Personal Prophecy for Father Sam

February 20, 1998

This is the first of many, many prophecies that Father Sam has in his possession. This is a personal prophecy for Father Sam at a time when he was seeking discernment over a decision he had to make.

The original is posted over here at Life In The Spirit.

I do not profess to understand charismatic prophecy particularly. How it happens is somewhat mysterious, but since it is one of the gifts spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles, and since nothing has declared this and the other gifts to be inoperative, we have reason to believe that they are meant for our use and edification in this day and age. A site called Spirit Home has many things to say about the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, but this particular page deals with prophecy.

Ann Donkers, a Dutch woman who had emigrated to Southern Ontario, was given a gift of prophecy many years ago. She has since passed away. This gift came in poetry. When Father Sam was trying to work various things out in his life, he often went to see her, to see if she had a word from the Lord for him. He never told her what problem he was trying to resolve, because he wanted to be sure that this gift of hers was from God. Amazingly, her prophecies came in the form of poetry as you shall soon see.

At the time of this particular prophecy, Father Sam was up for retirement as a parish priest, and he was uncomfortable with whether or not to retire. His vehicle license plate reads SAM98, for the year he was planning to retire, and now remains the same, as a reminder to him that God knows best.

So with no prompting from Father Sam, here are the words that Ann Donkers delivered to him privately:

Be still and know that I am your God.
It was I, my son, who called you here.
I will being to heal and transform the hearts of your people.
This is now a special year.

I myself have chosen you;
You are my joy and my delight.
Do not suppress my Holt Spirit,
But build up my beloved Bride.

You have been going through a period
Of great struggle and of pain.
But I your God will find a way
To get your attention once again.

Side by side I walk with you;
I share your burden, you know I care.
But for the sake of my many lost ones
I allowed for you this cross to bear.

At times you get a bit discouraged
Because your answer is delayed.
I know, my child, what is best for you;
I am your God, and I am never late.

Deep within the hearts of many
I kindled a fire that soon will spread.
You are standing before a great revival,
But so many are not ready yet.

You seem to be a bit uncertain
About a decision you are to make.
Hear the cry of my lambs and sheep,
And so go on for your brothers' sake.

Strings of light will penetrate your being.
Your cross will turn to a river of light.
Hold on in spite of all your struggles;
Lean on me, and you will survive.

You are entering the most exciting years.
Call your people to fast and pray.
Continue the mission that I have given you,
And all these doubts will pass away.

Pray and intercede for my chosen ones;
I am deeply concerned about many priests.
My call must reach the ends of the earth
Until they allow my spirit to be released.

Is this really a word of prophecy from the Lord? Did Ann Donkers just make this up? I am staring at what I think is over 200 prophecies delivered through Ann Donkers. I just haven't counted or sorted them yet. If she made this up she was more talented than she let on, and I will reproduce some of her personal story at a later time, so that you can see that she was a pretty ordinary woman. Ordinary, except for this special gift.

Father Sam is ordinary too. Except for his commitment to serve the Lord every day of his life. So, as a man of prayer and devotion to God and to the Blessed Mother, he listened, but he also discerned, and he moved into areas where he felt at peace.

Because of this prophecy and others that followed, if it is such, and I believe it is, Father Sam stayed on at St. Michael's Parish, Ridgetown for another 7 years. He stayed on "for your brothers' sake" and spoken in the prophecy, and was blessed immensely by his continuation.

Count Your Blessings

My First Real Encounter With Fr. Sam Johnston

This is a posting from a new blog called Life in the Spirit, that I have created with Father Sam Johnston, retired priest of the Diocese of London, and former pastor at St. Michael's Parish in Ridgetown, Ontario. These are my impressions of a delightful encounter I had with Father Sam yesterday. I hate the bad publicity that has come the way of some of our priests, and tainted the views individuals have of the Catholic priesthood. My way to fight against it is to present a priest who has been faithful, to counter. I hope this is just the beginning of a long relationship with one who represents the extremely large proportion of priests who are faithful to their vocation, and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Our Saviour. I am delighted to give you a tiny glimpse of a holy man of God. If this glimpse into his priesthood is flawed, it is not him, but my inability to express in words that which cannot be described, but must be experienced to be felt deep in one's own heart.

I first met Fr. Sam over 15 years ago, when friends of mine, Barb and Wayne Zimmer lived in his Parish of St. Michael's in Ridgetown, Ontario. Though I was impressed with how much he was loved within the parish, I did not do more than meet him at that time. Recently, I met him again when I accompanied Wayne and Barb, who returned to London many years ago, as they led a Life in the Spirit Seminar at that same Parish of St. Michael's.

Because there as something he wanted to do on the Internet, or at least that was the hook, Fr. Sam invited me to come to his house in Ridgetown and share some time with him, ostensibly to discuss a possible blog. Well, if you are reading this you are probably reading it on the BLOG, so you know that we did discuss blogging.

But, yesterday I did not just meet Fr. Sam, I encountered Fr. Sam, and I am grateful for the opportunity and eager for more. The night before, I had a call from Father Sam, asking me to come earlier than planned and to bring my appetite. On various occasions in my life, I have had the pleasure of dining with a priest, either pastor or friend, but this was different. This was more than that.

