'… We Must Have Grateful Hearts'

Bishop Charles C. Thompson celebrated Mass at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville on June 11 – the Feast of the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity – to recognize the Golden Anniversary of Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Benedictine Father Noel Muëller and Father Biju Thomas concelebrated. Steve Beckman of St. Joseph Parish in Jasper was the server.

“To be true to our faith, to be true to the Eucharist we celebrate, to be true to the Holy Trinity, we must have grateful hearts,” he said in his homily. “With God’s grace, we can know (the) salvation that John proclaims in the Gospel.”

The day’s Gospel reading began at John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Catholic Charismatic Renewals began in February 1967 when a group of students on retreat at Duquesne University began praying for a fresh outpouring of Pentecost. Many of them had profound “baptism in the Spirit” experiences and they shared these experiences with others in prayer. They had a renewed commitment to prayer and a personal relationship with Jesus, a yearning for more knowledge in their Catholic faith and to the gospel call to bring the message of the Jesus to others, and the use of the gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit to bring this about.

During his homily, Bishop Thompson related the story of Gwendolyn, a young girl in a Kentucky parish he served who was one of one six girls in the parish’s Catholic school. The school had a tradition of fielding basketball teams, and her fellow students convinced Gwendolyn to come out for the squad, which would allow for a starting five and one sub. Gwendolyn filled that role because she had never played the sport before.

The bishop recalled one game he attended where one of her teammates fouled out, leaving Gwendolyn on the floor for the first time in a real game.

One of her teammates put the ball in play by throwing it straight to Gwendolyn.

“Gwendolyn … made the sign of the cross,” Bishop Thompson said. “What a powerful moment it was. That little girl’s instinct was to make the Sign of the Cross. That was at the core of her being. When she was overwhelmed and didn’t know what else to do, she just made the sign of the cross.

“As we gather here, we celebrate the power of God in our lives – Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” Bishop Thompson added. “(We celebrate) … the grace, the peace, the blessings that we so often take for granted. So we celebrate that gift of the Spirit that keeps us always keeps us connected with joyful contemplation, gladness and praise, to the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Spirit.”

For more information on Charismatic Renewal in the Diocese of Evansville, visit http://www.evansvillecharismaticrenewal.org.

Some information for this story came from the website of the Diocese of Lafayette, La.