FOOD FOR THOUGHT	             SPIRIT ALIVE
	
Fr Francis Marsden                                       				10/6/90
	
“I suffered from insomnia and for two or three years never got more than a couple of hours sleep. Last week, after I had been prayed over for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and I went home, I got the first full night’s sleep for ages. In addition, it’s been all right since then. No problem sleeping. I feel miles better.”

This was the witness of a middle-aged at a “Life in the Spirit” seminar , telling of the effect the prayer for the Holy Spirit had had on her. Back in 1979, this was my first contact with such seminars. I was most impressed. Running one evening a week for eight weeks, these seminars are designed to lead the participants to expect and ask for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit in their lives. The week before my visit the priest had actually been “praying over” people for this outpouring.

The prayers seemed to have been answered, quite dramatically in some cases. Another man in his forties told how his heart had been filled with joy, and a desire to praise and sing to God, which he had never felt before. Each morning since, he had gone to work on his moped, singing hymns and full of gratitude to God, despite the drizzle.

It took a real leap of faith for me to accept that the Holy Spirit could indeed come upon people in this way, by prayer and the laying on of hands. I had thought it was much harder to experience God’s love. My faith was weak. I began to realise that if we really believed Jesus’ promises about the Holy Spirit, and had undivided hearts, we would see much more of his power and love in our lives. For as Jesus said:

“If you then who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, bow much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” (Lk 11:13)

Some months later, at a Sunday afternoon healing service in St Laurence’s Birkenhead, I obtained my answer. The priest, Canon Kevin Byrne, and members of the local prayer group were offering to pray over anyone who came forward at the altar rails. A long queue of the sick lined up, mothers with babes in arms, limping men, and stooped pensioners. Being fit and healthy, I held back, but after forty minutes the queue was shortening, and the last supplicants going out. Obviously, the service would end soon.

I began to feel that I should go out and ask for prayer. An inner argument ensued. “What can I ask for? I’m young and healthy?” “You call yourself a scientist. Go and find out what it’s about. Trust in the Lord. You’ve come all this way from Runcorn.”

So, I went and knelt at the altar rails, not knowing what prayer to ask for. A lady came up. “I’m thinking of going in for the priesthood, but I’m not sure when or which order,” I stuttered. This must have been a signal for reinforcements, for she urgently beckoned to another lady, and together they both prayed over me. At first, she forced my head down hard upon the altar rails, so that I had to squirm to avoid breaking my glasses. 
She began with spontaneous praise, “Praise you Jesus, Praise you Lord” and such like, which was mixed with what was presumably “praying in tongues.” I found this all extremely embarrassing. I didn’t know what to say or do. Then the thought came to me: “If this is from the Lord, surrender to Him, and ignore what they are saying.” I did just this inwardly. Suddenly I had an intense experience of God’s presence, a sort of an upsurge of the Spirit within me. I felt almost as if my soul was being pulled out of my own body, in a direction towards the Tabernacle. I felt the urge to glorify God, even to join in their vocal prayer, but I restrained myself to a very few words. I walked away stunned, in utter stillness, wanting only to praise God who felt so present.
Somehow, I found my way back to the right bench, where I knelt down and prayed, absorbed, rapt, focused upon the Lord in the Tabernacle. Soon the service was drawing to a close, and Canon Byrne was bidding the remaining congregation farewell.  My friends, with whom I had come, asked: “Shall we go home now?”
	“No,” I answered, to their evident surprise, “ I just want to pray.” We ended up staying for the evening Mass.  When we finally left, on the way home I began singing hymns in the car, and wouldn’t shut up. The desire to sing and praise God lasted for days.
	This experience of God’s presence helped me to make the decision to leave my job at ICI and go on for the priesthood. I have always tried to support and encourage healing services ever since. Some Catholics seem to regard them as dubious imports from Protestant or Pentecostal circles. This is unfair. They are a rediscovery, which highlights certain elements of Catholic tradition, which had lain dormant or neglected: the role of the Holy Spirit, the laying on of hands and the healing ministry. 

	We see all these in the Sacraments themselves. Every Sacrament works by the power of the Holy Spirit. Each involves in some. way the laying on of hands. Each brings healing to body, mind or spirit. Each is a privileged meeting point with Christ.

1.	Confirmation is the Sacrament which most obviously involves the Spirit: “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The bishop extends his hands over the candidates and prays: “Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their Helper and Guide. Give them the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.”  There are reports from Africa that when the controversial healing Archbishop Milingo confirmed youngsters, on many occasions they began praying in tongues and prophesying, just like in the Acts of the Apostles. If we expected these effects, I wonder, might we too not experience them?

2.	In Confession, as the priest behind the curtain says the words of absolution, he raises his right hand over the penitent: “God has sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins. Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." If he is separated by a curtain or grille, the penitent does not see this gesture, but in face-to-face confession, the priest may lay his hands on your head as he absolves you.

3.	In the Mass, the Holy Eucharist, before the Consecration, the priest extends his hands over the bread and wine and calls down the Holy Spirit. This is known as the epiclesis, the calling-upon or invocation. The altar sever may ring the bell. The priest’s words are:  “Let your Holy Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eucharistic Prayer II) or “Father, may this Holy Spirit sanctify these offerings.”(Eucharistic Prayer I).  It is therefore the Holy Spirit, Who brings about the change at the Consecration, when Jesus’ words at the Last Supper are repeated. Later there is the epiclesis over the people, when we pray, “we, who are nourished by His body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit” (Eucharistic Prayer III).  Holy Communion brings us the energy and power of the Holy Spirit, ‘to form us into the Body of Christ.

4.	In the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick the priest first prays over the sick person in silence. Then, anointing the forehead, he says “May the Lord, in his love and mercy, help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.” Here is the Church’s “guaranteed” charism of healing in action.

5.	The Ordination of a deacon, priest or bishop is performed by the laying on of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit. When ordaining new deacons, the bishop prays, “Lord, send forth upon them the Holy Spirit that they maybe strengthened by the gift of your sevenfold grace." At a priestly ordination he prays, “Grant to these servants of yours the dignity of the priesthood. Renew within them the Spirit of holiness.” The most high voltage prayer must be the Ordination of a bishop, “So now pour out upon this chosen one that power which is from you, the governing Spirit, whom you gave to your beloved Son Jesus Christ, the Spirit given by Him to the holy apostles who founded the Church in every place.”

6.	Baptism is the sacrament of initiation which belongs together with Confirmation, both together forming the rite of entry into God’s holy people. One finds the laying on of hands only in the several minor exorcisms and blessings, which are carried out before adult baptism e.g. “In the power of the Holy Spirit we ask you to remove from these your servants all unbelief and hesitation in faith, the worship of false gods and magic, witchcraft and dealings with the dead, the love of money and lawless passions, enmity and quarrelling, and every manner of evil.”

7.	The Sacrament of Marriage is a little different. The priest does extend his hands over the newly-weds in the Nuptial Blessing. However, in western Latin theology, the spouses minister the Sacrament to each other by their love and life together. Christ becomes present in their love. They are channels of His love to each other, God’s gift to one other. This is more than a single laying on of hands. It is the permanent embrace of husband and wife who become "one flesh and one spirit,” and this calls down the tender gifts of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, from their love, the Lord and Giver of life can create a new human life, a child. However, in eastern-rite theology, the priest is the minister of the Sacrament of Matrimony, which he imparts at the “crowning” of the bride and groom.

Many are the ways of the Holy Spirit, both sacramental and charismatic. He is the Spirit of Truth — “intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, ‘unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp, irresistible, beneficent, loving to man, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating . . “ (Wis. 7:22-23)