On entering his home, some things immediately come to mind. Father's love for those he has met over the years, particularly Jesus, is evidenced by little pictures pushed into door frames, and icons and religious items spread throughout the kitchen area. His home is holy ground, particularly the kitchen, where we spent out time together. It seemed appropriate to me that we spent our time there, as the kitchen is the heart of the home, and no less so in the home of this man of God.

Father Sam shared many stories with me, most of which are lost for now, leaving mainly delightful impressions of a life well lived in faith and holiness. He also asked about my life and listened attentively, well . . . like a Father. He shared with me about how during his priesthood he had the experience of feeling that the term "Father" had come to have deep meaning to him as he had grown into being a spiritual father to those he shared life with. I felt that to be true as I encountered "Father" Sam.

I had my first turkey dinner of the season with Fr. Sam, as he had decided that he wanted to cook up a turkey that had been in his freezer for a time, and looked up on the Internet how to do it. Father Sam also likes to bake, so we had cake for dessert, and apple cider to drink that had come from the family farm of a now deceased priest colleague of his, who I had known as well.

The hook was sinking in. I could feel it.

We discussed using the Internet to share a large number of prophecies that had come his way during the last 35 years or more, and I have that file sitting beside me at my desk as I write this, and posted the first one last evening here. I hope to do justice to posting them all in the fullness of time though I have some other thoughts I discussed with Fr. Sam for the blog I was having in mind for him.

The hook was set.

Father Sam moved in for the kill, as in killing me with kindness and love. I knew before I went to visit him that I hoped to have the opportunity to have him hear my confession. I love the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the grace that flows from it. Father Sam told me about places that he had heard confessions, coffee shops, retail stores, street corners, and so on. He thought he was reeling me in. I was already in the boat.

I knew that he loved hearing confessions and dispensing the graces of that beautiful sacrament, and he had said on another occasion that there was nothing new that he had not already heard and that he could not be surprised by the sins people confessed and how blessed and humbled he felt to be able to participate in this sacramental experience with those who came to him.

Since I was in the boat already, I asked him if he heard confessions at his kitchen table, knowing the answer. The dance was fun, but I was eager for the grace. He, of course prepared himself to hear my confession. To my surprise, even though he had foretold it, he was not surprised at my sinfulness. He didn't order me out of his house. Instead, he enveloped me in grace as I opened up about areas of my life that have been secret, even from me, at some level.

For my penance, I was to Count My Blessings on the way home, including looking in the bathroom mirror and counting that person in the mirror as a blessing. Father Sam also gave me a particular task of reconciliation to do that I will be doing as soon as possible. One particular blessing that I awoke to, was the blessing of having encountered Father Sam yesterday, and of getting to know him a bit, with the opportunity to have an earthly Father again, since my Dad has been gone for over 25 years now.

Before I left father invited me to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with him, the evening prayers. What a joy to be invited to share in that experience with him, and to be blessed by him at the conclusion.

After that we talked about something very dear to Father's heart, his time with Jesus daily. He told me how he gets up well before the crack of dawn every morning and comes to his kitchen and has coffee with Jesus, as he experiences his relationship with our Saviour. There are times, too many it would seem, that my mouth gets moving before my brain engages, and I asked him how Jesus took his coffee. He looked at me with a Father's look, and said: "Jesus doesn't drink coffee," like I should have known that. Sort of as in doesn't everybody who has a personal relationship with Jesus know that he doesn't drink coffee? Not a put down, just a statement of fact.

I left shortly after that to make my short trek home to London, and Father, well Father Sam was off to help hear confessions in Thamesville, about 20 miles up the road. While I had been with him he had taken two calls from brother priests to confirm that he would be coming to hear confessions over the next several days.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. For some of us like Father Sam, it is really close at hand.

Prophecy at St. Peter's Basilica Rome 1975

This Particular Prophecy Was in Fr. Sam's Archives

This prophecy can be found at its original site, a new blog I am assisting with called Life In The Spirit,. It is the story of personal journey of Father Sam Johnstone, a retired priest of the Diocese of London, Ontario. It also will include prophecies that were received by folks near to him, and the subject of this article is one of them.

Father Sam presented me with a file of prophecies dating back to the early 1970's, most of which came through a particular person I will introduce later. But this one came from a Charismatic Conference held in Rome in 1975, and was delivered during the Closing Eucharist on Pentecost Monday of that year.

Because I love you, I want to show you what I am doing in the world today. I want to prepare you for what is to come. Days of darkness are coming on the world, days of tribulation. . . . Buildings that are now standing will not be standing. Supports that are there for my people now will not be there. I want you to be prepared, my people, to know only me and to cleave to me and to have me in a way deeper than ever before. I will lead you into the desert. . . . I will strip you of everything that you are depending on now, so you depend just on me. A time of darkness is coming on the world, but a time of glory is coming for my church, a time of glory is coming for my people. I will pour out on you all the gifts of my Spirit. I will prepare you for spiritual combat; I will prepare you for a time of evangelism that the world has never seen. . . . And when you have nothing but me, you will have everything: land, fields, homes, and brothers and sisters and love and joy and peace more than ever before. Be ready, my people, I want to prepare you .

