“be who god meant you to be and you will set the world

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world ablaze” St. Catherine of Siena

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Theme & Prayer intention for the year: Live by the Spirit (Gal 5:16)

Welcome to the Group! We're so happy you joined. Our mission is to strive for the “Spread of His

fragrance” to everyone. “Hearts of Fire Prayer group has been well attended by 40 people on the

first meeting and continues every Friday.

Do join us every Friday from 7.30pm to 9pm in the church.

The Core Team consists of the following servant leaders; we look forward to meeting you.

Charlie & Sandra Gatt Ignatius & Caroline Simoes Anson Pereira Noelyn Fitzgerald

Charismatics remember you are the current of grace in the church-Do not be afraid, my spirit is with you! – St. John Paul

PREPARING FOR PENTECOST

Do we recall the eager anticipation with which we look forward to the great feast of Christmas? How joyfully we plan to

Celebrate? The sweets; the gifts; the new clothes, the list is endless. How we long for that day to dawn? What joy fills our

hearts when we wake on Christmas morning!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, this is exactly how our beloved Holy Spirit wishes us to look forward to and prepare for HIS own

Holy-Day, His Feast of Pentecost.

If The Apostle Paul was here with us today; if he was to look us directly in the eye and if he was to pose this same question

to us, “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” If Paul goes on to ask us if we have a ‘personal

relationship’ with the HS; if we had received and practiced the Gifts of the HS, if we practiced Discernment, if we

prophesied, could interpret tongues, could perform works of healing, etc., what would be our true and honest response?

Many of us will reply; “Yes Paul, we know that we must have received the Holy Spirit because we received the Holy Spirit at

our Baptism and Confirmation and we have attended many Life in the Spirit Seminars, however, we don’t really know too

much about the Holy Spirit, we don’t have a personal relationship with Him and we certainly don’t know much about these

strange gifts you speak about! Some may sadly confess, “ Yes Paul, once, a long time back I did receive the Holy Spirit

powerfully again during my personal renewal, Once, long back, I enjoyed such a close personal relationship with Him; Once

I was on Fire with love and power because of this loving and wonderful relationship; but, Paul, that was a long time back; to

be absolutely honest, Paul, somewhere along the way my loving vibrant relationship has gone cold; sometime along the

way that fire went out; today the Holy Spirit is almost like a total stranger to me! But only a very select and fortunate few

will be able to affirm, “Oh Yes, dear Paul, I have received the HS powerfully not only when I first came to the Charismatic

renewal but again and again I experience fresh infillings so regularly. And indeed Paul, because I have a constant, intimate

Personal relationship with the HS, I am gifted with, and frequently use His gifts of Discernment, Prophesy and Healing and

teaching, to help build my Catholic community.

Dear Friends, each of us knows in our hearts to which category of Catholics we belong, however, whether we are New in the

Spirit or Alive and Active in the Spirit or Stale in the Spirit, this Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will bless you, if you so desire, with

all your heart, for a deeper and infinitely more rewarding Personal relationship with Him. Let us ask Him to change our

hearts of stone, by repenting of our transgressions and by renewing our promises of fidelity to Him. May God the Holy

Spirit reward us all this Holy Pentecost, with a fresh Infilling of His Power and Grace!

Coming, ready or not! – Jesus.

Issue No.4 – May 2018


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BIBLE QUIZ 1) Jesus said that the Scribes and Pharisees tithed mint, anise and cumin, but had omitted

the weightier matters of the law. According to Jesus, what were the "weightier matters of the law"?

2) According to Jesus, what did people do in Noah's time?

3) How much money was paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying the Christ?

4) Finish the quote: "The spirit indeed is willing, but..."

5) Finish the quote: "All they that take the sword..."

6) Who said the following words: "Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in

a dream because of him."

7) Who said the following words: "I do not know the man."

8) Who said the following words: "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast."

9) Who was forced to carry the cross of Christ?

