Fr. Franco's Letters

Dear Readers of the Flame,

Just what is this renewal that many of us have been caught up in? Some religious people not involved in the charismatic renewal are inclined to think of this renewal as a movement that caters to the dysfunctional and emotionally unstable. (As an aside, I believe the earthly ministry of Jesus attracted these people too.) Other people in the Church welcome the renewal but want to domesticate it or relegate it to the church basement on a weeknight. Was this God’s plan when the charisms of the Spirit burst forth at the Ark and the Dove Retreat House in February of 1967?

A little over two years earlier, in November of 1964, St. Paul VI solemnly promulgated the Second Vatican Council document entitled Lumen Gentium. Part of paragraph 12 reads:

It is not only through the sacraments and the ministries of the Church that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, "allotting his gifts to everyone according as He wills,” (I Corinthians 12:11b) He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the words of the Apostle: "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit".(I Corinthians 12:7) These charisms, whether they be the more outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation for they are perfectly suited to and useful for the needs of the Church. Extraordinary gifts are not to be sought after, nor are the fruits of apostolic labor to be presumptuously expected from their use; but judgment as to their genuineness and proper use belongs to those who are appointed leaders in the Church, to whose special competence it belongs, not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to that which is good. (see I Thessalonians 5:21) (LG 12¶2)

For going on 60 years, Catholics and Christians from other traditions have been experiencing these charisms of the Spirit in a widespread manner. These gifts have built up the Church by renewing people in the pew and strengthening evangelization efforts by clergy and laity alike.

His Eminence Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap., preacher to the Papal Household from 1980 to 2024, describes the workings of the Spirit this way:

In his infinite wisdom God established two ways for the sanctification of the Church, like two different directions where the same Spirit blows. There is, so to say, the Spirit that comes from on high and who works through the pope, the bishops, the priests, and who intervenes in the teaching of the Church, in the hierarchy, in those in authority, and especially in the sacraments. There is, then, the opposite direction, from the bottom, as it were, where the Holy Spirit blows from the basis or single cells of the body that form the Church. This is the wind that blows where it wills (see John 3:8); it is the Spirit who apportions his gifts individually, as he wills (see I Cor 12:11). The entire Church, a living organism, irrigated and animated by the Holy Spirit, is these two channels taken as a whole, or the result of the two directions of grace. The sacraments are the gifts given to all for the profit of the individuals; the charisms are the gifts given to the individuals for the profit of all. (Mary, Mirror of the Church, page 181; The Liturgical Press, Collegeville MN, 1992)

We need the Holy Spirit’s work from both directions. The Holy Spirit’s works “from below”, giving gifts to individual members. St. Peter puts it this way:

As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11)

Without the Spirit’s work from above through the hierarchy and the sacraments, the Church risks fragmenting. Who will set the direction? Who will authenticate a person’s gifts? We may “know partially and we prophesy partially” (see1 Corinthians 13:9), but how can we come to clarity of doctrine? The Church without the Spirit’s work from above will disintegrate.

We need to the Spirit’s work from both directions. Without the Spirit’s work from above, the Church will blow up. Without the Spirit’s work from below, the Church will dry up. We need both the hierarchical and charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can be that Church described by St. Paul that “builds itself up in love” (see Ephesians 4:16) “to the extent of the full stature of Christ.” (see Ephesians 4:13)

There are times that we charismatics get a bit rusty with our gifts. “Use it or lose it” is an axiom that is true for both natural and spiritual gifts. Just as muscles atrophy when they are not exercised, so spiritual gifts weaken when they are not used. As St. Paul exhorted St. Timothy, we need to “stir into flame the gift of God.” (2 Timothy 1:6)

I want to encourage you to use your gifts. Pray in the Spirit. Seek God’s word in every situation and then proclaim it. Pray for the sick with expectancy. When gifts are used, they grow stronger.

I also encourage you to come to the upcoming CRM events in the next few months. We will pray that the gifts of the Spirit will come upon us in a fresh way at the Pentecost Mass. We will pray for healing and God’s blessings at St. Hiliary Parish in Fairlawn (near Akron) on Friday evening, June 19 and our annual conference will be on Saturday, July 26 at St. Albert the Great Parish in North Royalton. Information about these events is in this issue of the Flame.