I speak to you of the dawn of a 'new age' for my church. I speak to you of a day that has not been seen before. . . . Prepare yourselves for the action that I begin now, because things that you see around you will change; the combat that you must enter now is different; it is new. You need wisdom from me that you do not yet have.

You need the power of my Holy Spirit in a way that you have not possessed it; you need an understanding of my will and of the ways that I work that you do not yet have. Open your eyes, open your hearts to prepare yourselves for me and for the day that I have now begun. My church will be different; my people will be different; difficulties and trials will come upon you. The comfort that you know now will be far from you, but the comfort that you will have is the comfort of my Holy Spirit. They will send for you, to take your life, but I will support you. Come to me. Band yourselves together, around me. Prepare, for I proclaim a new day, a day of victory and of triumph for your God. Behold, it is begun.

I will renew my church. I will renew my people. I will make my people one. I am calling you to turn away from the pleasures of the world. I am calling you to turn away from the desires of the world. I am calling you to turn away from seeking the approval of the world in your lives. I want to transform your lives . . . . I have a word for my church. I am sounding my call. I am forming a mighty army. . . . My power is upon them. They will follow my chosen shepherd(s). . .

Be the shepherds I have called you to be. . . I am renewing my people. I will renew my church. I will free the world.

Know that I, your God, brought Peter and Paul to Rome to witness to my glory. I have chosen you also and have brought you to Rome to bear witness to my glory, confirmed now by your shepherd. Go forth to the healing of the nations. Know that I am with you, and though you may pass through tribulations and trial, I will be with you even to the end. I am preparing a place for you in glory. Look to me and I will deliver you from the power of the evil one. Behold I am with you now, all days, even till the end of time.

. . . You have known the truth these days. You have experienced the truth these days. It is clear to you at this moment what the truth is. It is the truth of my kingdom, my kingdom that will prevail. . . I want you to take that truth, to rest in that truth, to believe in that truth, not to compromise it, not to lose it in confusion, not to be timid about it, but to stand simply, in love, but to stand simply, firmly rooted in the truth as foundation stones upon which my church can have new life and new power.

It is now over 34 years since this prophecy was delivered, and what it says is slowly coming to fruition. Prophecies are not necessarily meant to happen overnight. The biblical prophecies of the birth and death of Jesus took what seemed like forever to come true. The same is with these prophecies. Timing is not our problem.

If God Were Any Better To Me

I'd Have To Be Twins

I don't know why God does the things He does, and doesn't do the things He doesn't do. I plan to ask Him when I get there (sure hope I get there). For example, when my mother prayed about 30 years ago, that God would hit me over the head with a baseball bat, why did He wait almost 25 years before He hit me in the head with a '94 Aerostar van, long after I had a conversion? And why, if he healed me of arthritis many years ago, has he allowed both my wife and me to be stuck with 6 years of disability and counting? What's up with all that?

I frankly have no idea, and have stopped caring, since I never guess right anyway. But, I am curious. Mainly, I have been learning to trust in Him. But, what does that have to do with Him being so good to me? Well, everything really.

But here's some thoughts about Life in the Spirit, the spirit of God. I had no expectations when I accompanied my friends for several weeks on their trek to Ridgetown to give a Life in the Spirit Seminar. I just wanted to tag along. Well, to be honest, you cannot tag along on something that God feels strongly about, and just watch. So, I participated as I could, and assisted my friends. I mean, I didn't go to be a bump on a log anyway. I wasn't closed to what God might do, just had no expectations.

Lo and behold, God exceeded my expectations. I don't know why God hasn't healed my health issues this time, but I learned a lot from Him about His love for me and for you too, by the way, through my openness to Him recently.

Prior to my auto accident almost 6 years ago, lots of things were going well in my life, and some not so well. It seems God wanted to change my focus. Now, I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but I figured that puppy out, and it only took me 6 years to do it.

I was doing really well in my career at the time, working for the Itty Bitty Machine (IBM) company, and going places. I was also a pretty gifted keyboard musician in a church choir, where the music just fell off my finger tips, and it was way cool. I didn't think I was all that, but there was a touch of pride, even when I knew where it all came from. OK, so not a touch, but a generous helping.

Oh, and one other thing, and it was a small one really (not), my marriage was in a shambles, and it wasn't my first kick at the marriage can either. My wife and I were separated at the time, though we were working at resolving it.

So, God changed my priorities. He made it so I couldn't work, and couldn't tickle the ivories, or plastics as they are now. So, if you have any part of a brain left, what do you do? Well, you have to go with what you've got, and 6 years later I have a very loving relationship with my soul mate. That's pretty good, but that is a foundation for lots of other good stuff too.

I believe that through my time of prayer with my friends recently, God has shown me some things for which I am very grateful. My dear wife and I have figured out that it is not all about us, even though we have a really good us. Mostly, in this last year, we have developed an interest in the poor. They were there before, but God opened up our eyes through one of our children, and other friends we met in Tucson over the last winter to practical ways of helping out the poor.

