Fr. Franco's Letters

CRM sponsored its 43rd Conference on July 25 with the theme Be Renewed in the Power of the Holy Spirit. The music was wonderful. The talks were edifying. The times of prayer were uplifting. I am grateful to Cheryle Koberna and her team, as well as our speakers, the Matt Fafrak band and everyone else who had a hand in making this conference a truly memorable event. The talks were recorded and can be heard and watched here.

At a conference such as this, we have “…tasted the word of God and the powers of the age to come.” (Hebrews 6:5) Throughout my many years in the renewal, I can testify that charismatic conferences and retreats have helped form my ongoing walk with the Lord. I can also testify that it is challenging to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning brightly within me after one of these events.

The most basic foundational way we deepen our life in the Spirit is through prayer. St. John Damascene taught that, “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2559)

St. Josemaria Escriva writes:

#91 You write: ‘To pray is to talk with God. But about what?’ About what? About Him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions: and Love and reparation. In a word: to get to know Him and to get to know yourself: ‘to get acquainted!’

#85 Slowly. Consider what you are saying, to whom it is being said and by whom. For that hurried talk, without time for reflection, is just empty noise. And with Saint Teresa, I will tell you that, however much you work your lips, I do not call it prayer.

#116 Don’t neglect your spiritual reading. Reading has made many saints.

(Texts in the chapter ‘Prayer’ in the book ‘The Way’ of Josemaría Escrivá. Link: escriva.org/en/camino/prayer)

These basic exhortations to prayer teach us to invest our time and effort into prayer. This is not easy. Sometimes we do not “feel” like praying. We need to remember our emotional life generally follows our thought life. St. Paul, highlighting the spiritual battle we are in, gives this advice to the church in Corinth:

For, although we are in the flesh, we do not battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ…(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

All that we see and hear can influence our thinking. On the one hand St. Paul said, Faith comes by hearing…(Romans 10:17). St. Paul also said, But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere [and pure] commitment to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

We seek to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ by prayer. If we find our thoughts straying into bitterness, unchastity, envy, greed or the like – this is a summons to humbly pray. With St. James we need to remember that

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. (James 4:6b-8)

By humbly submitting to God we can draw near to God in prayer.

Besides prayer, a life in the Spirit is sustained by community. Family, friends, fellow parishioners, and prayer groups keep us in touch with the Lord. The New Testament calls us the body of Christ. Just as the parts of the body need each other, we need other likeminded people in our lives who want to live a life in the Spirit.

One final thought: I was reflecting on the passage of Jeremiah 18:1-6, the first reading for Mass on Thursday, the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time. As Jeremiah watched the potter form and reform the clay according to his desire, the prophet realized that God molds his people according to his purpose.

As I continued to reflect on this passage from Jeremiah, I realized that people are not passive. We can choose to cooperate with God’s plan or not. By cooperating with God’s grace, we become who God created us to be.

And still further, I pondered on the difference between cooperators and collaborators. Cooperators fulfill their part in the plan. Collaborators not only cooperate with the plan. They understand it and seek to further it by bringing others to cooperate with the plan.

Jesus said, “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” (John 15:15-16)

As we strive to live a life in the Holy Spirit, let us seek to be collaborators with Jesus Christ. We know his desire: to save the world. We know his method: his own saving death and resurrection. We, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, be his collaborators. May our lives be aflame with the Holy Spirit so that we may draw others into a vibrant Spirit-filled life too.