a blessing. This is a funeral. You will die spiritually in the Catholic Church."

Ann’s parents had a friend that was deep in the Lord, and she sought the Lord with deep prayers and fasting. On the day of the wedding, this family friend received prophetic words from the Lord that I was a good man and that the Lord was in me. She also received that I would come around to their way of thinking and I'd have a faith that they'd never known before and be filled with the Spirit in a deeper way than they could imagine. This was 1963. Ann's mother came to the wedding and told Ann about the prophecy, but Ann never said anything to me about it. Ann's father didn't come to the wedding, but he later publicly apologized for being prejudiced against Catholics. I believe the prophetic message was given to Ann's mother and father so that they would have peace about my marriage to their daughter.

Ann and I married in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Fort Worth on February 14, 1963. The prophetic message in 1963 was four years before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Duquesne University.

Expect a miracle

After we had married, I started working for a company alongside a Pentecostal man who was very bold in witnessing to people. I told him that my in-laws were Pentecostal, but I did not dare tell him I was Catholic. The day he found out, I remember thinking, "Oh boy, he is going to work me over." He started quoting scripture to me about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and praying with faith. We ended up becoming good friends.

In February of 1970, my mother had been bedridden for three months with pneumonia. When I talked to her on Thursday night, she had almost no voice. That Friday I spoke to my co-worker and friend, Bill, and I said, "I would appreciate it if you would pray for my mother." He looked me in the eyes and said, "Expect a miracle." Then next day my mother was up and walking around.

In May of 1970, Bill came to me and said, "Mike, how would like to go to the hospital with me and pray for a little boy."

I said, "Bill, I'll go with you, but I don't know anything about praying for people."

He said, "Mike, we're just going to do what the scriptures tell us to do."

This little boy was five years old and had massive tumors behind both eyes. He had been in a coma for a week. The doctor said there is no hope. We walked into the hospital room, and the little boy's father said, "If this is the Lord's will, we will accept it."

But Bill said, "It's not the Lord's will that any should perish. It is his will that we prosper, be in health, even as your soul prospers." (See 3 John:1)

We joined hands and prayed for the little boy. The next day the little boy woke up and sat on the side of the bed, and by Saturday he was up and playing in the hospital room. The doctors scheduled a surgery to remove the tumors for that Monday morning, and Bill and I arrived at the hospital just as the doctors were coming out of surgery. They were in shock. The two tumors had completely disappeared, but they said the little boy would be blind because the optic nerve disappeared with the tumor. Well, that little boy had 20/20 vision and was completely healed of cancer. That made a tremendous impression on this Catholic boy.

An invitation to community

Father Miesch came to see us the end of May 1970, and I remember saying, "Father Miesch, the Lord sure is with the Pentecostal people."

"Yes, that's right,” he responded.

"Would it be wrong if I left the Catholic Church and joined the Pentecostal Church?"

Ann and Father Miesch almost fell off their barstools. Father explained that he had just gotten back from Ann Arbor, Michigan, the week before where he had attended a Catholic Pentecostal prayer meeting. He told me if I was interested in the Pentecostal faith, to get in touch with Bobbie Cavnar. Ann later told a girlfriend of hers, "If Mike gets involved with the Pentecostal faith then there is such a thing as the Holy Spirit."

I invited Ann to go to the prayer meeting at Bishop Lynch High School in March 1971 with me. Ann said she would think about it, but then her parents decided to come in from Florida just before the prayer meeting, and Ann said, "I'm not going."

I said, "Oh yes you are. Your parents will go with us."

Ann saw her dad lifting his hands praising God in a Catholic Pentecostal prayer meeting. She knew that couldn't happen except by the power of the living God.

Encountering a mighty wind

I sought the Holy Spirit for five months, and I truly encountered him in September of 1970. I felt electricity going through my body that just got stronger and stronger. I couldn't sleep that night, and I remember it was raining and pitch dark outside. At four o'clock in the morning, a mighty wind started whipping around my body at what felt like a thousand miles an hour and my lips were moving a hundred miles an hour.

Suddenly, I saw Jesus face-to-face. We were so close I could see the blood pumping in the vessels in the white of his eyes. I could see a yellow mucous on the white of his eyes. Jesus' eyes were light blue, and we just looked at each other for about a minute. Then the wind continued for another 30 seconds. That wind whipped so hard around me that my ears were sore for a week, and the electricity continued through my body for another week.

After that night, I started having dreams and visions. In 1973, I had a dream in the midnight hour of the Lord coming for his Bride, and the Lord put a strong desire in my heart to study Revelations and the End Time.

Mission to write

In 1978, the Lord started speaking to me, "Write what you have learned." After I had written about eight to ten pages, the Lord showed me a vision of what I had written and said this will not do. The Lord truly guided me in the writing of the two books, Lifting the Veil of Revelation and Seven Vital Truths for God's Children.

These two books are not Catholic doctrines or teaching. These are books of private revelations received in prayer.  These books are the teaching of the Scripture and the early Apostolic Fathers of the Church.

In 1982, the Lord said, "Give the first part of the morning to me. Give the other part of the time to your family. Rest in me; I have much to teach you. I want you to enjoy the fruit of your labor as you bring the knowledge of My Glory to the people of this planet. I have already begun to put into motion the people who will publish and distribute your book to all the people of this planet so that they may know My Glory."

The Lord said, "Mike, walk a straight line. The Holy Spirit is who wrote your books. Do not yield to any spirit other than mine. Your books shall be carried to all nations, not only this generation, but in generations to come." The Lord said to give these books to him; to turn loose of these books and give them to him. The books have published and I have turned loose of them. I am not selling the books. I am not making any money on the books. I gave them to the Lord so he can do what he wants to do with these books. These books are available at Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

As I mentioned, I attended my first Prayer Meeting in 1970 and there were about 10 or 12 other people there. Ann and I did not make the covenant in 1973 because we were in Israel in the Holy Land, but we have been coming to this Prayer Meeting for 47 years. This Community has been such a blessing to us. I could not have written these books without the visions, messages and guidance that my prayer partners and I received from the Lord. I am thankful for the Community of God's Delight and for the fellowship we have here. The Lord wants a deep and personal relationship with each and every one of us. These two books will help you have a deep relationship with the Lord.

Thank you, and God bless you.