For charity, I have over the years, mainly been a check writing kind of giver, except for using my music and doing some other things with groups like the Knights of Columbus. But, particularly this year, though we have increased our financial giving, we have also started looking for more practical ways to help out, like back packs of school supplies for local kids, shoe boxes for underprivileged kids in the third world, making quilts for the battered women's shelter, and place mats for Meals on Wheels, and now Christmas hampers of food and gifts for the poor in town.

But, in prayer I realised that this is where God wants us to be, and because of the healing in our marriage, we are in sync together about it. Some of this understanding is the fruit of the Life in the Spirit Seminar, and really the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

You know, for the first time in my life, I feel real, no more velveteen rabbit. And it feels very peaceful, and loving. And above all, I can start to see how God wanted to redirect my life in ways that would give Him the glory. We can see together that these opportunities to step outside ourselves and give of ourselves are a gift to us. It may well benefit someone who has less than we do, but we are the big winners here. "It Is Better To Give Than To Receive." The only thing is you cannot ever out give God.

I find it interesting that it has troubled me for years that we don't really HELP those who have less than us, as a rule. But, still I did very little other than writing the odd check. It was always, after all was said and done, a lot more said than done.

Last night, in our prayer time, there was a reference to Peter Maurin, who was a founder with Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement, and an essay he wrote about feeding the poor. It is pretty short, so here it is:

Feeding the Poor – At a Sacrifice

In the first centuries of Christianity the hungry were fed at a personal sacrifice, the naked were clothed at a personal sacrifice, the homeless were sheltered at a personal sacrifice. And because the poor were fed, clothed and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, the pagans used to say about the Christians “See how they love each other.”

In our own day the poor are no longer fed, clothed, and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, but at the expense of the taxpayers. And because the poor are no longer fed, clothed and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, the pagans say about the Christians “See how they pass the buck.”

Not a lot of words, but a lot of meat. I don't think I'm gonna pass the buck anymore.

Life In The Spirit - Fr. Tom Forrest

Week 6 Has a Surprise

Last week, as I reported, I accompanied my friends to Ridgetown for the Move That Bus week of their Life in the Spirit Seminar. We prayed over people, and had a great time, as I wrote. You can read about it here. I also wrote about what happened to me as I pondered what happened to them. So, last night we returned to the scene of the crime, as it were, for Follow Up night.

Wayne and Barb had plans for how the night would go, and that sorta happened, but something else happened. Father Sam Johnson, the retired 80 year old priest surprised us all a bit by showing a video first. But, it was worth it.

It was a lengthy video compared to the one that I am linking here, about Father Tom Forrest. Here is a bit about Father Forrest:

Fr. Tom Forrest, a Redemptorist Priest, was ordained in New York in 1954 by Cardinal Spellman. For the first 23 years of his priesthood, he worked among the poor of the Caribbean. In 1971, he became involved in the Charismatic Renewal and in 1978 was elected director of the International Office for Catholic Charismatic Renewal. He served in this capacity for six years,first with Cardinal Suenens in Brussels and then in Rome.

He has traveled to and spoken in more than 104 different countries, and his articles and books have been translated into a number of languages. He has spoken with Pope John Paul II many times and on eight different occaisions was invited to meals with the Holy Father. He has organized two Worldwide Retreat for Priests, one in 1984 in the theme "A Call to Holiness" and the other in 1990 on the theme "Called to Evangelize." A total of 11,000 priests attended the retreats, both taking place in the Papal Audience Hall.

For a year he worked at the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, collaborating to promote annual events to foster priestly renewal. At present, Fr. Forrest is International Director of EVANGELIZATION 2000, a Catholic effort to promote Church renewal through prayer, proclamation of the Word, and the formation of a more evanglistically activated people of God. He now resides in Washington, DC.

As you can see, Father Forrest is no spring chicken. He is an engaging and humorous speaker. He tells the story in the video we saw, and in the abridged version I have linked above and here again, because I think it is important to view, of his own personal Pentecost.

Then, the evening progressed with Praise music followed by some teaching from Barb and Wayne Zimmer, about what to do with this new found peace and love that was inside our friends, how to keep it alive and how to share it appropriately.

A number of the participants shared what had transpired for them in the past week, mainly how God had spoken to their hearts, not so much in direct words, but in peace and love for themselves and the other in their lives. This was a very calm, peaceful group of dedicated Christians, on fire for their faith, frankly in ways that only those with the level of life and spiritual maturity that they brought in the beginning, could likely be.

I thought they might have been a little more excited than they were, but that was really my experience with younger people, myself included, over the years, after a Life in the Spirit experience. But, what I was mistaking for lack of enthusiasm was really the maturity of their years, and it too was delightful. What do you expect from people who's love for and commitment to Jesus includes sitting quietly in His presence before the Blessed Sacrament for 30 minutes before each seminar evening, and any other Monday night they can make it? I consider myself chastened, in that I had ideas of what would happen, while God has PLANS for all their lives. Sure is a good thing that there is a God. Sure is a better thing that it ain't' me.