10) What is the meaning of the word Golgotha?

[The answers are at the end of the newsletter.]

SMILE AWHILE

A young man who was not a regular church-goer, bumped into his Pastor at the Supermarket. The Pastor grabbed

him by the arm, drew him aside and said, "Son, you need to join the Army of the Lord!" The young man replied, "I’m

already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." The Pastor questioned, "How come I don't "see you except at Christmas?"

The young man whispered back, "I'm in the secret service."

Give the devil an inch and he’ll be your ruler.

One Sunday morning, everyone in the tiny Country town went to the local church. Before the services started, the

townspeople were all happily sitting in the pews. Suddenly, satan appeared at the front of the church, ranting and

raving, his red eyes bulging, spitting fire and shaking his fists at the shocked congregation!! Everyone started

screaming and running for the entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from the evil, terrifying

apparition. In seconds the church was empty, except for satan and one little old lady in the front pew. She sat calmly,

unmoved that God's ultimate enemy stood in front of her. Now this really bugged and irritated satan, so he

swaggered up to the old lady and screamed, "Don't you know who I am?" "Yep, sure do," the old lady replied.

Satan was absolutely stunned! He asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?" Calmly she replied, "Nope, sure ain't!"

Satan, by now completely deflated and befuddled, pleads, "Why aren't you afraid of me?" The lil’ ol’ lady bluntly

replied, "Been married to your brother for 56 years."

When you do your work faithfully, your faith will be seen at work

11th May &

1st June, 2018

Starting 8th June


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Almighty father I thank you for this opportunity to glorify you through my testimony. Lord, as your servant, make use of me. Holy Spirit come upon me and touch all these hearts, as I share

this Testimony in your Name.

My name is Sheeba, I came from India, born in a family where I have seen my grandmother every day walking to church in the early morning for Mass till the age of 90. She always had a rosary in her hand praying and reading holy books. Every night, I could see her on her knees, on a hard mat with arms stretched in front of The Crucifix with 2 candles next to it. Sometimes I asked my grandmother “what are you doing; Why aren’t you sleeping?” She used to answer me saying “my child I am praying for the conversion of sinners in this world.”

I used to think she was crazy then, …. But today I can say that I believe in Christ not because my parents or grandparents believed or that they were Christians, I believe in Jesus Christ because I have grown to understand that God is the true God.

When I finished my schooling, my mother asked me one day to go with her to a Charismatic renewal retreat. The Retreat was for one full week and we had to stay there for the whole week. I refused to go, because I didn’t like people singing and praising out loud, and in a different language that I didn’t understand (which I found out later that the language was the Gift of tongues given by the Holy Spirit). I didn’t realise at that time that I was actually making fun of how those prayed. I never believed that such praising like what happened back then on the day of Pentecost 2000 years ago can is still happening in us in our time.

Eventually, after several arguments, I ended up going with my mother to a later Retreat, hoping that God may help me to pass the exams, and blessing my life.

On the first two days of the Retreat I was watching everyone. When the Priest asked to praise and glorify the Lord loudly, people started praying and singing loudly. Some people had tears running down their cheeks, some people were praising with gift of tongue. I just looked at all these people and was silently criticising them in my mind. At that stage of my life, I was very stubborn and never cared about anyone. My parents had enough money to live, so I never looked seriously towards my future in life. I never had any feeling towards who were suffering in pain.

During the Retreat I saw a miracle happen. A mother brought a 9-year-old paralytic child to the retreat. The child, (a girl), was lying on the floor because she was not able to walk, but when we prayed over her, and the priest blessed her, amazingly, the girl got up and walked. Another lady with a massive goitre hanging down over her chest was prayed over and her goitre disappeared and walked away healed.