(Community Gathering, April 23, 2017)

Three Miracles I Experienced During my Dad’s Last Two Days

By George Johnston, Jr.

My dad George Ernest Johnston, Sr. passed from this life on May 16, 2017. I was fortunate to arrive in Dallas, TX, two days before his death and witness three miracles.

My wife Lynne and I both grew up in the Dallas area. Neither of us was born there, but we did meet at my very first prayer meeting at Mount St Michael in Dallas. We both made (independent of each other) an underway commitment to the Christian Community of God’s Delight. We eventually fell in love -– which I think happened to me the first time I met her at the conclusion of that first prayer meeting -– and got married the following year in 1977.

Lynne and I have never lived in Dallas as husband and wife. My career took us away first to Lubbock, TX, then Albuquerque and finally San Diego. Our plan was to always return to Dallas but that door never opened. My prayer to the Lord has always been that if we cannot live near family, would he please make sure our kids get to know their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins? The Lord has been very gracious to us because we always found ways to get together with family over the years. Amazingly, I also seem always to have opportunities to work in Texas no matter what job I had. These afforded me precious opportunities to be with family while on business. I would, of course, stay with my parents whenever I was there on business.

The Gift of Being Laid Off

My business dealings in Texas ended abruptly in June of 2012. The company I was with fell on hard times and laid off many of the senior employees. With the downturn in the economy, I found out that no one wanted another aging “baby boomer.” I finally decided to start my own business as an insurance broker. This was only a part-time endeavor, which left me free to do other things.

I also discovered that a laptop was sufficient to run the business and I could do it anywhere. So as my dad’s health deteriorated, I found myself in a position to go to Texas to help my dad. I averaged 2 to 3 trips a year, staying up to 2 weeks each time. This was a big help to him and my siblings who were carrying the load of caring for our aging parents. It was delightful for me to spend so much time doing the simple things like going to coffee or bingo at my parents’ retirement community, which they both really enjoyed. I scheduled several of these trips during some of their medical procedures and subsequent rehab, which again really helped the family.

Dad’s Decline

In 2012 at age 86, my dad suffered a heart attack. This began a steady slide downward in his overall health. He never complained much. Although there was the occasional low point, he generally faced his difficulties with dignity and grace.

Dad and I were both extremely blessed to go on an Honor Flight together to visit the WWII memorial in Washington, DC, just three months before his heart event. It was such a pleasure seeing him and a handful of other old vets getting their overdue recognition for their sacrifice during the war.

Dad’s Epiphany

Dad worked hard during his several rehab assignments over the last few years. He always maintained that he was going to get stronger. He was still saying this right to the very end even when it became obvious that he was nearing the end. However, he did wake up the morning of May 3^rd with a completely changed mind. He announced to my mom that he wanted to say goodbye. He asked her to call the family. All my siblings in town, their spouses and all the local grandkids took off work or school to come see him that day. He was very lucid and talked to each of them individually thanking them, saying goodbye and giving some last advice.

Dad called me on Facetime that morning and told me on the phone that “he loved me”, thanked me “for all I have done” and wanted to say “goodbye.” I was rather flabbergasted and responded that I would be there in a couple of weeks. I had already purchased airline tickets to come see him and attend my nephew’s wedding over Memorial Day weekend. He responded, “That will be too late – I am running out of runway.”

Three Miracles

• First Miracle – Dad ate his last meal on Thursday the 11^th of May. The coming weekend was Mother’s Day with my daughter Lisa and her family coming into town. Lisa and her husband Mike were coming to be godparents to my youngest granddaughter Addison. Her baptism and a couple of family celebrations were scheduled. I was torn about whether to move up my trip and leave all of them and the planned family events. I opted to stay through the baptism on Saturday and Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday. I booked a plane Sunday evening getting me to Dallas late Sunday night.
  
  When I arrived in Dallas, I promptly went to my parent’s apartment. I was happy to find him alive but still unresponsive. It had now been three days since he last eaten or had anything to drink. It has been said that frequently comatose persons can still see and hear even when they can’t respond. I sat on the edge of his bed, leaned very close to his face and announced that I was here. Dad reached up and kissed me on the chin and said. “Hi bud.” My mother, brother Tim and I were all amazed. He said a few other things and was very lucid for about 15 minutes. It was late and I could see he was dropping back off so I started to stand up and out came a “Sit down boy!” Very firmly with a clear and commanding voice. I promptly said, “Yes sir” and sat back down. These were the last words he spoke on this earth.

• Second Miracle – Dad returned to his silent un-communitive self the entire next day and into Tuesday. I did spend hours with him just holding his hand and telling him things. He never responded verbally but I did see the beginnings of a small tear in his one open eye after I promised to take care of mom, my siblings and the grandkids. I also promised that we would tell the stories of his life like the time the Kamikaze just missed his ship at Okinawa during WWII or the time he was a small boy growing up on his farm and he buried several little baby chicks. He was playing with them until the mailman arrived. He quickly threw them in a hole and put a little dirt on them so they would not run away while he went to get the mail. His mother saw it and quickly rescued the poor things. She never tired of telling that story.

Finally, around 4:00 PM his breathing became very shallow. My brother Tim, sister Brenda, my mother and I gathered around his bed. (My sister-in-law Cindy was in the next room holding her grandchild Ava.) We began the Divine Mercy Chaplet and during the fourth decade, both my dad’s eyes opened wide. He smiled and a look of joy came over his face. He let out one last gasp then crossed the threshold to the next life. It was a moment of intense pain mixed with intense holiness for all of us. What a gift to see him pass so dramatically from this life to the next.

• Third Miracle – Shortly after this dramatic scene the hospice nurse arrived. She listened to him for several minutes and then looked at her watch. She declared him officially gone at 5:22 PM. The three of us at his bed were crying softly, and I was thinking we need to get the word out to the rest of the family. My phone rang with a text from my daughter Stephanie. She asked simply, “How is PaPa?” I responded immediately and said, “You have a special birthday today (her 35^th). He went on two minutes ago.” She shot back a response, “It was very special. He sent a blessing from heaven because I just knew.”

I still have a hard time telling this story. I especially choke up just thinking how God allowed my dad to swing by San Diego to drop off a greeting to his granddaughter on her birthday. Cindy also tells how her 16-month-old granddaughter Ava pointed to the ceiling and exclaimed “da” at the moment of his passing. To realize that we were in the presence of angels, our Lord and his mother at the time of dad’s passing brings a strong measure of comfort to me.

