Untitled Document


HIGHLIGHTS DEEPENING OUR DISCIPLESHIP WITH THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BEING BAPTISED DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN DISCIPLE About 600 plus participants gathered at the Majodi Centre, Plentong, Johor Baru, to get, as the Theme Song of the Rally says, the “Fresh Fire”, of the Holy Spirit. Participants came from the three Dioceses of Peninsular Malaysia, and also from Sabah and Sarawak The rally began with an opening Mass presided by Msgr. Sebastian Francis, assisted at the altar by Fathers: Rufus Pereira, Augustine Vallooran VC, Ravi Michael SJ, Rayan Innas, Benedict Yee and Francis Ng At the Eucharistic celebration on the first day, Friday, 23 November, Monsignor Sebastian Francis, V.G., in his Homily, called on participants to be FOLLOWERS of Jesus who ENCOUNTERED Jesus as his DISCIPLES , who were invited to STAY with him and then were SENT out ON MISSION . The CROWD only went to Jesus for healing and deliverance and then went home… . . “If you have already experienced this call, then I invite you in the next few days to DEEPEN THIS CALL .”


What they said-
Rev Fr Rufus Pereira We need the power of God ' s Word to start the flame of the Holy Spirit . “ Unless you make my WORD your HOME you cannot be my disciple ” . Only the truth can set you free and only when you are free can you be a DISCIPLE . Discipleship is the result of the proclamation of God ' s word and the acceptance of God ' s Word . Jesus ' reply to the first 2 disciples was come and SEE . In John Chpt 21Jesus says, come and EAT . Eat in the biblical sense is not to be content with the taste. To eat the WORD of God is to become a part of the person. Jesus is the WORD of GOD. Jesus told his disciples the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of My WORD, He is the Spirit of My truth. He will not teach anything new but he will remind you of all that I have TAUGHT. 1) The Bible is a book of messages . 2) Read it as God ' s promises to me. 3) Then act on it ,OBEY IT RIGHT NOW. THEN IT BECOMES A LIVING WORD. His Testimony At my first Prayer meeting. For the first time I heard a lay person speaking on the God ' s word from the book of Galatians as if he treated it to be God ' s Word. That is how I came into the Charismatic Renewal. I had studied Scripture in Rome and did my doctorate in St. John ' s Gospel. My professor said it was the best defence on the subject he had heard in the last 30 years of his teaching career. But once I finished my studies I Closed my books and never looked at them again. The Bible was a book to be studied academically in order to get a degree and make an impression on my Bishop. Now I heard of man speaking of the Bible as if he believed it was God ' s LIVING WORD to man. So I said I will come for the weekly prayer meetings only to listen to the word being preached. I knew that this was the authentic Catholic faith. I did not accept anything if was not according to the Bible and the teaching of the Church. Therefore I believe in the power of God ' s Word “ To Start a Flame ” My mother had broken her elbow and it had turned to ‘ powder ' and needed to be amputated. I Used to pray over her in the morning, afternoon, evening and night. The day before the operation I was inspired by the Spirit to tell my brother to ask the doctor to take one last X-ray before the operation. What gave me the courage? As I was praying for my mother the Spirit brought to my mind the passage from Mk.16:17ff. They will lay their hands on the sick and they will get well. For the first time I said Lord understand what you are telling me. When the doctor took the X-ray, all the bones on the elbow which he said had turned to powder had been set back in place. When the plaster was removed she could move her left arm just as well as her right arm and did not need any physiotherapy. Rev Fr Augustine Vallooran Exclusive Interview by Vincent D' Silva JOHOR BAHRU – “ We need to reach out to God and experience him as a loving Father, encounter Jesus as the Lord and Saviour and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.” This was declared by the leading charismatic figure, Fr. Augustine Vallooran,V.C. in an exclusive interview at the sidelines of the recently concluded Diocesan Catholic Charismatic Rally at Majodi Centre, Plentong. He urged Catholics to open their hearts to their neighbour in sharing this love with one another. Fr. Vallooran is the director of the English and other languages retreats at the Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor, Kerala in India . The world-renowned retreat preacher has visited more than 50 countries conducting retreats for bishops, priests, religious and laity. He said that we need to be reborn in the Holy Spirit in order to be united with Jesus and live forever, adding “we also need to have faith in Jesus, to love him, to be committed to him, to respond without reservation to his call to spread the kingdom.” The 58-year-old priest who has authored a book, ‘ You are Precious To Me' stressed that we need to proclaim Jesus as the Lord and this gives us a responsibility to reach out to everyone. He said, “We cannot be satisfied with our salvation but must be concerned with others and this is what Mother Teresa did which she reached out to others and became a symbol of