As we were driving home, I said to my friend Wayne that it was too bad that they did not have a charismatic prayer group to join, thinking of our earlier days. Then, it dawned on me that they were a community of believers with a fine parish, a beloved priest in Father Sam, and regular weekly Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I said to Wayne: "You know, they're going to be just fine." God agreed. At least He didn't hit me over the head again for being a moron, and saying dumb things.

Before we left, I spoke with Father Sam about a project that he wants to do on the Internet, and we plan to get together soon in Ridgetown, just one on one. He is a very holy man, and a blessing to these folks, and I will look forward to spending some time with him at his home there soon.

I Came That They Might Have Life

And Have It To The Full.

These are are the Bible words of John Chapter 10, verse 10. He spoke this particular thought in the midst of his dissertation on being the Good Shepherd. Although the entire discourse of Chapter 10 in John's Gospel is significant, this particular clause has caught my attention lately.

It strikes me as a curious statement. If Jesus came that they/we might have life, then he means that they/we did not have life before. I believe that He means that we were alive physically, but not spiritually, in essence, since we were clearly physically alive at the time of his speaking to our ancestors. As a Christian, I can resonate with that part of it. Yeah, He brought us New Life in Him. Yeehaw! Now we're cooking with natural gas. If He ends the statement there, we are home free, and everything stays as it is, except we give our lives to Jesus. We are saved, and life goes on because we now have it.

But, He adds "And have it to the full." Look around you people. Do you see a lot of Full Life going on. Nope, me either. But, Jesus Said. Well, what did he say, really?

He said we MIGHT have life, no guarantees that we WILL have life. In fact, this is totally consistent with the concept of Free Will, where we have a say in whether we have Life or not. Choose Life, choose death. Your choice.

Jesus also instructed his disciples in Matthew 10:7 to go out and preach: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Well, if the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it is really close, but not in hand, meaning that you have to reach out for it.

So, if we Might have Full Life, and if the Kingdom of Heaven is real close, why are we living like this is untrue? Having lived my life like what Jesus said is untrue, even after I knew that it was true, I can tell you that it is hard to see around the blinders and through the curtains of the deception that we have all been taught in our lives. As for me, I take full responsibility for my inaction towards God in my life. I have seen enough of my sinful tendencies, as I yearned for something more.

I spent years as a project manager, eventually getting a Masters Certificate in Project Management from a programme at York University. One thing that I learned that stuck with me in that programme was important to me in the rest of my life. If a certain series of actions produce a particular result that you do not like, there is no way that repeating the exact same series of actions will produce a different result, one that you will like. Systems happen to be perfect that way.

I understand that to apply to how we live our lives. Most of my life, I have chosen to "do it my way". Frank Sinatra was a prophet. So, when Jesus says I "might have life", He was correct in my case. I might have life, but I was too intent on listening to Sinatra, so I didn't have life, at least not the life that He said I Might have. I am firmly of the belief that without Jesus in our lives there is no way that we can have the Life that he has in store for us, where the kingdom at hand, becomes the kingdom in hand.

But, once committed to Jesus, how do I get to have life to the Full? There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus saving actions of dying on the cross and then being resurrected was in itself sufficient to destroy sin and death. What is less certain is our ability to walk in that redemption. So, as Jesus also said in John Chapter 14:

¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

So, that is why I supported my friends these last few weeks as they led a Life in the Spirit seminar in Ridgetown. The problem with most people who are committed to Christ, is that they are not committed to the Counselor that He gave us when he returned to heaven. That Counselor is the Holy Spirit.

If I were rewriting John 10:10 to get the full meaning from it (for me), it would read like this: "I came that you might believe in me and what I have done and have eternal life here on earth, and if you seek and listen to the Holy Spirit, you will have that life to the full."

Of course, Jesus could not really tell them about the Holy Spirit at that time, they wouldn't have gotten it, so to put that in his Good Shepherd speech would have been contextually inappropriate, and confusing. If you read on from that passage you can see that the people were confused by what he told them in the instance, and adding more would have been TMI (too much information) to the max.

We are called to put it together, though, to use our brains to think, to use our hearts to love and hope, and to use our feet and voices to do his bidding in our lives, and in the lives of those we choose to love.

I urge you to let the Holy Spirit be your guide on a journey to Jesus Christ,

I Saw What I Saw - Life in the Spirit

Maybe You See It Too

At the Life in the Spirit Seminar in Ridgetown last evening, I saw things, and I am pretty sure that I saw what I saw. But, I am not just talking about what I saw with my eyes, but what I saw with my heart. I am reticent to write about it, but feel compelled to do so.

In my View from the Pew piece the other day, I commented on observing that the young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation at St. George Parish in London, were invited down to the altar, and asked to make commitments about their faith.

What I did not add is that as I pondered on their ability to make these commitments, I wondered about how much more able to make and live these commitments they would be if they were really empowered by the Sacrament of Confirmation to live a Life in the Spirit. My context for that was the openness of the parishioners of St. Michael's in Ridgetown to let the Holy Spirit have his way with them which was coming up the next evening.