The wake, funeral and interment at the National Cemetery were intense and bittersweet. I was grateful that all 21 grandchildren came to his funeral and all participated in some way. It was impressive to see his 10 adult grandsons walking down the aisle as his pallbearers. It is a great legacy knowing he left behind so many fine young men and women.

My constant prayer the last few months was asking the Lord for mercy. I couldn’t in good conscience ask for my dad to be healed. Mercy was what we receive -- with tenderness, great tenderness -- to me and all the family.

By David Peterman, Jr., Overall Coordinator

Brothers and Sisters, I praise God for the opportunity to have represented you during the week of events in Rome celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. It was truly an awesome experience to be with so many from the renewal -- at one time and in one place! I was told that over 35,000 people from more than 120 countries gathering for the five days in Rome. The blessing extended beyond just the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as it also included the celebration of Pentecost in St. Peter’s Square.

The highlight of the week for me was the Pentecost Vigil that was held the evening before Pentecost in Rome’s Circus Maximus. It is hard to picture this space, which today is a city park but was originally used by the Romans for their chariot races and was said to be the place where many Christians lost their lives. It is more than a football field wide and six and a half football fields long. It was incredible to see so many people gathering in one space raising their hands, singing, praising the Lord. Simply amazing.

Specific challenge

Our Holy Father’s words to us that evening were very specific and challenging. He opened with the call for unity “for the mission, to proclaim that Jesus is the Lord, to proclaim the Good News to all peoples!” For this reason he did not just invite Catholic Charismatics to Rome to celebrate the golden jubilee but rather extended the invitation to ALL Charismatics. He reminded us that the renewal was not born Catholic. It was born ecumenical and that today it is more urgent that ever that we unite together, all Christians, as the “one Bride” preparing for our Savior’s return. Pope Francis, sharing the stage with Pentecostal leaders, quoted a Lutheran brother asking that we recognize our diversity but that it be “reconciled diversity” so that we can build our unity.

He further proclaimed that

“We have gathered to pray together, to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit upon each one of us to go out on the ways of the city and the world to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

Proclaim Jesus is Lord!

This is what unites us -- our common mission to be ambassadors for the Lord. To proclaim him as Lord! This ecumenical focus has long been an important aspect of the Catholic Fraternity -- it was awesome to hear it so strongly encouraged by our Holy Father!

Those of us who have been a part of the Charismatic Renewal in the United States for many years have witnessed what seems like a decline in participation. I have wondered whether it is a negative reaction to our vocal public prayer and praise. I was very encouraged by our Holy’s Father’s words of encouragement concerning Praise

 [Y]ou remind the Church continually of the power of the prayer of praise. Praise that is the prayer of gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s gratuitous love. It might be that this way of prayer does not please someone, but it is certain that it is inserted fully in the biblical tradition. The Psalms, for instance: David dancing before the Arc of the Covenant full of jubilation . . . And, please, let us not fall into the attitude of Christians with the “Michal’s complex,” who was ashamed of the way David praised God [dancing before the Arc].

Jubilation, joy, joy is the fruit of the same action of the Spirit. Either the Christian experiences joy in his heart or something is not working – the joy of the proclamation of the Good News of the Gospel!

What a strong encouragement to continue our charism of Praise!

Personal impact

On a personal level what had the biggest impact on me was the Holy Father’s call for the Charismatic renewal to be a “service to man.” He stated that

Baptism in the Holy Spirit, praise, service to man – the three things are indissolubly united. I can praise in a profound way, but if I do not help the neediest, it’s not enough. “There was not a needy person among them” (Acts 4:34), says the Book of Acts. We will not be judged for our praise but for what we did for Jesus.

Wow, what an important reminder and exhortation. We will not be judged by our praise but for what we did for Jesus. Those words struck me immediately and have been a constant cause for reflection since returning from Rome.

Our response?

How can I respond? How can the Community respond? How can the school respond? Who are the neediest that God is calling me to serve? As I have pondered these questions this past month the Holy Spirit has reminded me of the many ways that people are needy and that it is my responsibility to be open, attentive, and responsive to these needs. Recently the Gospel was about the call of Mathew who responded immediately. Please join me in this reflection, personally and as a community and in all the ministries of the Community. Who are the neediest that we are called to serve?

The celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pentecost in Rome was not just another pilgrimage to a holy place but provided strong affirmation for our charism of Praise along with a renewed call for Christian Unity and Service.

What size bucket do you take to Mass?

by Sue Wagner

In mid-May of this year the coordinators decided the topic of the next series of sharings at prayer meeting should be about our covenant life together and how we live out that life. I am included on many of the coordinator emails because of my administrative role. David Peterman, Jr. had asked for input on that series and at that time I didn’t have any inspiration.

At the beginning of May, I attended the National Catholic Bible Conference put on by Ascension Press. It was at this conference that I learned about a small exercise that I started doing as soon as I got back from the conference that has exploded the scripture in my life. A few weeks later, the week before Pentecost, I decided I needed to memorize the Holy Spirit Sequence. One of the lines in the sequence is: “in your sevenfold gift descend” and that just struck me! That’s the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit! I opened my bible, I got on the internet, I was just crazy! I was visiting my daughter, Annie, who was living in Houston at the time. I was pouring over my bible, the internet, she had her bibles from Ireland open, we had the Catechism – it was just exploding! I got back from Houston a few days later and emailed David to tell him I had an idea for the series. It might not have anything to do with covenant life, but I think we need to share on the gifts of the Holy Spirit! Do you know what he said? “That sounds great! You do the first one.”

For those of you who don’t know what happens to Sue Wagner when they say, “Guess what? You are going to have a microphone in your hand” - everything stopped. I was stunned into nothingness. My bible study stopped, my lengthy thoughts about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit stopped – everything stopped. I was worried about speaking in front of everyone, and lacking in trust that the Lord could use me. The weight of this talk was bearing down on me, so I decided to talk to Mike about it. We wennt to breakfast one morning and I brought all my stuff - all my books, my notes, and my agenda: I was going to have him teach me how to prepare this talk. We all know that Mike can talk standing on his head, so who better to teach me? At breakfast, we talked about the National Catholic Bible Conference and I told him about Fr. Mike Schmitz’s talk. Fr. Mike is a wonderful, dynamic preacher and chaplain at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. I’m somewhat of a Fr. Mike junkie, and he is actually the reason I was at the conference.