hope to everyone.” To a question on how is the charismatic renewal is bringing about “the New Church of Christ” and the “new man baptised in the Spirit” to be a beacon for the kingdom, Fr. Vallooran said, “The charismatic renewal recaptures the Spirit of the early church which has two aspects of Love; firstly they accepted everyone irrespective of culture, race and language and secondly, they shared everything with each other.” He also stated that the Holy Spirit, the powerhouse of the Kingdom brings Healing, Exorcism and Renewal and for this to happen, the sick and the broken hearted are to be taken care of. He explained that we need to pray for them in the name of Jesus and He promises that he would heal them and by being available to them in their distress. When asked regarding the charismatic disciples of the Church in Malaysia , Fr. Vallooran pointed out that the charismatic disciples are very zealous in practicing their faith and bearing witness to Jesus Christ. “They must work with the grassroot level of the Church making Jesus relevant to the people around them, very specially the least of the brethren of Jesus,” he said. “Broken families, disoriented youths, face the biggest threat in our society today and the charismatic disciples should work to build up families in their parishes.” To build up charismatic leaders and leadership in a Malaysian Church , Fr. Vallooran called on the leaders to be prepared to share God's word and lead the people in the power of God's word. He also said they must work closely with the leaders of the Church and be very sensitive to the needs of the local Church. He cautioned that charismatic leaders should never endeavour to build a parallel Church and their work must be in line with the projects of the local community initiated by the bishops and parish priests. “As charismatic preachers, he said, we are here to serve as we are called in and we have no agenda of our own. Our attempt is to serve the needs of the local church.” Elaborating, he said Charismatic preachers have always challenged the Church to recapture the zeal and the spirit of the early Christian community . To another question on what are the ingredients of the growth of a charismatic Church powerful to evangelise Malaysia, he said, “This charismatic Church should reach out to the poor, sick and they must keep their hearts open to all men of goodwill of all religions and cultures so that peace of Jesus Christ may come into this country.” “For a charismatic Christian no one is a stranger as everyone is a brother or sister and therefore we will need to build bridges to unite the whole nation in a spirit of love and peace.” However, he said the centre of the life of a Church must be the sharing of the word of God and the celebration of the sacraments . HIS TESTIMONY The professor who taught me in the seminary left to get married at the age of 50; this shattered me. I was offended and hurt. I said myself I must rethink my vocation. Will I too leave the priesthood at the age of 50? When I consulted my spiritual director he told me that my vocation was between me and God. He said that I should become a priest only if I'm chosen and called. He said I should hear God calling me by name. He then explained to me 1 Samuel chpt 3. Samuel was called by God but thought that the priest Eli was calling him. Finally Eli led him to listen to God's voice. He asked me to wait in prayer. While attending a directed retreat with him, he told me pray the prayer of Samuel, “Speak Lord your servant is listening”. Being a silent retreat he asked me to pray 10 hours a day. I prayed for 4 days nothing happened. On the fifth day I “felt so nice” a cool sensation all over my body. I felt it was so nice to be a priest. When I shared this with my spiritual director he told me that I could not base my priesthood on feelings but to experience discipleship by hearing God calling me by name. After breakfast on the sixth day, I sat for hours. The other retreatants informed the spiritual director that I was missing at lunch and tea, but he thought I was asleep and asked them to not to disturb me. I was not asleep. If at any time I was awake in my life, it was during those eleven hours. I saw my Jesus clearly before me. I heard him, He said to me, “Augustine you are precious to me, you are dear to me and I love you”. It was later that I realised I had spent 11 hours before the Lord. It was as if time stood still, I wasn't aware of time. I was lost in that sight and voice . Jesus spoke to me, calling me by name and telling that I was precious to him through Isaiah Chpt 43:4. When I shared it with my spiritual director he embraced me and told me that this was the moment of my call. He said I should never forget this moment of my life. Now when I'm tired and anxious I go back to that moment and experience the same face the same words the same call. The power of my priesthood is experienced in God's call. The experience has been a moment of my disciple ship. The experience keeps me close to Jesus and I invite Him at every moment into my life. Jude Antoine Jude in his talk on “commitment as disciples, began by saying, that we Our lives need to be Transformed. We need to Worship God in Spirit and Truth. Worship transforms . He said songs and music at a prayer meeting are only the runway to Worship. We