I also wondered why God would give Life in the Spirit to a group of people where the average age was probably 65, in a small out of the way town like Ridgetown. I think that we need the kids to have this Life in the Spirit. They are our future priests, prophets and teachers.

As I was prayed over last evening, and rested in God's Holy Spirit, in what my friends affectionately call "carpet ministry", it started to come to me, and I shared this and an accompanying vision with my friend Wayne on the journey home.

As we started praying with people last evening, which included Father Sam anointing each with oil, in front of Jesus present in the Eucharist in a monstrance on the altar behind us, I had a thought that these mostly seniors were not going to be receptive to well ... carpet ministry for an example. In a few moments, I was amazed at God's immense love for His children, of all ages, and the desire that these dear people had to submit to his love, whatever that entailed.

Most were slain in the Spirit, and fell back into Marjorie's and my arms, and we gently laid them down on the carpet, while God ministered to them. Their general response to God was submission. Their specific responses ranged from tears of joy, to laughter, to broad smiles and immense peace. Two of them tried to rise only to find that God was not finished with them, and went back down again for more carpet ministry. What I saw was hearts open to whatever God wanted.

I realised that these humble people of God, who spent time in front of the Blessed Sacrament whenever they could have a depth of prayer and faith that most of us can only dream of, and that they are the seeds for the young and future generations. They are the prayer warriors that make it possible for other people of faith to do whatever they are called to do. The people of God have different ministries, each as they are called, and these humble servants have important jobs to do to usher in the Kingdom.

On the way home, I shared this with Wayne. I was, as I often have been, humbled to see that the idea that I had originally had was so far off God's ideas. As I described this I had a vision in a couple of parts.

I saw my own gardens at home at the end of winter, when everything is ugly and some dirty snow still lies on the ground. Everything is still brown, and dead, basically. Then I saw the first crocus come out of the dirt followed by others, and I knew that this was the people we had just left in Ridgetown.

Next I saw the garden and lawn greening up, and other bigger, more long lasting plants started to shoot up out of the earth. The crocuses had been a sign of a new Spring, and after heralding the new Spring died away. But, the new Spring that they prophesied of was lush. In my vision, I saw that it was a vision of the Church, the Body of Christ, that so many have abandoned the Church, that our world has gone crazy as people run helter skelter with their fingers in their ears, chasing after things. But, God is not done with His people. He is raising up folks like our friends in Ridgetown to be the beautiful crocus that springs up early to His delight as a sign that Spring, the renewal of life, is upon us.

They are the prophecy of a new Spring in the Church.

And I got to witness it. Oh My God, You are the Alpha and the Omega. I could say something like "It doesn't get any better than that," which seems kind of appropriate, but God never ceases to amaze me, and I think it's going to get lots better.

Life in the Spirit - Week 5

Move That Bus

Last night was Move That Bus night at the Life in the Spirit Seminar my friends have been leading at St. Michael's Parish in Ridgetown, Ontario. The purpose of Life in the Spirit is to invite people to open themselves to an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their lives, such that they can operate in the spiritual gifts that Jesus promised would be available to believers after He left the earth, and the Holy Spirit came.

Last night did not start out as expected. The night was supposed to be held in the Church Hall, but it was double booked, so it was moved into the Church, but there was a bit of a conflict there, or so it seemed at first. God is into resolving conflicts to His own Glory, and so He did.

The conflict was that there was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament going on in the Church when we arrived. In Adoration, the Blessed Sacrament, the eucharist, is on display on the altar in a monstrance, and worshippers pray generally quietly for a period of time. This Adoration has been going on each Monday evening for some time, and corresponded with the lead up time to the Seminar. So, the two leaders and 3 others of us who had come to assist were unable to set up for the Seminar, but the strangest thing happened. We joined into the Adoration, and then the leader, Wayne Zimmer and a violin player, Brian Benoot got out their instruments and started to lead the congregation in Worship Songs until the completion of the Adoration time.

If you are going to lead into a time with the Holy Spirit, what better lead in is there than time with Jesus? Well, after the Adoration time was over, Fr. Sam Johnson did not remove the Blessed Sacrament from the altar, but decided to leave Jesus present throughout the seminar time. When you think about it, what could be better than to have Jesus present while the Holy Spirit is invited to work in the lives of believers?

So, after a time of praise music, the leaders Barb and Wayne Zimmer gave brief talks on what those present could expect from the Holy Spirit. They asked Marjorie Braatz, Youth Ministry co-ordinator from our home parish of St. George, London who came down with us, and me to join them and Father Sam Johnson in praying with people for the release of the Holy Spirit.

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is a gift of prophecy. It is not prophecy in the sense of on what day something is going to happen, but is along the lines of general encouragement, though there is also more private prophecy that can be an encouragement for an individual. When there is prophecy, the place gets eerily still. Everybody just knows somehow to wait upon the Lord because something is going to happen, and they don't know what, but can sense it. Wayne had a prophecy just after the music ended and asked if anyone had a word from the Lord. He knew that someone had a word, and waited on it. I knew where the word was going to come from as well, because I knew that I had that word. I did not want to deliver it, not because it was going to be bad, but at the moment I was trying to be inconspicuous. I opened my eyes and looked at Wayne, and he winked at me. He knew! By that time, the word had basically pushed up my throat, and I really had little choice but to deliver it.