Being an active participant

One of the talks that Fr. Mike gave during the conference was on how to actively participate in the Mass rather than being a passive observer. He posed the question that at the Mass we have available to us a wealth of knowledge and grace as vast as the ocean, so do we go to Mass prepared to receive as much of that wealth as we can? Or do we go to Mass with a thimble only big enough to receive a few droplets of that knowledge and grace? Or maybe we go with just a small pail? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want as much of that knowledge and grace as I can get, so I’m going with the biggest bucket I can find! In order for our buckets to be filled though, we have to come ready to participate and not just observe, and in order to participate we have to come prepared.

In order to prepare ourselves to participate in the Mass, Fr. Mike suggested we do this simple little exercise that as I mentioned earlier has exploded my life in the scripture. I feel like I am new in the Spirit again because of this exercise. The exercise is this: start on a Tuesday and write out the Responsorial Psalm from the coming Sunday’s Mass readings word-for-word. Then on Wednesday, write out the first reading, on Thursday write out the second reading, on Friday write out the Gospel. On Saturday, he suggested spending some time meditating on all of the readings again and ask the Lord to help you receive his word with an open heart. Then on Sunday, Fr. Mike said to bring your notebook with you to Mass and as you listen to the readings again, underline and make notes of things that really stick out. If you’re like me, as you write, you’ll start to notice things in the scripture you had never noticed before; it penetrates you deeper. You wonder why things are capitalized or why a certain word is used over another, so you start digging deeper and reading the rest of that scripture passage to find out more. The following Monday, you again sit with the readings from the day before and let the Lord take you where he wants to go. This exercise has transformed my life.

The sweetness of his word

Back to breakfast with Mike – I was telling him all of this, and then I said, "You know what the coolest thing is? I read this meditation from St. Paulinus of Nola just a few days ago. This is what it says:

I beseech you, Christ, my spring, to make your source in my heart so that the living stream of your water may gush out from me. You are the spring from which life flows and grace wells forth. From which light pours out on people of all nations. Those who drink of you, Christ, the Word, will be restored by the sweet flowing water and will thirst no more. Or rather, they will still thirst, for those sated by the abundance of God's Word are made to thirst for more by the sweetness they imbibe.”

As Mike and I continued our discussion over breakfast, he pointed out to me that perhaps the sharing I was to give was not on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but on the method by which I began diving in to the subject. He further commented, “Our getting into the word is so important to our covenant life and critical to us learning to live and love together as brothers and sisters.”

So I encourage you, if this Sunday liturgy exercise is good for you, enjoy it! I know I love it, but if this isn’t for you, find some way to get yourself into the word so that you can receive the ocean of knowledge and grace that is pouring out on us there.  I’ll leave you with this final question: What size bucket are you taking to Mass with you?

Community Gathering, July 23, 2017

Learning to Love Through Surrender

By: Tom Harman

1 Cor 13:4-7: Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish, it does not take offense and it is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. Love never ends.

Jn 15:13: A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.

Most of us are willing to die to self for others, but are we really able to? For a while now I've been making a practice of saying the Prayer to St. Francis on a regular basis and most recently I started not just saying that prayer, but really praying and meditating on the words. I want to share a short excerpt of that prayer with you:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury pardon.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is dying (and I would insert dying to self) that we are born to eternal life.

Luke 6:38 also says: “Give and there will be gifts for you, a full measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”

When most of us hear that scripture we think about tithing or almsgiving, but this also pertains to love. When we give love or pardon, we do so with the understanding that it will be given back to us a full measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Matt 6:12 says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

When you pray the Our Father what are you asking God to do? Well, you're asking him to forgive you your trespasses as you forgive others their trespasses. So that, in and of itself, might just change the way we forgive others.

Broken together

The song "Broken Together" by Casting Crowns is a song about a couple that has fallen out of love, and, as a married couple, they are in a covenant relationship. Like the couple in that song, I'm sure everyone here, at one time or another, has fallen out of love with a spouse, a family member, a relative, a friend, a co-worker, or even a fellow Community member. I’d like to share some excerpts from that song. It says:

What do you think about when you look at me?

I know we're not the fairytale you dreamed we'd be…

How I wish we could go back to simpler times

Before all our scars and all our secrets were in the light.

Now on this hallowed ground we've drawn the battle lines.

Will we make it through the night?

It's going to take much more than promises this time,

Only God can change our minds.

Maybe you and I were never meant to be complete.

Could we just be broken together?

If you can bring your shattered dreams and I'll bring mine

Could healing still be spoken and save us?

The only way we'll last forever is broken together…

I'm praying God will help our broken hearts align

And we don't give up the fight. 

In the world people are broken apart, but in Christ we are broken together. The outreach prayer in our Community Prayer Watch states: “Let us love others as you love them. Help us to be sources of healing for the broken-hearted and help us point the way toward you to a sin sick world.”

Now referring back to those last two lines in "Broken Together," it says: “I'm praying God will help our broken hearts align and we don't give up the fight.” The way we don't give up the fight is to surrender. You all remember a few weeks ago when Joe Walshe got up here and asked everybody to raise their hands and surrender to the Lord. In the world this seems ironic, but in Jesus Christ this is the truth. Matthew 16:25 says, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Just surrender

So when you don't feel like loving someone, just surrender. Just lift your hands, say "Lord, I surrender, I give this to you. You take care of it." You will be surprised but when you do that, you'll get your eyes on the Lord and it will be amazing – you will start feeling more loving toward the other person in that particular situation – and, as we all know, there is joy, peace and freedom in surrender.

One of my favorite songs is "Change My Heart Oh God. Change my heart, oh God, make it ever true, change my heart, oh God, may I be like you.” You can't choose to love someone based on whether or not they meet your expectations. That's conditional love and we are all called to unconditional love. Does God love you only if you meet his expectations? Certainly not! You are not going to change the other person. The only person that you can change is yourself by surrendering to God. Many times when you do change you will notice a change in the other person, a change for the better. People need to be loved and God is love. So let's all strive to be like God. Praise the Lord.

