The Challenge of the New Millennium by Charles Whitehead

     The Charismatic Renewal is by its nature prophetic. Charismatics are people who claim to have a special understanding of the person and power of the Holy Spirit because we have experienced his touch and know his freedom. But we cannot and must not attempt to control the Spirit, because as Jesus said to Nicodemus "The wind blows wherever it pleases, you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).

     The nature of the Spirit of God is to be good and positive, but unpredictable—sometimes a gentle breeze, sometimes a mighty wind. One day he’s stirring up dramatic signs and wonders in our midst, another day he’s working deep within us in unseen but life-changing ways.

     To follow the Holy Spirit is always a challenge and not an easy journey - that it was otherwise many more people would be willing to join us. So we should never allow ourselves to become comfortable, to settle down and decide not to continue to journey, or to step back into the way things were before we knew the liberating power of the Spirit. To do so is to turn from life to death.

     The Galatian Christians tried to do this, and incurred the scorn and anger of the Apostle Paul: "Are you people in Galatia mad? Was it because you practiced the Law that you received the Spirit, or because you believed what was preached to you? Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances what you began in the Spirit?" (Galatians 3:1-5).

     As we enter the Jubilee Year there is a challenge facing the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Are we tempted to go back to the safety of the former things, and turn away from the risks and challenges of life in the Spirit? Or are we encouraged by all that we have experienced and seen, and inspired by the Pentecost 1998 words of Pope John Paul II—"There is a great need today for mature Christian personalities, conscious of their baptismal identity, of their vocation and mission in the Church and in the world! There is a great need for living Christian communities! Here then are the movements and the new ecclesial communities; they are the response, stirred up by the Holy Spirit…"

     His remarks indicated that the Church has recognized the importance of the Charismatic Renewal and the new movements and communities. She understands that the charismatic and hierarchical dimensions are co-essential to her life, and that these new works of the Holy Spirit are powerful currents running strongly in the great river of her life. But there is also a danger against which we must always be vigilant—that of losing our prophetic edge in our desire to be accepted.

     The preamble to the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (Vatican City) is a reminder of one of the most significant things about the Catholic Charismatic Renewal--something which makes us different from any other movement in the Church today. "The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is not a single, unified worldwide movement. It does not have a single founder or group of founders as many other movements do. It is a highly diverse collection of individual groups in different stages and modes of development and with differing emphases that nevertheless share the same fundamental experience and espouse the same general goals. This pattern of loose-knit relationships is found at the diocesan and national levels as well as on the international level... There have been attempts at local, national, and at international levels to fit the Charismatic Renewal into a predetermined structure, with membership lists and criteria, formation programs, and a strong central authority. The leadership must always resist such attempts to change the nature of the Renewal, because if these attempts succeed, it will destroy the renewal’s life. When the structures become dominant, the charisms die and the prophetic challenge is silenced.

     I’m not suggesting that the leadership in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal resist the proper authorities. I am saying that we must be on our guard against those who do not understand the nature of the Renewal, and try to make it into something it can never be.  At the heart of this great move of God is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, a life-changing experience that turns us from works to faith, from law to freedom, and from self to God. This is the gift of the Charismatic Renewal to the Church and to the world. It’s a grace we desperately need if we are to face the challenges of the new millennium.

     So as we give thanks to the Lord for all that he’s done, let’s face the future secure in who we are, thankful for all that has happened, and determined to remain charismatic and prophetic no matter what others may think, say, or try to do. The wind of the Spirit must be allowed to continue to blow wherever it pleases.

Condensed from the ICCRS Newsletter. Charles Whitehead, England, is President of the ICCRS Council, Vatican City.