Here's the thing with prophecy. When it comes out of your mouth, you are not in control of it, and basically it isn't about you. It sounds like your voice, but any time I have had a prophecy, I have not had a clue about what it is that I apparently said after saying it. This was no different, and Wayne had no idea of what his prophecy had been. I'll touch on this more in a bit.

So, we commenced to pray with people, and watched as the Lord moved in each of their lives. Wayne led our praying, and as each person came up, he had words of Wisdom and Prophecy for them. He was able to describe certain details of their new home in the Lord that were pertinent to each one. He didn't know details of their lives, so it was particularly awesome that he saw things that he otherwise could not have known. As we prayed with them, occasionally one of the others of us had a Vision of something that was relative to the person.

One of the things that can happen to people, though God is gentle and will only have His way with you, if you wish Him to, is being slain in the Spirit. There are times and it happened often last night when a person is prayed with, and suddenly falls usually backward onto the floor. I was the designated catcher knowing this was probable, and managed to keep all who were so moved from hurting themselves. Near the end, my friends prayed over me, and I too was unable to keep from falling down. It is an unusual happening, not easily explained, but there was no way that I was going to remain standing. Nobody human pushed me, and when on the carpet, I rested and let God work on my heart, as the others had done.

One interesting gift that people receive is the ability to pray in tongues. Some received it immediately and commenced praying that way while being prayed over. Others will notice it later, and some don't receive it. How God hands out His gifts is up to Him really. They are His Gifts, after all.

We will return in a week, to see how they are all doing, and to let them share in what God has done with and for them over the week. Some will have had visions of things in their lives and those of others. Some will have been healed of things, spiritually, physically, mentally and/or psychologically.

Many were overcome with tears of joy, as they knew that they knew that God really loved them. It sound kind of weird, but the first time that I had an inkling of how much God loved me, I cried like a little baby for half an hour, realising that He Loved ME, that He forgave me for my sins, and that He died to set me free of them.

After everyone as prayed with, we closed with another song of praise, chatted briefly with people who were much lighter and happier than they had been only hours earlier, packed up and headed home.

Words cannot properly describe moves of the Holy Spirit. It is experiential. I can tell you everything I know, which is really not much, and describe in detail what I saw, if I could remember it, but at best I can only describe my personal experience, and God was moving in about 23 lives last night. So, the above is merely a Reader's Digest version of something wonderful that happened because God is Love.

Life In The Spirit - Week 3

A Seminar Invitation to Life In God's Holy Spirit - New Life

I was able to attend the third weekly session in the Life in the Spirit seminar that my friends are leading at St. Michael's Parish in Ridgetown.

I plan to update this posting when I receive the speaker's notes, so what I have here is missing some of the actual teaching currently.

But, here is what transpired generally in that session.

Each session begins with some praise and worship. It is several minutes of preparation to hear and listen, and as God inhabits the praises of His people, it invited God into our presence. This session had about 25 people in total in attendance, including the retired pastor of the parish Fr. Sam Johnson, who still lives nearby and a newly ordained Deacon, as well as 4 of us from London, and most of 20 others from the actual parish.

Here are the songs that were used in the session I attended on November 9, 2009. The music was led by Wayne Zimmer on guitar accompanied by Brian Benoot on violin. All 25 or so attendees at the session joined in to make for a beautiful choir.

Lord I Lift Your Name On High



Come and Fill Me Up



Come Now Is The Time To Worship



The session then went on to some teaching about what God's Word says about the Holy Spirit and how He wants to be in our lives. The theme for this particular week was from Extreme Makeover about the materials used to finish off our spiritual home, comparing it to roofing and siding materials, and the other materials needed to finish the walls and floors of our physical homes.

The first leader, Barb Zimmer spoke of the bible verses that these images evoke, and also gave some of her personal story of her journey into the faith, which is by far the most powerful teaching tool. Barb told of her journey to the Catholic Church against family resistance to our faith, and particularly of kneeling in front of a radiator at a window in her bedroom, and telling God that she was not moving until He touched her. He did and the rest is history, except for that which is current events.

Her husband Wayne then spoke and furthered the teaching, opening up the bible verses further that were relative to the theme. He particularly compared the finishing of a house to the following words from Ephesians Chapter 6:

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

The session ended with another praise song.

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing).

Life In The Spirit

Joshua Makes an Important Observation

Friend Joshua, who possesses much wisdom and very solid powers of observation, made the following comment as a result of his first telling me about Ashley Cleveland, a Christian musician he came across years ago, and my posting one of her songs from youtube here yesterday.