need to MATURE as Christians and stop making excuses for not maturing, as individuals or as CCR prayer Groups.1pet.2:17- 22 We need to submit our lives to Jesus . We need to go beyond. Quoting Heb 5:11-14, he said we need solid food and not still feed on milk. When we are spiritual matured he said, we will be able to distinguish good from evil. If we don't grow into maturity, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal will not make a difference. The CCR is for the renewal of the entire Church. We need to become authentic and radical disciples. WE need to DIE to self. Jesus must take first place in your life. You cannot love two masters. We need to make a hundred percent commitment to the LORD, as said in Matt: 10:37. There IS a PRICE to Pay . Jude quoting from 2 Sam: 24:24 said, although Araunah offered David all that he needed to make an offering to the Lord, David said, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offering that cost me nothing. He asked the participants, “Am I willing to pay the price? Am I willing to build a relationship with God? Am I willing to read the WORD? Am I willing to pray?” Am I teachable? Am I humble? Am I open and willing to learn? He said, “There are many people in the Renewal but very few renewed people”. True renewed people go on to make other disciples. The good news of what God wants to do for us, lies in our whole hearted commitment to Him, he said. Jude and his family HIS TESTIMONY I was the only child born into a Catholic family. Due to the experience of a very painful labour my mother never had any children after that. I was born asthmatic. I didn't have any friends. My best friend was my father. I played with him, he took me everywhere and I had the best time with my father. My parents were good Catholics. I received the sacraments of communion and Confirmation at a very young age, without realising what they meant. All I knew was that I had to go to church on Sundays, when to sit when to stand and receive Holy Communion. That for me equated to being a good Catholic. Jude shared in his talk on Commitment as Disciples , that when he was 15 years old, his father died. He took charge of the family and chose to harden his heart. He was in misery. He blamed God for his father's death. “There is no God,” he said. He took a different career path and ended up hating himself. He was at the point of suicide when he asked God to “show yourself to me.” Then he heard a voice in his ear, “ I took away your father and I will be your father .” Love poured over him. While he was sobbing in this experience of love flooding him, he received the gift of tongues. There were many ups and downs in his life, Jude went on, but God never abandoned him. After sensing God inviting him, Jude went into full time ministry in 1993. Rev Fr. Ravi Diocesan CCR Liasion Melaka-Johor Diocese We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming, (Eph:4:14) To become a disciple is to desire as God desires . Discipleship begins to take shape when God's own heart BECOMES OUR HEART. Our foundational values and our way of desiring must be God's values and deepest desires . The CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL is a constant re-awakening of this heartbeat that is inscribed deep within our own being and in creation . Fr Ravi said that Deep values come from God, and we must transmit these to the world. The world today manipulates our desires, and is profit-orientated. It is far removed from the values of God's kingdom. It is necessary for us, then, to have a deep encounter with God, so that God becomes the source of our vision and mission. God's heart IS made MOST VISIBLE through- communion (Ephesians 4:1-16). The more truth, goodness, beauty, holiness, love – all that contributes to the genuine growth of life – is present in a community, the more is God's heart beating in that community. We must become authentic disciples of the Lord by renewing our commitment in taking ownership of this mission . …Living community is itself mission. As we embark upon this new stage of our journey of thinking and feeling with the Church and in communion with the whole human family and creation, we are aware of the many challenges before us. However, we must rely upon the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and empower us, in the firm belief that our communion is our strength. The Spirituality of Communion which is made tangible in our families and BECs and our local Church is our primary mission. WE MUST BECOME GOD'S VISION : We are being invited to withdraw from barriers and boundaries and struggle for a greater communion among ourselves. We must become a community that embodies the values and desires of God's heart. The primary gift of the Spirit is to transform our hearts and minds into becoming the heart and mind of God/Christ . Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all ! As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience . Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. ( Col : 3:9-14) Prayer of Generosity: Dearest Lord, Teach me to be generous, Teach me to serve You as You deserve, To give and not to count the cost, To fight and not to heed the wounds, To toil and not to seek for rest, To labor and seek not for reward, Except that of knowing that I do Your most holy will. Amen.

