The Call Went Out

Two years ago, Pope Francis called charismatics around the world to travel to Rome to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pentecost. (This means that of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, he invited roughly 120 million Catholics whose lives have been touched by a fundamental experience of the love of God being poured into their hearts by an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit, as better explained here.) The Pope and the other presenters at the Jubilee all reminded us we were there in response to a calling, and they exhorted us to return home, boldly bearing witness, testifying to what God has done in our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Inspiring Talks and Huge Masses

At talks the first day, we heard how to grow our charisms (supernatural gifts) and were urged to “go beyond” like Phillip performing miracles among the Samaritans and Peter and Paul laying hands on believers baptized in water but not yet baptized in the Holy Spirit. [See Acts 8:15-17.]

The next morning we attended a conversational ecumenical symposium where we heard the story of Cardinal Borgolio attending a prayer meeting at which the future Pope Francis asked to receive prayer for baptism in the Holy Spirit! We asked questions and the panelists engaged in storytelling, so we felt like insiders, which reinforced the value of personal witnessing.

Donna MacKay and Chris Smith with beautifully dressed Congolese women we met at the symposium.

From 3 until 11 pm that day, at an ancient chariot-racing stadium, with tens of thousands of pilgrims from 128 countries, we attended Mass concelebrated by about 200 charismatic priests and 50 bishops (at an altar as filled as the night before at St. John Lateran Basilica). I’ve never been so happy that I love languages and have absorbed more Latin than I’d imagined, as well as still understanding a lot of Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian. I was incredibly grateful that I could understand much of what was said or sung in its own language, though I was lost with German and Swahili!

In the Presence of Pope Francis

Back at the Circus Maximus the next day, awaiting the Pope’s arrival, the heat of the sun and fire of the Holy Spirit electrified the crowd! The holiness and universality of the kairos celebration transported us to new heights. We heard detailed testimony from Patti Gallagher Mansfield and David Magnin, the first two to experience the “dynamite” release of Holy Spirit at the Duquesne University retreat where the Catholic Charismatic Renewal began. Others at the 1967 retreat also experienced a personal Pentecost. From there, the Renewal began spreading like wildfire, surprising the Pentecostals who addressed us; they couldn’t believe Catholics were experiencing the same fullness of the Spirit as they did, and that the Catholic Church respected it before Protestant leadership did!

A few hours after this pep rally for God began, the enormous crowd rose in acclimation and excitement as huge screens revealed the Pope approaching the stage. His flowing white garments stood out in a sea of colors — flags from many nations, bright African fabrics proclaiming the wearers’ faith, banners, hats and scarves waving — and the Pope not surrounded by dozens of bodyguards and men in black clerics, but rather, to our delight, flanked on both sides by lay women: the President of International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services, and Patti Mansfield. Many of the laity, especially women, were moved to tears, as was I.

With the Pope seated center stage, the Preacher to the Papal Household and various Pentecostal Christians addressed the Jubilee crowd. Stressing unity and reconciled diversity, at one point the thousands shouted together: “Jesus is Lord!” Then, “God raised him from the dead,” and in response to “What does that make us? — “REDEEMED!” — repeated in one language after another.

Then to the song “Spirit of the Living God,” the Holy Father extended his hands over us and prayed for the Spirit to fall afresh on us. Bliss!

When Pope Francis gave his meditation, radio transmissions provided translations. Great joy erupted when he said:

• Either the Christian experiences joy in his or her heart, or there’s something wrong!
• Baptism in the Holy Spirit, praise, and serving one another are inseparable.  
• This charismatic renewal, what he calls a “current of grace,” is for ALL the Church, not just for some!

Pope Francis thanked all who’ve entered this current of grace for what we’ve given the Church, and he emphasized that the Church relies on us. He directed us to share Baptism in the Holy Spirit with ALL Christians, praise God ceaselessly, serve in unity, and bear witness to lives transformed by the Holy Spirit. We felt One in the Spirit. If you’d like to hear his talk, in Italian, click here! Spontaneous dancing could be seen everywhere — religious, laity, pilgrims all – previously unacquainted brothers and sisters hugging and exchanging high fives!

Pentecost Celebration at St. Peter’s Square

The following day at St. Peter’s Square, rejoicing continued in a glorious Pentecost Mass. We were blessed to stand within a few feet as the Pope passed by, sharing his joy with the crowd under a cerulean Roman sky!

Click here for a quick video clip.

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About the Author

Chris and her husband in St. Peter’s Basilica after a tour of the Vatican Museum

This was written by Chris Boersma Smith, one of 24 pilgrims on the tour sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco Catholic Charismatic Renewal — www.SFSpirit.com — led by Fr. Raymund Reyes and coordinated by Letty Ramos. A spiritual director and 5 Keys to Freedom in Christ UNBOUND Prayer Team leader who was baptized in the Holy Spirit during Confession in 1989, Chris gratefully reports that the pilgrimage did indeed release greater zeal and boldness in her! It’s already bearing juicy fruit in her San Francisco parish—St. Dominic’s—whose mission is to radiate the Joy of the Gospel in the Heart of the City.