“Receive and Rejoice in the Holy Spirit” was the theme for the 2018 Catholic Renewal Ministries’ 36thannual conference. CRM is the officially designated office for the charismatic renewal ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland.
About 400 people participated in the event July 20-21 at Magnificat High School in Rocky River.
The conference included praise and worship, speakers, adoration, reconciliation, a prayer rally, prayer teams, workshops, witness, a healing service, the rosary and information tables. One of the conference’s high points was Bishop Nelson Perez celebrating the vigil Mass at 4 p.m. on July 21.
The bishop told those at the Mass that when he was born and baptized in 1961 in Miami, “That’s when my journey began. I didn’t know how it would unfold.”
Years later, Bishop Perez said he was invited to a charismatic retreat in Hoboken, New Jersey.
“My initial reaction was these people are nuts. But then something began to happen and my life was never the same,” he said.
“I was ordained a priest in May 1989 in Philadelphia. As I was lying on the cathedral floor in Philadelphia that day, Cleveland was not even on the radar. But the current of grace – the seeds of the kingdom of God – were growing without me knowing it.”
He said that moment of encounter with the Lord was seminal. In fact, he said Pope Francis talks about how awareness of the power of that moment can help us discover the current of grace in the waters of baptism.
Bishop Perez said some religions call it being born again, “accepting God as our Lord and Savior. After such a moment, we are never the same.” Praise is a song of gratitude, an awareness of that current of grace, he added.
But, he noted, the pope likes to add a zinger or a challenge, tossing service to humanity into the mix of prayer and praise.
“That which you’ve received as a gift you are expected to give as a gift,” he said, warning the congregation not to become “spiritual navel-gazers,” those who don’t look beyond themselves.
“You should become an instrument of that grace for others. Unlike other gifts, spiritual gifts are meant to be given away. The more we use or give them, the more powerful they become. If you don’t use or share them, the gifts can become stale,” he said. “Christ told us to give what we get. For those who receive much, much is expected,” the bishop said, connecting his remarks to the conference theme.
Bishop Perez said the constant or ultimate current of grace for 2,000 years has been the Church.
“The Church is populated by a group of people who come and go, they make a mark, they give things – like the saints – and then they move on. Yet the Church – the mystical body of Christ – is still here,” he said.
The conference was devoted to two very powerful things: the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother, who the bishop compared to “the ultimate soccer mom. She cares for us, her children, and watches over us,” he said, adding that the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother are very powerful sources of grace in our lives.
The bishop acknowledged the conference organizers, volunteers, presenters and Father Bob Franco, pastor of St. Peter Parish in North Ridgeville since 2009 and the bishop’s delegate to CRM for the past 26 years, as well as the St. Helen Worship Band, which provided music ministry at the conference.
CRM has an office on the grounds of the Center for Pastoral Leadership in Wickliffe.
For more information on CRM or copies of CDs from the conference, call 440-944-9445 or visit crmweb.org