Rev Fr Rufus Pereira

We need the power of God ' s Word to start the flame of the Holy Spirit . “ Unless you make my WORD your HOME you cannot be my disciple ” . Only the truth can set you free and only when you are free can you be a DISCIPLE . Discipleship is the result of the proclamation of God ' s word and the acceptance of God ' s Word . Jesus ' reply to the first 2 disciples was come and SEE . In John Chpt 21Jesus says, come and EAT . Eat in the biblical sense is not to be content with the taste. To eat the WORD of God is to become a part of the person. Jesus is the WORD of GOD. Jesus told his disciples the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of My WORD, He is the Spirit of My truth. He will not teach anything new but he will remind you of all that I have TAUGHT.

1) The Bible is a book of messages . 2) Read it as God ' s promises to me. 3) Then act on it ,OBEY IT RIGHT NOW. THEN IT BECOMES A LIVING WORD.

His Testimony
At my first Prayer meeting. For the first time I heard a lay person speaking on the God ' s word from the book of Galatians as if he treated it to be God ' s Word. That is how I came into the Charismatic Renewal. I had studied Scripture in Rome and did my doctorate in St. John ' s Gospel. My professor said it was the best defence on the subject he had heard in the last 30 years of his teaching career. But once I finished my studies I Closed my books and never looked at them again. The Bible was a book to be studied academically in order to get a degree and make an impression on my Bishop. Now I heard of man speaking of the Bible as if he believed it was God ' s LIVING WORD to man. So I said I will come for the weekly prayer meetings only to listen to the word being preached. I knew that this was the authentic Catholic faith. I did not accept anything if was not according to the Bible and the teaching of the Church. Therefore I believe in the power of God ' s Word “ To Start a Flame ”

My mother had broken her elbow and it had turned to ‘ powder ' and needed to be amputated. I Used to pray over her in the morning, afternoon, evening and night. The day before the operation I was inspired by the Spirit to tell my brother to ask the doctor to take one last X-ray before the operation. What gave me the courage? As I was praying for my mother the Spirit brought to my mind the passage from Mk.16:17ff. They will lay their hands on the sick and they will get well. For the first time I said Lord understand what you are telling me. When the doctor took the X-ray, all the bones on the elbow which he said had turned to powder had been set back in place. When the plaster was removed she could move her left arm just as well as her right arm and did not need any physiotherapy.

Rev Fr Augustine Vallooran

Exclusive Interview by Vincent D' Silva
JOHOR BAHRU – “ We need to reach out to God and experience him as a loving Father, encounter Jesus as the Lord and Saviour and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.”

This was declared by the leading charismatic figure, Fr. Augustine Vallooran,V.C. in an exclusive interview at the sidelines of the recently concluded Diocesan Catholic Charismatic Rally at Majodi Centre, Plentong.

He urged Catholics to open their hearts to their neighbour in sharing this love with one another.

Fr. Vallooran is the director of the English and other languages retreats at the Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor, Kerala in India . The world-renowned retreat preacher has visited more than 50 countries conducting retreats for bishops, priests, religious and laity.

He said that we need to be reborn in the Holy Spirit in order to be united with Jesus and live forever, adding “we also need to have faith in Jesus, to love him, to be committed to him, to respond without reservation to his call to spread the kingdom.”

The 58-year-old priest who has authored a book, ‘ You are Precious To Me' stressed that we need to proclaim Jesus as the Lord and this gives us a responsibility to reach out to everyone.

He said, “We cannot be satisfied with our salvation but must be concerned with others and this is what Mother Teresa did which she reached out to others and became a symbol of hope to everyone.”

To a question on how is the charismatic renewal is bringing about “the New Church of Christ” and the “new man baptised in the Spirit” to be a beacon for the kingdom, Fr. Vallooran said, “The charismatic renewal recaptures the Spirit of the early church which has two aspects of Love; firstly they accepted everyone irrespective of culture, race and language and secondly, they shared everything with each other.”

He also stated that the Holy Spirit, the powerhouse of the Kingdom brings Healing, Exorcism and Renewal and for this to happen, the sick and the broken hearted are to be taken care of.

He explained that we need to pray for them in the name of Jesus and He promises that he would heal them and by being available to them in their distress.

When asked regarding the charismatic disciples of the Church in Malaysia , Fr. Vallooran pointed out that the charismatic disciples are very zealous in practicing their faith and bearing witness to Jesus Christ.

“They must work with the grassroot level of the Church making Jesus relevant to the people around them, very specially the least of the brethren of Jesus,” he said. “Broken families, disoriented youths, face the biggest threat in our society today and the charismatic disciples should work to build up families in their parishes.”

To build up charismatic leaders and leadership in a Malaysian Church , Fr. Vallooran called on the leaders to be prepared to share God's word and lead the people in the power of God's word.

