When Jesus returns to the sleeping Peter, James and John in Gethsemane (Mark 14:37), he literally says, “Are you asleep? Are you not strong enough to watch for an hour?” There is considerable irony in this verse, as the disciples had turned accusingly to Jesus in the boat on the Sea of Galilee in the storm when he was comfortably asleep on the pillow in the stern and asked him, “Master, don’t you care?!” (4:38). Jesus’ reply was to chastise them for their lack of trust (pistis, usually translated as faith), and to show by calming the storm that everything was, indeed, under control. Now, in Gethsemane, Peter is asleep, and matters are not in their control at all. Within minutes, they will abandon Jesus in order to save their own skin. When their moment of testing comes, they will not be ready. They will not be strong enough.

For a mature Christian faith, it is very important to understanding the nature of the Bible. Leaders have a special responsibility to know what the Bible is, and what it is not, if they are to help people know God and how he works in the world, as they use the Bible in their teaching and ministry. Too often, people misuse the Bible because they do not understand what it is, or where it came from. Texts are used without any reference to their context or to the matter really being addressed. Texts are used selectively, without any integration with the whole biblical text. The Bible is often used to prove what the speaker is saying. But you can prove anything you want by selecting small pieces of text from the Bible.

Surveys show the fear of speaking in public is common. This fear can be substantially reduced by good preparation, and by paying attention to some basic rules for giving an effective talk.

The aim of giving a personal testimony is to be a witness to the working of God’s grace in your own life, so that the faith of your listeners may be built up. Remember the ABC of giving a testimony...

Read aloud the following litany of praise and allow it to open your spirit and draw you into the realm of the miraculous. For the next five minutes just forget about yourself and concentrate on God. He is awesome!

Prayer ministry is a very important aspect of a Catholic Charismatic Renewal prayer meeting. As people become involved with a prayer group, they soon want to serve others and, after they have had sufficient experience by being part of the group for some time, they may be invited to be part of a prayer team that ministers in prayer to others after the meeting. These notes are designed to help such a person who is new to ministering to others in prayer.

These notes are intended to help leaders design a teaching program for their prayer meeting, and to prepare and give good teachings. Teaching is an important way of helping people to come to know God. Good teaching also strengthens faith, and helps people to discern well.

These guidelines are intended to help the leader of the prayer meeting to conduct periods of praise and worship in a charismatic prayer meeting that are alive, and that help people to grow in their experience of God. The leader should also refer to the article: The Essential Elements of a Prayer Meeting.

A Catholic Charismatic Prayer Meeting has certain characteristics. The experience of leaders of CCR since the beginning of the movement in the late 1960s is that a prayer meeting should contain a good balance of elements if it is going to encourage openness to prayer, gifts of the Spirit, participation by those attending, personal spiritual growth and growth of the community. It is considered that the following elements should be present in a good prayer meeting. Some of these elements may not be present in a particular week, but they should be evidenced throughout a program of meetings.

You have been involved with Catholic Charismatic Renewal since the late 1970s. How important has Renewal been for you?

As I look back across nearly thirty years as a priest, one of the rich and unexpected streams of spiritual energy for me has been my contact with Charismatic Renewal. This happened in my first parish, with Claude and Miralda Lopez, Paul and Bernadette O’Hanlon and many others, particularly through the group sharing on that wonderful book by Frs Tom White and Des O’Donnell, The Renewal of Faith. It stirred deep things in me, and those deep things are still stirring all these years later.