THE POPES SPEAK ON THE CHARISMATIC RENEWAL
“The Church must gather in the Upper Room ‘together with Mary, the mother of Jesus’ (Acts 1:14), in order to pray for the Spirit and to gain strength and courage to carry out the missionary mandate. We too, like the apostles, need to be transformed and guided by the Spirit.”
~St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio
“Thanks to the Charismatic Movement, a multitude of Christians…have rediscovered Pentecost as a living reality in their daily lives.”
~St. John Paul II, Pentecost Eve, 2004
“Certainly, your own charism leads you to direct your life towards a special “intimacy” with the Holy Spirit. And a survey of the thirty years of the history of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal shows that you have helped many people to rediscover the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, in the life of the Church and in the life of the world. From the very beginning of my ministry as the Successor of Peter, I have considered the movements as a great spiritual resource for the Church and for humanity, a gift of the Holy Spirit for our time, a sign of hope for all people.”
~St. John Paul II, address to the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic
Covenant Communities and Fellowship, June 1, 1998.
“To all Christians: open yourselves docilely to the gifts of the Spirit! Accept gratefully and obediently the charisms which the Spirit never ceases to bestow on us!”
~St. John Paul II, St. Peter’s Square, June 3, 1998
“Today I would like to extend the invitation to all: let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit; let us recover awareness of our Baptism and our Confirmation, ever timely sources of grace. Let us ask the Virgin Mary to obtain also today a renewed Pentecost for the Church that will imbue in all, and especially in the young, the joy of living and witnessing to the Gospel.”
~Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Regina Caeli, Pentecost 2008
“Remember: seek the unity which is the work of the Holy Spirit and do not be afraid of diversity. The breathing of Christians draws in the new air of the Holy Spirit and then exhales it upon the world: it is the prayer of praise and missionary outreach. Share baptism in the Holy Spirit with everyone in the Church. Spiritual ecumenism and the ecumenism of blood. The unity of the Body of Christ. Prepare the Bride for the Bridegroom who comes!”
~Pope Francis, address to the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic
Covenant Communities and Fellowship, Nov. 1, 2014.
Prayer by St. John XXIII:
Renew your wonders in this our time as through a new Pentecost.
Grant that the holy Church, preserving unanimous and continuous prayer,
together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and also under the influence of St. Peter,
may increase the reign of the Divine Savior, the reign of truth and justice,
the reign of love and peace. Amen.