He also said they must work closely with the leaders of the Church and be very sensitive to the needs of the local Church.

He cautioned that charismatic leaders should never endeavour to build a parallel Church and their work must be in line with the projects of the local community initiated by the bishops and parish priests.

“As charismatic preachers, he said, we are here to serve as we are called in and we have no agenda of our own. Our attempt is to serve the needs of the local church.”

Elaborating, he said Charismatic preachers have always challenged the Church to recapture the zeal and the spirit of the early Christian community .

To another question on what are the ingredients of the growth of a charismatic Church powerful to evangelise Malaysia, he said, “This charismatic Church should reach out to the poor, sick and they must keep their hearts open to all men of goodwill of all religions and cultures so that peace of Jesus Christ may come into this country.” “For a charismatic Christian no one is a stranger as everyone is a brother or sister and therefore we will need to build bridges to unite the whole nation in a spirit of love and peace.”

However, he said the centre of the life of a Church must be the sharing of the word of God and the celebration of the sacraments .

HIS TESTIMONY
The professor who taught me in the seminary left to get married at the age of 50; this shattered me. I was offended and hurt. I said myself I must rethink my vocation. Will I too leave the priesthood at the age of 50? When I consulted my spiritual director he told me that my vocation was between me and God. He said that I should become a priest only if I'm chosen and called. He said I should hear God calling me by name. He then explained to me 1 Samuel chpt 3. Samuel was called by God but thought that the priest Eli was calling him. Finally Eli led him to listen to God's voice. He asked me to wait in prayer. While attending a directed retreat with him, he told me pray the prayer of Samuel, “Speak Lord your servant is listening”. Being a silent retreat he asked me to pray 10 hours a day.

I prayed for 4 days nothing happened. On the fifth day I “felt so nice” a cool sensation all over my body. I felt it was so nice to be a priest. When I shared this with my spiritual director he told me that I could not base my priesthood on feelings but to experience discipleship by hearing God calling me by name.

After breakfast on the sixth day, I sat for hours. The other retreatants informed the spiritual director that I was missing at lunch and tea, but he thought I was asleep and asked them to not to disturb me. I was not asleep. If at any time I was awake in my life, it was during those eleven hours. I saw my Jesus clearly before me. I heard him, He said to me, “Augustine you are precious to me, you are dear to me and I love you”. It was later that I realised I had spent 11 hours before the Lord. It was as if time stood still, I wasn't aware of time. I was lost in that sight and voice . Jesus spoke to me, calling me by name and telling that I was precious to him through Isaiah Chpt 43:4. When I shared it with my spiritual director he embraced me and told me that this was the moment of my call. He said I should never forget this moment of my life. Now when I'm tired and anxious I go back to that moment and experience the same face the same words the same call. The power of my priesthood is experienced in God's call. The experience has been a moment of my disciple ship. The experience keeps me close to Jesus and I invite Him at every moment into my life.

Jude Antoine

Jude in his talk on “commitment as disciples, began by saying, that we Our lives need to be Transformed.

We need to Worship God in Spirit and Truth. Worship transforms . He said songs and music at a prayer meeting are only the runway to Worship.

We need to MATURE as Christians and stop making excuses for not maturing, as individuals or as CCR prayer Groups.1pet.2:17- 22

We need to submit our lives to Jesus . We need to go beyond.

Quoting Heb 5:11-14, he said we need solid food and not still feed on milk. When we are spiritual matured he said, we will be able to distinguish good from evil.

If we don't grow into maturity, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal will not make a difference. The CCR is for the renewal of the entire Church. We need to become authentic and radical disciples. WE need to DIE to self. Jesus must take first place in your life. You cannot love two masters. We need to make a hundred percent commitment to the LORD, as said in Matt: 10:37.

There IS a PRICE to Pay . Jude quoting from 2 Sam: 24:24 said, although Araunah offered David all that he needed to make an offering to the Lord, David said, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offering that cost me nothing. He asked the participants, “Am I willing to pay the price? Am I willing to build a relationship with God? Am I willing to read the WORD? Am I willing to pray?”

Am I teachable? Am I humble? Am I open and willing to learn?

He said, “There are many people in the Renewal but very few renewed people”.

True renewed people go on to make other disciples. The good news of what God wants to do for us, lies in our whole hearted commitment to Him, he said.

