“Let’s stand and celebrate God’s work!”

With these words we were exhorted to give joyful praise to God as we entered into the 2008 Catholic Charismatic Leaders’ Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This was a time of powerful praise and of a manifestation of joy through song and dance. A young adult music ministry from the Alleluia Community in Augusta, Georgia, led us in praise and worship throughout the weekend.

During this conference we explored the meaning of “A Future Full of Hope.” At this time of history there are many reasons for practicing hope, not that life is easy and hope is therefore easy. Rather, many are experiencing difficult and challenging times that call for the virtue of hope.

On Friday evening Al Mansfield of New Orleans shared his experience of Katrina and how that has evoked the virtue of hope for him and his wife, Patti. Fortunately they were at Franciscan University in Steubenville when Katrina and the flooding hit New Orleans.

The water level rose from four feet below sea level to 27 feet above sea level. And, as was true for many, Al and Patti were not able to return home for several weeks. When they did return they could not go to their home and received hospitality at a convent for five weeks. Both the Charismatic Office and their home were badly damaged by the waters. Al reflected on some practices that will assist us in being strengthened in hope.

1. Receive and welcome the Holy Spirit.

2. Read and consume the Word of God.

3. Pray.

4. Examine your attitudes.

5. Cultivate relationships/friendships in the Lord.

Finally, it is easy for us to find God on the mountain but remember that the God of Day is also the God of Night.

Dr. Tom Curran then took us on a journey of exploring our lives moving forward by asking the question, “What am I going to do with what remains?” We have been blessed with so much and we can pray for all of those who have been a blessing for us. Much has been handed on to us through our tradition. Or we can betray what we have received. We look forward. Our horizon of hope comes from our relationship with Jesus. We want to find our joy in God.  We have hope in God and not in self. God is our absolute future.

Tom spoke of what he named “thrown-ness.” We are being thrown into the future. We are thrown forward in time. To exist is to be drawn back to God. It is God who is drawing us back. Jesus is the one who draws near to us. We can reflect on this: “God draws near to me.” In a sense Jesus says to us, “As you remember, I draw near.” Hope is associated with the future – knowing that Jesus draws near to us from the future. Hope comes from the future. “I know that my redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).

Tom reflected on Advent as a season of hope. It is a time when it is getting darker and colder. Advent means coming: it is Jesus who is coming. God created the world so that Jesus could be born in it. God created you so that Jesus could be born in you. We are people of hope. We have to show people Gaudete lives. He posed this question: “Did you live the 2008 that God held in his hand for you? We have one chance. Will we live the 2009 that the Lord has for us?

The Transfiguration is a glimpse of what awaits us. We need Jesus to draw near to us from the future. “You who were far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” We are people of Pentecost, radiators of God’s Glory. Tom closed by pointing out that to sacrifice is to make holy. We are either all in or we are bluffing. Jesus was all in for us before we were born. We are planted in the world. We are people of hope!

Saturday opened with Eucharist celebrated by Bishop David Choby of Nashville. This was followed by six tracks with three workshops each, enabling leaders to deepen in an area of interest/giftedness. These included: School of  Prayer, Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Healing, Ecclesial Maturity, Praise and Worship, and Year of St. Paul.

Late Saturday afternoon we experienced a healing service in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament followed by reflection together on how we had experienced God’s healing.

Jim Murphy, the main speaker on Saturday evening, reminded us that a leader transmits hope. A leader has vision. As long as there is hope a person can survive. God wants to give us a future full of hope. He thinks of hope as long-term faith (cf. Heb11:1). This has three perspectives.

1. The fullness of the Kingdom: Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). Jim used the example of a crocus breaking up through the snow in the spring.

2. The hope of our own redemption, our own salvation. Paul reminds us: “You have been raised by Christ” We are children of God. We shall be like Christ, not because we get our act together. It is because of the work of God.

3. Our hope is in the person of God. The world will not be saved by a plan but in a person. Our hope lies in who sits on the throne of God not who sits in the oval office. The Church sees hope as an anchor. We all have stormy seas. Fear takes over when we take our eyes off of the Lord. During times when the earth is spinning, look up to the one still point. Think of St. Stephen. Our hope lies in God. People are dying without hope and that is a tragedy with Christians in the world. The capacity of a leader is someone who can go back and gift others. We have to help people cross the gap. We help to sustain them. Pray for a fresh heart. The love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We were exhorted to be open to God and to where and how God may be calling us at this time in our lives.

On Sunday morning Michelle Moran, President of International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service (ICCRS) stated that we are called to be people of vision. The Church has given us a marvelous vision, to “put out into the deep.” She spoke of Jesus having crowd control problems and using Peter’s boat, then blessing Peter. She stated that when Jesus uses us he blesses us. When Jesus told Peter to put out the nets he responded with, “We worked all night and caught nothing but if you say so, we will” (cf. John 21:3-6). We have to be people who say, “If you say so, we will.” Like Peter we need to move from testing the waters to walking on the water. We need to step out of the boat (cf. Matt 14:29).  Peter would say, “Next time I’ll do it sooner.” She reminded us that Joshua told the people to be strong and stand firm “for the Lord, your God, is with you” (Joshua 1:9). We can look to the past with gratitude. We look forward with hope. We are moving along in the journey as a Joshua generation. Some things have died and passed away (cf. Joshua 1:2). It’s time to cross the Jordan empowered by the Spirit for mission. Break camp. You have not gone over this road before.

The Conference closed with Eucharist.