Community Gathering, August 13, 2017

The Light of the World

By: Sharon Harman

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

When David asked me to choose a word about our covenant for a sharing, the word "Light" came immediately to my mind as the word that I would choose. I'd like to start out by telling you a true story that highlighted for me how we are light for one another.

Being the light of Christ to others

Some of you may remember Paul and Kay O'Keefe from our Community. They were members for many years. Late in life the Lord blessed them with a son, Paul Jr., and he was their pride and joy. He participated in our Scout Troop and he was active in our Children's Ministries. Paul also suffered from asthma. One evening an asthma attack was particularly severe and took his life; he was 12 years old. Back then our Community was divided into districts with an overall coordinator over the district and a handmaid who helped the women with their needs. I was the new and very young handmaid for our area and I knew I needed to go to Kay. I dreaded it because I had no experience at all in dealing with grief nor did I know what I could possibly say that would bring comfort in the loss of their only son. Another older handmaid that I looked up to, Joy McDonald, offered to go with me.

Early the next morning we went to Kay's house. When Joy and I got out of the car and started up the sidewalk, Kay came out of the door and the first words out of her mouth were "Here come my sisters bringing the light of Christ." Wow! She had just reminded me what we were actually doing. Kay had just suffered the loss of the only son that they would ever have and yet reached out to receive that light of Christ from us even though we hadn't even said a word yet; we were just present, our presence was enough. It left an indelible impression on me that through our faithfulness to our covenant relationship to be present to one another that we both give and receive light in a deeper way.

Being God’s deLIGHT

I looked through our covenant recently to find all the references to "light" that were in it for this talk. Does anyone know how many references to light there are in the covenant? Zero! I was thinking, "Oh no, I picked the wrong word!" Then I thought, okay unless you count all the references to our name "God's DeLIGHT!” The dictionary defines delight as "great pleasure" and I think that God gave us that name because we bring him great pleasure and joy when we live out the various commitments that we made. I encourage you to take a look at our covenant this week; it's on the website under our covenant log in, but look at it as a reminder of the type of actions by which we bring light into our own lives and into each other's lives.

I'm just going to share with you you a few things we committed to as a reminder:

            To love and serve him by daily prayer and sacrifice

            To praise and worship him always

            To offer hospitality to those whom he sends us

            To serve and care for our brothers and sisters in the Community

            To meet together with the Community when they Community needs us

These are just a few of the ways that we become light to each other and to the world, but my challenge to you is: do you even remember all the things that are there? When I went back and looked at it , there were things that I had forgotten that were part of my commitment.

In scripture the theme of light and darkness is woven all throughout the Old and New Testament as a metaphor for good and evil. So if we are the light of the world as the first scripture says, then we are only so because we bring the life and light of Jesus in us. We are not the light, he is the light that we bring. I want to refer you to a couple of scriptures:

Again Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the Light of the World. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. – John 8:12

I have come as light into the world that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. – John 12:46

He doesn't want us to be in the darkness. He wants us to live our lives in the light.

Darkness has no power over the light

Tomorrow, as you know, some areas of the United States will experience a total solar eclipse, where the moon covers the sun completely and there will be darkness for about 2 minutes. Well, I love science and I was reading about the moment of totality and what the scientific community is looking forward to seeing and learning when that happens. There are some spiritual parallels that we can draw when we understand this natural phenomenon.

When the moon completely comes between the earth and the sun it's the only time that the sun's corona is visible. The corona is like the sun's atmosphere and is like a jacket of gases that surrounds the sun, but it usually cannot be seen because of the sun's strong light. The corona is a spectacular sight because the only time that it can be seen is during a solar eclipse. Also visible during totality are the colorful lights from the sun's chromosphere and solar formations that shoot out through the sun's atmosphere. It was during a total eclipse that scientists discovered the element helium. This year, one of the things I read that they are excited about is that they are going to be able to map the magnetic field in a way that is not possible at other times. Some astronomers said that the total eclipse is like a spiritual experience because of the beauty and the awe of it is just so strong.

So what are the parallels for us? Each of us has moments or maybe years of some type of darkness in our lives or the lives of those we know, maybe joblessness, poor health, spiritual dryness or broken relationships. They are the events that appear to snuff out the light of Christ in our lives, like the moon covering the sun. If we will but stay in the presence of Jesus, we will see a beauty of God that can only be seen in those times of darkness. When every other source of light is stripped away we can see and experience in a deeper way the beautiful truths and the glory of God that were always there, but not visible to us.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. – 1 John 1: 5,7

Brothers and sisters, we do not have to do anything to bring the light of Jesus to others, except just to let the light of Jesus dwell in us, nurture that relationship, and then be present with each other. We are not the light, but we bring the light whether it's through our physical presence, our voice over the phone, an encouraging text or an email, or maybe it's just listening. We are not people who are afraid of the darkness that comes into our lives because it has no power over the light of Jesus that dwells within.

In him was life and the life was the light of men; the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:4-5

I encourage you to be the light of the world! Don't let your light be hidden under a bushel basket, but let it shine! Bring that light to those who are in any type of darkness so that others may give glory to God. Amen.

Community Gathering, August 20, 2017

Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem

By: Neil Coward

I want to share about rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Now, you may be wondering, “What does that have to do with our covenant?” Well, God asked Israel to make a covenant with him that they would be his people and he would be our God. If you look at our covenant, we have that in there; God invited us into a covenant relationship with Him – we would be His people and He would be our God. Now, for us, there is a catch. At the time of Israel when they made the covenant, God was manifesting Himself very much to them; but they didn't have the Holy Spirit like we do, the Messiah hadn't come yet. So for our case the Messiah has come, the price for our salvation has been paid and He's given us the Holy Spirit to live out our covenant with God more fully.

By the way, this sharing is largely from Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Zachariah, Haggai and Malachi are frequently called the Books of the Restoration. A study of these books gives us valuable insight into our covenant relationship with God; how we can live it out individually and collectively as a people. Now as we go through this sharing, remember Isaiah 60:18 where it says, “Our walls are salvation and our gates are praise.” Each day, we need to acknowledge and accept our salvation anew and praise God no matter what's going on in our lives.

