Thursday, June 5, 2014

Charismatic Catholics Pray Over Pope Francis


Pentecost is just around the corner, and I found another interesting article on the Charismatic Catholics.  Pope Francis invited them to the Vatican in 2017 to celebrate their 50th anniversary.  It seems that the Neocatechumenal Way is much older.  We started in 1964 and the Charismatic Renewals started in 1967.  We're only three years apart. 

At any rate, Pope Francis admitted that he was not always comfortable with the way the Charismatic Catholics prayed; nevertheless, he knelt on stage as they prayed over him, singing and speaking in tongues.  Over time, Pope Francis came to accept the Charismatic Catholics and invited them to the Vatican on 2017.  According to the weblink below: 

In a speech, Pope Francis told the charismatics that they their movement was begun by the Holy Spirit as "a current of grace in the church and for the church."

He pleaded with charismatic groups not to try to organize everything or create a bureaucracy that attempts to tame the Holy Spirit.

The temptation "to become 'controllers' of the grace of God" is a danger, the pope said. Group leaders, sometimes without even meaning to, become "administrators of grace," deciding who should exercise which gifts of the Holy Spirit. "Don't do this anymore," Pope Francis said. "Be dispensers of God's grace, not controllers. Don't be the Holy Spirit's customs agents."

From the beginning, he said, charismatics were known for their love of and familiarity with the Scriptures; the pope asked those who lost the habit of carrying their Bible with them everywhere to "return to this first love, always have the word of God in your pocket or purse."

Pope Francis also said Catholic charismatics have a special role to play in healing divisions among Christians by exercising "spiritual ecumenism" or praying with members of other Christian churches and communities who share a belief in Jesus as lord and savior.


Charismatic Catholics Pray Over Pope Fancis




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