Holy Spirit conference draws on amazing grace

By Montana Catholic staff

Two hundred and eighty people gathered for the diocesan Holy Spirit Conference in Helena on April 27-29. Thirty-three deacons and wives also participated in the weekend conference as part of their spring deacon retreat.
On Friday evening, Msgr. Kevin O’Neill welcomed participants to the conference. Then keynote speaker Deacon William Brennan took the stage. His address, “Fanning the Vision into Flame,” emphasized that the vision cannot be taught, but must be caught.
Deacon Brennan, a recently retired professor of history at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., has been involved with the Charismatic Renewal since 1973.
In his keynote, he identified three purposes of the vision being alive: 1) to provide a context for everything that we do; 2) to provide a goal toward which we are constantly drawn; and 3) to provide a place for healing, encouragement and courage when we are battered and bruised along our journey.
Brennan said that the Charismatic Renewal is a gift for the entire Church, and noted how the renewal is exploding, particularly in developing nations. “You and I are on the cutting edge of renewing the Church,” he told the conference’s participants.
In addressing the concept of amazing grace, Brennan said, “It is absurd to accept so freely that we can be strangers when we gather in Church on Sunday. That’s not the Spirit – that’s fear. Amazing grace empowers us through the charisms of the Holy Spirit.”
“Those who say we don’t need the charisms of the Holy Spirit don’t know what the Church is teaching about the Holy Spirit, nor how badly the world needs it,” he said.
Deacon Brennan then shared a story from his days as a professor. On his way to his first class of the day, he would say a prayer that a music minister had taught him:
I am yours, you are mine
I am your cup, pour out your wine
I am your candle, you make me shine
And would add this line: “Touch these kids, especially those searching for You.”
In one of his freshman courses, two girls approached him after class and then asked “Are you a Christian?” to which he replied “yes,” much to their delight, as they started jumping up and down, saying “I knew it!”
“I was incredibly humbled by this experience,” Brennan said.
He also shared a retreat experience, during which God called him to be on the “cutting edge.” He stood at the edge of the ocean, then heard “Step back and look,” which he did – noticing a small tidal pool with a starfish and one crustacean. He heard the command again, and stepped further back, looking into a dried out tidal pool with nothing but sand. He then returned to the water’s edge, where life was teeming. “You can be safe, but there won’t be life; you can come closer, but there will be very little life; or you can be at the cutting edge, with the waves crashing on the rocks of your life, and there’s wrenching and tugging, because that’s where life is teeming, where the Holy Spirit is working,” he concluded.Before the Saturday morning Mass began, Father Joseph Oblinger talked about the community that develops in liturgy. He said that Our Lady of the Pines Parish in West Yellowstone, where he celebrates Mass, draws people from all over the world. He usually asks visitors to be readers and eucharistic ministers, and that creates community and church.
He celebrated the liturgy along with Father Michael Drury of Anaconda, Father Michael Smith and Deacon Dave Weisbeck of Stevensville, and Deacon Brennan.
Father Oblinger began the homily by saying, “This is a glorious time to celebrate our faith,” and describing the new life of spring and Easter as a time to remember.
Behind the stories in the Acts of the Apostles is conversion, a call to faith and the beginning of faith, he said. We’re called every year to remember and be part of it.
He also talked about miracles, which appeared everywhere in the early years of Christianity. Miracles are also a conversion to deeper faith. They aren’t seen much today because people are blind and rely too much on a scientific mindset and a secular view of life.
People have many reasons to be thankful to God, Father Oblinger concluded, and that’s what Eucharist is all about.
Deacon Brennan spoke twice Saturday, on “What is God up to?” in the morning and “Conversion” in the afternoon. He encouraged people to write down what came to them throughout the day, and encouraged them to be more excited about life.
Brennan was ordained a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Stockton, Calif., in 1981 after going through a pilot program. As a history professor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, he told students that they cannot understand western civilization unless they also understand the history of the Catholic Church.
In all of salvation history God has done five things, Brennan said. The first is revealing himself any way he wants. Secondly, God always follows revelation by issuing an invitation to humankind to do what he wants them to do. Thirdly, he patiently waits for a response.
Then God gathers together those who respond. Lastly, he puts them into a lifelong process of formation “from which we do not graduate in this life,” Brennan said. “We’re always growing and learning.”
There is an infinite variety of responses to what God is doing. He allows people to give a wholehearted “yes” to his actions, although some say “no.” He issues invitations but some run if they feel they can’t do what he asks.
“Graduation may be when we transition from this life to the afterlife,” Brennan said. “When we are ready to go through the door, nothing can stop us.”
God will give us a key to the door; the key is conversion, the deacon said in his afternoon session. He mentioned Mark’s gospel story of the young man who could not give up his wealth to gain eternal life, and asked the audience, “What’s the one more thing you can give up?”
The Church says conversion is essential and people are called to it daily. Catholics experience conversion quietly, gently and slowly, he added. He also talked about conversion in several ways and levels, including metanoia – an abrupt change – and baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The ultimate proof of the Holy Spirit is in each individual. God gave Brennan a test of the joys of the Holy Spirit, he said. Subsequently, prayer, scripture, the sacraments, the Church and Jesus literally came alive for him.
“If you say ‘yes’ to the Lord, you will be absolutely amazed at what God will do for you,” he stated. “There’s a world to be saved, a Church to be remedied and renewed. … Give God permission to be God in us.”
Bob and Judy Gallagher of Anaconda presented a session on prayer meetings, offering a way of organizing them and how to make them successful. Judy said the Anaconda group meets year round, sometimes with only a few attending, for continuity.
The best way to start a prayer meeting is with song, which can also be the closing song, the couple said. “Praise is step one of prayer,” Bob added. Then people share what God has done for them since the previous meeting and pray over a teacher, who then speaks. Intercessory prayer, announcements and closing song follow, plus prayer for anyone wishing to stay.
The Gallaghers said all are charged to take others to prayer meetings, and recommended a Life in the Spirit seminar at least once a year to invite new people to attend.
Gabe and Maggie Brennan of Helena gave a breakout session on healing Saturday evening, followed by a healing service.
Sunday morning, Deacon Brennan spoke on “The Vision Alive.”

Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 23, No. 5, May 18, 2007.