A little background about the Jewish people. They often didn't listen or obey God in what He was telling them. That is, they did not keep their end of the covenant. This had consequences. Jerusalem and the temple, which were sacred places where they considered the presence of God to be, like we would consider our churches, were destroyed and burnt by the Babylonians. Through this the Jewish people experienced a very painful exile to Babylon. About 70 years later, Nehemiah, who in scripture is called "cup-bearer" which means he was a very trusted butler to the king, was visited by some of his kinsmen that had seen Jerusalem. There were a few people left in Jerusalem, but all of the officials of the Israelites and people of importance had been exiled. And so his kinsmen told him "the remnant that escaped captivity, who are back in the province are in great trouble and humiliation. The walls of Jerusalem are in ruins and the gates are burnt down." Kind of sounds like today, doesn't it? What's going on in the world and the churches today? We look around and see many people who claim to be Christian, but they have bought in to the world in many ways.

Chasing the wind

Now I'm going to read a quote here from Bobbie Cavnar because he gave a whole series of teachings on the Restoration Books. I think the first time was 1974 and again in 1997. Bobbie said:

For the most part we have fallen into the trap of the secular system, imitators of the standards of the world – accepting its lifestyle, compromising our beliefs and reaping the fruit of catastrophic destruction of our families and the body of Christ at large. Unfortunately, many have rationalized that it's all necessary if we are to live in the world today. We have fallen into the trap of setting aside the standard for our lives established by the word of God and in the teachings of Christianity. Many Charismatic’s and many people associated with our Community have been chasing the wind' (remember last week we had the reading from Ecc. 2:1-11 where Solomon was talking about chasing the wind.) so much so they have rationalized that living a committed Christian life has caused them to be burned out and they turn away from the Lord.

Bobbie is not saying that we've all bought into the serious sins of adultery with our neighbor's wife, alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves or liars or whatever other serious sins we can think of. Rather that we have all bought into the world's gods. There is a spiritual adultery going on in our lives, in some areas, in ways we often do not recognize or admit.

Now this past Sunday we had a prophecy addressing this. And I quote, "My beloved people, I call you today to pause and recognize the other gods in your lives. I call you today to be honest with Me and with yourself because I am your only God, you cannot be divided. Set aside the gods that please the senses, the god of self-righteousness and unforgiveness, the god of idly wasting time and the god of turning to anyone or anything other than me for your needs before coming to me first. It is vital, imperative that you have but one God and I, the Lord, am your God."

So it sounds like things have changed little since Bobbie taught us in 1997. We still have some things going on the Lord wants to clean up in our lives.

Back to Nehemiah and his response to the destruction of the temple, he began to pray:

Yahweh, God of heaven, great God who must be feared maintaining covenant and kindness for those who love you and love your commandments, let your ear be listening and your eyes open to hear your servant’s prayer, I am making now, this day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel, your servants, and I confess the sins of the sons of Israel which have been committed against you, I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted wickedly towards you, we have not kept the Commandments, laws and customs you laid down for Moses, your servant. Now these are Your servants, Your own people, You have redeemed them with Your mighty power and outstretched arm. O Lord let your ear be attentive to Your servants’ prayer and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to reverence You. I beg you let Your servant be successful today, make him acceptable to this man (meaning the king). – Nehemiah 1:5-11

The sins of one affect the whole nation

Nehemiah, an Israelite wanting the kingdom of God restored as they understood at that time for them; he wanted it to be what God wanted it to be. He repented for the sins of God's people and those of his fathers and himself. He understood they were a people, a covenant people – such that the sin of one affected the whole nation – and all, including him, had offended God in some way. He did not separate himself from the others. He said "We have all sinned."

Kind of mind-boggling to think about that, isn't it? That our sin could affect everybody else? But it does, and so we have to acknowledge that. When Nehemiah prayed this way and asked to find favor with God, God listened and stirred up King Artaxerxes, who represents the world, to let him return to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding. Not only did the king let him go, he gave Nehemiah letters for safe passage, permission to use wood from the royal park for rebuilding and sent with him army officers and cavalry.

As people covenanted with the Lord, he wants us to have the humility of Nehemiah by repenting and making reparation, not only for our sins, but those of all his people. We need to acknowledge that we have all been a part of the tearing down of the body of Christ in some way. When we do this, it will stir God's heart to move, just as He did when Nehemiah prayed and brought about restoration of worship and service to Him in a deeper way. Not only for us, but all of his people. It's not just for us, it's for all the whole body of Christ.

In doing this we more genuinely express and live out our love for God and become a greater witness to others, not only in what we say, but the way we let God's love flow through us to everyone God brings into our life. The people that come into our lives are no accident. God brings them in for us to witness to them maybe not always with words, but at least with our life.

When God wants something done and we abandon ourselves to His will, He takes care of us just like He did with Nehemiah. This week, I suggest you read Isaiah 60 and you'll be amazed how things really can be, if we walk in the light of the Lord. Also remember Psalm 127:1: “Without the Lord we labor in vain.” That's a real part of our covenant with the Lord; we're turning to him to serve him, to follow him, to be his people and it's his grace and his power that operates in and though us, not our power.

Facing opposition

When we set about to do God's will, not everyone will be happy doing it. In Nehemiah 2:10 there is Sanballat and Tobiah who are not happy that somebody wants to restore Jerusalem. Sanballat and Tobiah are symbolic of Satan and demon spirits. They are descendants of Lot when his daughters got him drunk and through an incestual relationship they became pregnant. Sanballat and Tobiah ridiculed the Jews and accused them of revolting against the king.

We too can expect opposition when we set about to build the kingdom of God here on earth. When this happens, when we get this resistance or people say things that try and minimize what we are doing, we don't have to get defensive – we can respond like Nehemiah. Nehemiah just merely told them when they accused him said, "The God of heaven will give us success." He didn't argue with them. He didn't get in a big knock-down, drag-out verbal argument; he just said, "The God of heaven will give us success."

Examining the gates of Jerusalem

After Nehemiah spent three days in Jerusalem, he went out at night by himself with his mount, probably a donkey, through the Valley Gate, to determine the damage to the walls and the gates. The Valley Gate is symbolic of our trials and darkness that we go through in following the Lord. He came to the Dung Gate and that is where they dumped all the rubbish, took all the rubbish out of the city. For us, that's where we acknowledge our sinfulness (for those of a sacramental tradition, Reconciliation); we get rid of the rubbish in our lives.

