I’ve been reading Healing by Mary Healy as well as The Spiritual Gifts Handbook by Mary Healy and Randy Clark simultaneously. I started ready Mary’s book but part way through my wife picked it up. So I moved on to Randy and Mary’s jointly authored book. I had heard Mary speak in September at the Hope for the Nations conference in Lowell, Massachusetts along with Ralph Martin, another national Catholic author speaker from Michigan. Our third speaker was Father Marc Drouin of Laconia, New Hampshire. The message in the books is consistent, clear, friendly, and fun. It is that our main mission in life is to Recruit to Christ, to evangelize, and that Jesus Christ directed his apostles to go and wait and pray until they were empowered by the Holy Spirit before commencing Recruiting to Christ. Once powered up, the early church people of all strata, not just select people, were able to perform signs and wonders so as to quickly convince people of the presence and power of Christ and so join on in. The signs and wonders consist of healing, driving out demons, and words of knowledge among others. Also, getting Baptized and Empowered by the Holy Spirit buoyed, empowered, and provided a wave for the early church people to ride.
Their next big point is that the early church people did as they were told. Unfortunately, there has been a long period of time with people endeavoring to do the good works of Jesus Christ “self sufficiently” and with “self satisfaction” in a mistaken self control mode. It is better to become open to receiving Holy Spirit and being subservient to Holy Spirit. There is a clear resurgence of listening to, being open to, and being overwhelmed by Holy Spirit that started in the Catholic Church at Duquesne University in 1967 and in the Pentecostal movement in the early 20th Century.
Yay Holy Spirit!
A note on my part is that their are lots and lots of “Fruits of the Spirit” or “Charisms” or how the Holy Spirit Moves in each of us. Paul and others have written a lot about this and being open to how others are moved by Holy Spirit will help Holy Spirit further Flourish.
I Love You and so does Jesus, God, and Holy Spirit along with Mother Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint Raphael, Saint Therese Lisieux, Saint Frances, Saint Joan, Your Guardian Angel, all the Holy Angels, and all the Holy Saints.