Our Mission: To build a community of Disciples in Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the exercising of His Charisms. We are now back to in-person Praise & Worship sessions on Mondays starting May 2022!! Please check out the posts and like the page to be updated on our latest activities and events. Our Monday sessions are now held at the SFX Parish Hall, Parish Centre, Level 3. 63A C
hartwell Drive, Singapore 558758. Looking forward to meeting you all in person�
ABOUT THE CHARISMATIC RENEWAL
From the 3rd chapter of Genesis to the end of the Book of Revelations, we find God trying to get His people back to the intimate relationship He had with Adam and Eve in the beginning. Because God is holy, perfect and pure, it is impossible for man, who has been conceived in iniquity since the fall of Adam and Eve, to stand in the presence of God without atonement. God gave Moses the plan for allowing Himself to dwell in the presence of His people through the building of the ark of God and the tabernacle of God. Through these rituals and sacrifices prescribed by God, the high priest was able to come into the presence of the Almighty and represent the people. However, through King David, God shows us He desires more than just the blood and sacrifice of selected animals; He desires a pure and contrite heart. Jesus, in His dialogue with the Samaritan woman, tells us that God is looking for worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. When Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He said “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In the heavenly experience of Isaiah in the sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah, and John in Revelations, we see what is being done in heaven continually: praise and worship of the one true God. Praise and worship has always been the avenue into the presence of our God. We can talk about Him, do things for Him, and even pray to Him, but it is only through praise and worship that we are allowed to be in the presence of our Great Creator. We were created to live in God’s presence. Life anywhere else is a distorted dissatisfying imitation. Life without God’s presence was not His original plan for us. He designed us to know Him, and to live in close, intimate fellowship with Him. That’s why life is so difficult and unfulfilling for so many people. We are living without the one thing that is essential for our fulfilment and well-being. We are living without the continuous, enduring presence of God. In an address that Pope John Paul II gave to the participants at the eight meeting of the Catholic Fraternity in 1998, he said, “Certainly your own charisma leads you to direct your life towards a special intimacy with the Holy Spirit. A survey of the thirty years of the history of Catholic Charismatic Renewal shows us that you have helped many people to rediscover the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, in the life of the Church and in the life of the world”. The baptism in the Spirit has enabled many of our Catholic people to experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This experience has, in turn, led many to a deeper understanding that they are called to continue the mission of Jesus Christ, accompanied by signs and wonders. The Holy Spirit did not therefore remain the least known or the forgotten person of the Blessed Trinity, but became recognized as the powerful reality of our God – forgiving, healing, enabling and encouraging each one of us as we pursue our Christian vocation. Speaking about baptism in the Spirit, the Pope, during his first audience with the Italian Renewal, emphasized that “to this effusion of the Spirit we know we own a deeper experience of the presence of Christ, thanks to which we can grow daily in loving knowledge of the Father. Rightly, therefore, your movement pays particular attention to the action, mysterious but real, that the third person of the Holy Trinity plays in the Christian life.”
Charismatic Renewal has encouraged the whole church to rediscover the power of the prayer of praise and worship and to have firm belief and confidence in the prayer of intercession and in praying for healing in all its dimensions. Many young people have found a new vigour in living fully their Catholic faith. Nourished by the Word of God and enabled by a profound yearning for holiness, many have dedicated themselves in a most generous way to the mission of the Church. On 4th April 1998, while addressing the National Service of Committee of the Italian “Renewal in the Spirit”, Pope John Paul II remarked, “The Catholic Charismatic movement is one of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council, which, like a new Pentecost, led to an extraordinary flourishing in the church’s life of groups and movements particularly sensitive to the action of the Spirit. How can we not give thanks for the spiritual fruits that the Renewal has produced in the life of the Church and in the lives of so many people? How many lay faithful, men, women, young people, adults and elderly, have been able to experience in their own lives the amazing power of the Spirit and his gifts! How many people have rediscovered faith, the joy of prayer, the power and beauty of the Word of God, translating all these into generous service in the Church’s mission! How many lives have been profoundly changed?”
Charismatic Renewal or the Renewal in the Spirit can be considered a special gift to the Church in our time. Without any doubt, Charismatic Renewal has been instrumental in making our Catholic people more aware of the presence and the action of the Holy Spirit. For many, knowledge about the Holy Spirit was limited to the “seven” gifts that a person receives at confirmation. Charismatic Renewal has helped many people realize that our God is alive in each baptized person. The intimacy with the action and the presence of the Holy Spirit has been translated into many benefits in the spiritual life of the individual person as well as in the life of the whole church. Charismatic Renewal has initiated a fresh energy that comes from an authentic encounter with the living God dwelling in each one of us, in the way that people celebrate and live their faith. It has instilled in our liturgical celebration joy and enthusiasm. If you want to experience what the Holy Spirit is doing with his people in our time, it is enough to look at what is happening as a result of the Charismatic Renewal. Charismatic Renewal is a tangible example through which people can see God in action in our time. The Renewal is a much needed defence of Christian life in societies where secularism and materialism have weakened many people’s ability to respond to the Spirit and to discern God’s loving call. Charismatic Renewal is a great spiritual resource for the Church and for humanity.