He continued to examine the walls of Jerusalem with their gaps and burnt out gates as he went on to the Fountain Gate. The Fountain Gate would be where you are humbled before the Lord. Now these things that I'm equating the gates to, you get this from looking up in the Hebrew the significance of these words. This is where Nehemiah found there was no more room for his mount to pass. In other words, he had to continue on foot. The mount, or the donkey, would be symbolic of our flesh. He returned in the dark through the brook examining the walls and came in again by the Valley Gate without anyone knowing he had left.

He hadn't told anyone that he was going out and he hadn't told anyone what the king had told him, so after he returned he told the officials:

You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem is in ruins, its gates have been burnt down. Come let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and suffer this indignity no longer. Then I told them how the kindly favor of God had been with me and also repeated the words that the king had said to me. Let us start, they exclaimed, let us build and with willing hands they set about the good work.

Let's think a little bit about Nehemiah's situation. Here God had directed him to guide the rebuilding of Jerusalem and he gets there and surveys the damage and it is so bad that at one point there is not room for his mount to walk through. There is so much rubble there, how was he going to work around it to rebuild? Let's think about the condition of the body of Christ today, which is certainly under attack around the world by unbelieving leaders and elements of society. Many of these unbelieving people are even professing to be Christian. When we look at this just like Nehemiah did, we certainly realize that we cannot overcome this with our own will and strength; it takes God's action through us to rebuild the walls and the gates of the body of Christ.

Let’s start, let us build

When God’s body is in ruins, He calls us to action. God has started pouring out the Holy Spirit on us and millions of others around the world. We began to have a hunger to read scripture, to pray, to study scripture, spend time with Him, we wanted to praise Him and spend time with our brothers and sisters who were desiring to have their hearts changed to be more like God's heart. We heard God saying He loved us and wanted us to be a people.

When we heard God calling us to make a covenant, we certainly did not know all that that would entail. But we certainly knew that we heard God calling us and if He was calling us, how could we refuse? Then when we did say yes or we gave our fiat, He told us how happy He was that we said yes. He told us He was delighted with us when He gave us our name, The Community of God's Delight.

Bobbie talked in 1997 about chasing the wind and a prophecy last week told us to get all other gods out of our lives, Like Nehemiah, we need to pray, we need to fast in whatever way we can and be on our knees before the Lord confessing and making reparations for our sins individually and collectively. When we do, we will see a renewal of our hearts turning to the Lord. He will make us a light on the hilltop to magnify him. In the words of Nehemiah "Let's start, they exclaimed, Let us build; and with willing hands they set about the good work." In other words, let us set out with willing hands and hearts to build or rebuild covenant Community life, more for the Lord's sake than ours, so He gets the praise, honor, glory, love, thanksgiving, adoration and reparation from us that He deserves.

3, 2, 1 Glory!

Community Gathering, August 27, 2017

There's alot to be said in those three little words.
But they are the ones I'm sure that I heard.

Just hearing your name brings us down on our knees
When we think of you dying so that we could be free.

And we ponder and ponder what can wepossibly do
To give back the love first given by you?

"Be my Faithful Servants, " I hear o 'er and o 'er.
Love one another as never before.

Have faith in each other, have faith in Me,
For I have great plans as you will come to see.

Show the world what can happen when they look to Me first
How I alone can satisfy their thirst.

Let them see through you the joy to be found
When Jesus is the one your life centers around

Build up my Kingdom with this priceless treasure.
And you’llreturn to me Love beyond measure.

It’s a tremendous task that I call you to
But remember, “lo, I am always with you.”

Oh yes my dear children, my Faithful Servants be
or I long to say, "Enter Paradise with Me.”

Jean served the Community by helping produce the Praise the Lord! Newsletter. Here’s a sharing she contributed in 1995.

We Need Each Other! By Jean Kiefer

Several years ago our family was privileged to attend an All-Region Band Concert made up of the leading band students from four Catholic high schools. They met for a day and a half of practice together before the concert, having never played together before. I was so impressed by the performance, as the music was extremely difficult. They hadn't even seen it before, yet they played beautifully together. I felt the Lord telling me, "See the spiritual parallel?"

The reason they were in such harmony was because they all had their eyes on the conductor! Even though they had never played together before, they were not self-consciously looking at each other or comparing talents. They were following their music and the conductor. When there was a solo part they were all pleased to see it performed well. Some parts were harder than others but each person was exactly where they needed to be to make it all come together beautifully and it was so exciting!

It's the same in the Body of Christ. Each of us has a different part — some may appear easier or harder than others, but the Lord knows exactly where we need to be. Like the soloist, when someone is honored we should be pleased and not threatened. We may never know what the Lord is asking of another sister or brother, but as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus and are in tune with what he is asking of us, we can be one in harmony with all around us. We need each other!

I'm reminded of the Lord's prayer in John 17:20ff, which says it so well. Jesus says,

"I am not praying for these alone but also for the future believers who will come to me because of the testimony of these. My prayer for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as you and I are, Father; that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.

"I have given them the glory you gave me; the glorious unity of being one as we are; I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one, so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me."

Lord Jesus, thank you for the place you have put each of us in your body. Thank you for the talents you have given us all. May we not compare our gifts or our trials but use them for the good of all and especially for your glory! Thank you, too Lord, for the way we are all growing even when the “growing pains” sometimes hurt. I know you see the desire in each of our hearts to become all that you want us to be. I pray you keep us all focused on you!

(Praise the Lord! Oct/Nov 1995
© 1995 Catholic Charismatic Services of Dallas)

Learning to Delight in the Mercy of Forgiveness
By: David Peterman, Jr.

One of the beautiful things about our Community and living in Community is that we're not afraid to get up at the microphone and not just share about our successes, but also share about our missed opportunities. We learn that and it's our shared life together that enables us to learn from one another.

This afternoon I'm going to be sharing on Forgiveness. My sharing this afternoon is going to be about a journey that the Holy Spirit has been taking me through on this subject.
I had planned to cover the word Covenant when I volunteered to give a sharing to Sue, but the Holy Spirit had other plans. My Men's Group started a book by Fr. John Ricardo. It's entitled Heaven Starts Now. In the book Fr. Ricardo claims that forgiveness is the most significant stumbling block we can face in reaching the goal of becoming saints and for that reason he starts his book on the subject of forgiveness. He begins the chapter with what I think is a terrific analogy from Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa. "Forgiveness does for a community what oil does for a motor. If someone begins a trip in a car without a drop of oil in the engine after a few minutes the whole car is going to be on fire. Like oil, forgiveness neutralizes friction." After this quote, Fr. Ricardo makes the statement "I think that forgiveness is the single most difficult thing to do in life. Impossible to do on our own."