Here are his thoughts:

Thank you so much. In my previous communication about Ashley Cleveland, I forgot to mention that it was through Ashley Cleveland that we (my wife and I) reconnected with the Christian world. Until then, we had thought of our family as one of God's "little flocks of sheep", but socially speaking we were our own little island. After "getting into" the "Christian rock" sections in various US music stores (and online), we began to form strong connections, bonds and friendships with families like our own in the USA.

Michael, this brings up an important point. My wife, adult children and I all agree that Christian families are far more common in the United States than in Canada. And we all KEEP noticing it. It's been years now! And it's depressing to us all as Canadians. Just an observation, but maybe one that has been/could be confirmed/denied? I really don't know...

I was going to just add a comment to his, but think he has touched on a more serious issue, so decided to make a posting about it here.

I think my friend Joshua has noted something that I currently agree with, though the long term reality, I both fear and hope is likely to be different, so let me explain.

First off, I think that American Christians are far more out there and in your face with their faith, and by that I mean most particularly and in general the American Evangelical Christian family. God Bless Them. It appears to me as a snowbird, some time resident of the USA, that the American people are more demonstrative of everything that they possess, and that includes their faith. It shows up more in Evangelical Christians, and they have been a blessing to that nation, and to any of us who have reason to meet them or receive the blessing from them or their music or teaching, and preaching.

What is not so much in evidence in America is the Catholic Christian family, and not because of their weakness of faith as such, but because of the quiet way that Catholics have learned to live their faith.

In Canada, we are by our nature quieter about everything, and so are our Evangelical Christians. Canadian Catholics are quieter still, by and large, I think, and observe.

In my view, the Christian family has been under attack in this country, Canada, for a long time, and one area of that attack is the muzzling of free speech and trampling of other fundamental human rights here particularly for Christians. The HRC attacks on Stephen Boissoin, Fr. Alphonse deValk, Bishop Henry for having the temerity to speak out on Church teaching, which is unpopular in our secularized world are only some of the examples. HRC/HRT decisions that follow the secular agenda in all areas, where it is often contrary to Church teachings and the beliefs of people of good will has served to make us even more timid to speak out. At this time, the only group in this country that you can discriminate against with impunity is Christians.

From my time in the US, particularly over the last few winters, it seems that the Christian family in the US was stronger there, but I think it is reasonable to say that the Christian family is now under serious attack, and that attack is being led by the US Democratic Party. It happens in subtle ways, like the new Hate Speech legislation, and not so subtle ways, like in the vaunted Health Care Reform. And there is more on the horizon.

Christians, who now form a minority in both our countries are being handed over to be slaughtered, not in a visual holocaust sort of way, YET. It is the destruction of and manipulation of the values that we Christians hold dear. The devil is very much behind this and is only too pleased to facilitate it. Hell (and I mean that word), he has what is happening now in his end game plan.

But, we Christians have read the end of The Book, and he is not in it, certainly not in a victorious place.

God is calling us to stand up for what is truth, and to speak against injustice, even if it hurts peoples' feelings. We Christians must stand together against evil, particularly evil that masks itself as tolerance of lies and deceit.

So, in the midst of this dire situation, and it is far more dire than we believe, or want to believe, some great good is occurring. For example, Pope Benedict is on a mission to make the Body of Christ one again, inviting people of good will, to come home, to strengthen the Body as One. A serious problem that prevents Christians from making a united response to the evils that surround us and confound us is our fragmentation. Our message of truth gets watered down, since we all have different versions, not of the core principals, but on other very serious matters.

No Christian should be silent on Life, and its sanctity from conception to natural death. It is natural law, and clearly ordained by God. How can one be for Christ, and be pro-choice, for example? "What you do to the least of these little children, you do also to Me."

God loves each and every one of us just as we are, but He is not prepared to leave us that way. He wants the very best for us, and it is up to us to go out and find His best, and then claim it for ourselves, and employ it in His Glorious Name.

Which brings me to the quiet American and Canadian Catholic Family. Pope John XXIII saw ahead and so he brought new life into the Church with Vatican 2. As he said from his death bed: “The moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead". He invited the Holy Spirit, who had never left, to take an active part in the formation of the current Church, and to transform the hearts and minds of Catholics and other people of good will.

Catholics and all Christians are invited to let the Holy Spirit come alive in them, to walk in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been available to Christians since the beginning, and for those Christians, particularly Catholic Christians who have received Confirmation of the Holy Spirit to seek release of those gifts that God has for them, and which are particularly necessary in this time and place.

So, dear readers, I believe, and am not alone in that belief, that unless we wake up to what is happening around us, we are in for worse times, and the Christian Family will face extinction, out of apathy.

Come out, dear readers, and walk in the Joy and Truth of God's Holy Spirit. You only need to invite God to give you His Spirit to guide you; to guide you to other believers who share that Spirit, to guide you to places where you can make a difference in your faith in Him, to guide you to the Cross of His Salvation.

Rumours of the death of Christianity and the Christian Family, its primary unit, in North America are premature, because there is a remnant of believers who are called to reinvigorate the faith, and when you are called by Him, who does not want to lose one of you, then you must heed His Voice.

I will be writing more soon on Life In The Spirit of God, and will share with you God's most exciting and exhilarating call on each and every one of our lives.