Jude and his family

HIS TESTIMONY
I was the only child born into a Catholic family. Due to the experience of a very painful labour my mother never had any children after that. I was born asthmatic. I didn't have any friends. My best friend was my father. I played with him, he took me everywhere and I had the best time with my father. My parents were good Catholics. I received the sacraments of communion and Confirmation at a very young age, without realising what they meant. All I knew was that I had to go to church on Sundays, when to sit when to stand and receive Holy Communion. That for me equated to being a good Catholic.

Jude shared in his talk on Commitment as Disciples , that when he was 15 years old, his father died. He took charge of the family and chose to harden his heart. He was in misery. He blamed God for his father's death. “There is no God,” he said. He took a different career path and ended up hating himself. He was at the point of suicide when he asked God to “show yourself to me.” Then he heard a voice in his ear, “ I took away your father and I will be your father .” Love poured over him. While he was sobbing in this experience of love flooding him, he received the gift of tongues. There were many ups and downs in his life, Jude went on, but God never abandoned him. After sensing God inviting him, Jude went into full time ministry in 1993.

Rev Fr. Ravi
Diocesan CCR Liasion Melaka-Johor Diocese

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming, (Eph:4:14)

To become a disciple is to desire as God desires . Discipleship begins to take shape when God's own heart BECOMES OUR HEART.

Our foundational values and our way of desiring must be God's values and deepest desires . The CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL is a constant re-awakening of this heartbeat that is inscribed deep within our own being and in creation . Fr Ravi said that Deep values come from God, and we must transmit these to the world. The world today manipulates our desires, and is profit-orientated. It is far removed from the values of God's kingdom. It is necessary for us, then, to have a deep encounter with God, so that God becomes the source of our vision and mission.

God's heart IS made MOST VISIBLE through- communion (Ephesians 4:1-16). The more truth, goodness, beauty, holiness, love – all that contributes to the genuine growth of life – is present in a community, the more is God's heart beating in that community. We must become authentic disciples of the Lord by renewing our commitment in taking ownership of this mission . …Living community is itself mission. As we embark upon this new stage of our journey of thinking and feeling with the Church and in communion with the whole human family and creation, we are aware of the many challenges before us.

However, we must rely upon the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and empower us, in the firm belief that our communion is our strength. The Spirituality of Communion which is made tangible in our families and BECs and our local Church is our primary mission.

WE MUST BECOME GOD'S VISION : We are being invited to withdraw from barriers and boundaries and struggle for a greater communion among ourselves. We must become a community that embodies the values and desires of God's heart. The primary gift of the Spirit is to transform our hearts and minds into becoming the heart and mind of God/Christ .

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all ! As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience . Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. ( Col : 3:9-14)

Prayer of Generosity:

Dearest Lord,

Teach me to be generous,

Teach me to serve You as You deserve,

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest,

To labor and seek not for reward,

Except that of knowing that I do Your most holy will. Amen.

MESSAGES
Bishop Antony Selvanayagam in his address as Episcopal Advisor to the CCR of Peninsular Malaysia called on the participants to deepen their understanding of Jesus and become his true disciples for mission in the church and in the world		Bishop Paul Tan, SJ, in his message to the participants urged charismatics to proclaim that God lives, because they live in him, who dwells and works powerfully in them through the Holy Spirit .

The Peninsular Malaysia Service Team (PMST) chairman, Clement Samuel in his address praised the Diocesan Service Team of Melaka-Johor for taking the initiative to organise this rally. He said, “We need to see that the experience of the Holy Spirit is not only for some people but for the whole Church. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not something extra but part and parcel of the very nature of being a Christian.”		Newly appointed DST head for Melaka-Johor, Fr. Ravi Michael, SJ, in his speech said, “We will have to struggle to inhabit the space that is opened for us by the theme of this rally,” he added, that we will have to rest, explore and dwell within the reality of what this theme unveils to us .

DST, Simon Matthew stated that the aim of this rally is to affirm the work of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives, to understand clearly the role and mission of the CCR. He said, “We need the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit for the up-building of the body of Christ


MUSIC MINISTRY
If the Rally was to be summarised by a visual. I believe it would be the Music ministry. They had all the qualities mentioned by the speakers for discipleship. Under the leadership of John De Souza the music ministry comprised of DST members, BEC members from Skudai, Johor and youth. It also comprised of husbands and wives, parents and children. Formed eleven months before the rally. The music ministry members not only went through practices but were tested and purified for the mission that awaited them. They played with balanced sounds and sang with harmony that inspired worship. They proclaimed what they believed through music and song . They were one of the best I have seen in many years. (reported by Gerry Pereira)