Forgiveness as a foundational principle

Prayerfully reflecting on this statement is what prompted me to change my plans and share on forgiveness this afternoon. When the coordinators discerned to restart 10 minute sharings at the end of our Gatherings the objective was two-fold: 1) To lead us into God's Word, and 2) To bring our Covenant to life. While forgiveness is not specifically mentioned in our covenant, it is a foundational principle of our Covenant and Community. Having grown up in Community I have heard many teachings on forgiveness and reconciliation. We have carefully studied Paul's steps of reconciliation and have heard about the importance of verbalizing the words "Please forgive me" and the importance of hearing the words "I forgive you". Hearing these words verbalized are a critical part of being released and a healing of the hurt, but until the last couple of years I would have never said that forgiveness is the single-most difficult thing to do in life.

This afternoon I'm going to do something a little different than maybe some of the prior speakers. I'm not going to give you any details on the topic of forgiveness other than make a few key high level points.  I'm going to ask that you take an hour this week and read the 10 scriptures and the one reference to the catechism and spend your own time this week reflecting and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you on the topic of forgiveness. Sue has put the key points on the overhead and I have handouts on the entry table in the foyer so you can pick one up on your way out and review it this week [and provided below].

In Micah and in Psalm 103 we read about God's attitude towards sin and forgiveness. And I'll share on Micah in a few minutes, but in Psalm 103 we hear David describe God's abundant love and mercy. His abundant mercy is brought to life in the three parables in Luke 15, where we will better understand God's response to our reconciliation. First, I have a question for everyone:  Is God's mercy unlimited and without condition? I think Jesus is very clear that there is a condition. We must follow his example and show mercy, look for the word "as" when you read these scriptures; both as a condition of mercy and as a response to his mercy. God does abundantly love us. He is slow to anger and abounds in love and mercy and rejoices at the lost when we turn back to him. OK, then we shouldn't have any difficulty forgiving one another, right? Well I want to share my recent struggle with forgiveness and how I have been growing through this challenge.

My struggle with forgiveness escalated the last few years when someone at work did things that hurt and negatively impacted me on my job. It was a very significant challenge that I have been and continue to work through. My first response was to try, with all my will and power, to distance myself and control my responses to the situations. But time and again I realized that I was not successful in consistently responding in an appropriate way. The hurt was too deep and I had not forgiven him.

Delighting in the mercy of forgiveness

My next approach was to privately say the words of forgiveness and start praying for him. I added him to my daily prayer list and after a few months I felt like my heart had changed. What I learned however, was at the very next encounter that the hurt was still there, still affecting me and that just praying for him along with time and distance was not a cure. Fr. Stephen, as my pastoral companion, has assisted me in this journey. His most recent advice is that I view this person through God's eyes; that I recognize his woundedness and that I allow the Holy Spirit to develop love and compassion within me as I see this individual and his own wounds…as God does. This situation is still an active journey, but living through it has helped me understand Fr. Ricardo's point that forgiveness can be the single most difficult thing we do in life. It has completely changed my perspective of forgiveness and helped me to realize that I can't do it alone; that forgiveness happens by grace and through offering it to the Holy Spirit.
I want to go one step further on the topic of forgiveness. Fr. Ricardo references Micah 7:18. "Who is a God like you who removes guilt and pardons sins for the remnant of his inheritance, who does not persist in anger forever, but instead delights in mercy?" Fr. Ricardo's point from this verse was that we are not called just to forgive; but called, like God, to delight in showing mercy. Now wait a minute, I've been working at forgiving this person for several years, and now I learn that I'm expected not just to forgive and forget, but that the call is to delight in showing mercy?

After reading this I was 100% convinced that I could not do it on my own. The words of the Catholic Catechism ring true, paragraph 2843, "It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense, but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession."

This is exactly what I needed to hear. I cannot ignore the feeling of hurt, it is there. And I am sure that many of you have similar hurts that are deep or deeper and they'll just not go away. I can also not forget the offense and I suspect that many of you have been hurt in significant ways and find it difficult to forget. But let me read the words from the Catechism again. "It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense, but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession." That is my message this afternoon – that you and I must turn our heart over to the Holy Spirit. That we allow him to turn our injuries into compassion. That we allow him to purify our memories and turn our hearts into intercession. 
Brothers and sisters as we continue to build Christian Community together we must follow the Lord's example of forgiveness, showing mercy and compassion. What is so important to understand is that we don't have to journey this alone or with our own strength, we have the awesome power of his Holy Spirit to make forgiveness happen through his grace

Handout on Forgiveness

• God's attitude toward Sin and Forgiveness: Micah 7:18-19 and Psalm 103 (NRSVCE)
• God's response to our reconciliation: 3x in Luke 15
• But there is a condition: Matt 5:7 and Matt 6: 14-15
• More examples of the condition: Matt 6:12 (note the word "as") and Matt 18:21-35
• Our response to God's forgiveness: Col 3:12-13
• Is there a limit? Matt 18:21-22
• Jesus' example: Luke 23:34
• How do we turn injury into compassion and purify the memory: Catholic Catechism 2843

(Community Gathering, September 24, 2017)

12-03-17 – 1^st Sunday of Advent – Regular CCGD Gathering with Advent wreath. beginning with Rosary at the Grotto at 3:30 pm

12-10-17– 2^nd Sunday of Advent – MSMCS CHRISTMAS PROGRAM – No regular Prayer Meeting

12-17-17– 3^rd Sunday of Advent -  Last Regular CCGD Gathering of 2017 – CCGD Christmas Dinner together after the Gathering

12-24-17– Christmas Eve – No CCGD Gathering – No Christmas Eve Mass with the Sisters this year

12-31-17– New Year’s Eve – No CCGD Gathering

01-07-18– 1^st Sunday of 2018 – Our first CCGD Gathering of 2018 will be praying in the New Year with Adoration