On the third day during the praise and worship session, I started crying, and didn’t feel shy. I didn’t know why I was crying, tears started pouring from my eyes, and I couldn’t control what was happening to me. I felt as if I was standing in God’s presence and unworthy of the privilege. I felt that whatever I have was His Gift to me. I started to praise the Lord loudly along with others. Soon after that I felt heat passing through me and immediately I started praising loudly in tongue. I felt very joyful in that moment and didn’t have any words to explain or describe it. It was an amazing experience and didn’t want to stop praising the Lord.

A few years later I had an opportunity to attend a Charismatic Youth retreat, with around a thousand youth gathered. There were lots of priests and youth leaders from different states of India leading the praise and worship and healing. During the healing ministry, the priests and leaders going around and placing the hand on the top of each person and praying for a few minutes. Eventually, the entire community was praising Lord. When the team arrived to in front of me, the priest placed his hand on my head, and from his hand I could feel hot air circulating around my entire body. Almost instantly, I started to feel a similar experience similar to my previous Pentecostal encounter. However, during this encounter, I heard an announcement saying: “A girl by the name Sheeba has been healed at the moment from her severe menstrual pain and bleeding. I have never prayed for this and I was healed at that very moment. The Holy Bible says in Matthew 6:8 “do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”.

Christians: keep the faith . . . but not from others!


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Testimony contd…

Prior to that experience, I used to have irregular periods sometimes in cycles of two weeks. Very often I would faint due to heavy bleeding and pain. I was scared to travel and attend college. My parents took me to many doctors, and they all said it’s normal for some girls to have pain and severe bleeding. They usually suggested that it’s better not to take any treatment, otherwise your child will have trouble to conceive in the future. So, after such advice, I accepted that it was normal.

After my marriage, I came to Australia 2002. Eventually God blessed us with 2 children and everything was going smoothly. One night I felt severe abdominal pain, which lasted till early morning. I felt like something was wrong and I thought I better get it checked. When I understood the doctor wasn’t going to do any investigation, I said to the doctor that my sister died with cancer in early age. Although there is no family history that anyone had cancer, I developed a history of severe endometriosis which was diagnosed just before the birth of my two children. After that I underwent a pelvic ultrasound and the result came back showing a suspicious cyst in my ovary. An urgent CT scan was undertaken and the result came back indicating that the Cancerous cyst in my ovary needs to be confirmed through further blood tests. This was necessary before referring me to a Gynaecologist for a positive diagnosis.

I was very sad and cried and cried. I asked God, why have you given this to me. You took my sister at a very early age and now I have this situation? How are my parents going to feel about this news? I was also thinking of my small children and my husband. But I never gave up my hopes and prayers. On that Saturday around 3pm I was praying and praising God in my room. my eyes were closed, I was on my knees, I was also saying the Divine Mercy prayer. After my prayer session, I was praising God again and during the session, I felt the touch of the Holy Spirit. It was the same feeling I had in previous experiences. Instantly, I knew that Jesus was touching me. On the Monday, I went to see the Doctor to see my final blood test result and to confirm whether I had cancer.

The sad thing is that I had similar blood tests in the past, all confirmed that I had endometriosis. However, my Gynaecologist said that this condition will always be in me. So, my doctor suggested we do a final test to confirm I have cancer I didn’t have any doubt that the result was going confirm that I did have cancer. While waiting for the result, I prayed to God that all will be well. I stood n m strong faith throughout this troubling situation in my life and left it up to the Holy Spirit.

I underwent the test and following a few days I went to see the Doctor to receive the result. Praise God, the test result came back negative and everything was back to very normal. Finally, it was confirmed that I did not have any trace of cancer. I will conclude with this message I will assure you that in this world the greatest victory of a person is knowing God and the greatest knowledge a person can achieve is having spiritual knowledge. Thank you for your interest in my testimony and listening to me. May God bless you all. Glory to God, thank you Jesus and Praise you Jesus.

…….. Sheeba Pope.

ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ

1) Justice, mercy and faithfulness. Mt 23:23

2) Eat, drink, marry and give in marriage. Mt 24:38.

3) Thirty coins of silver Mt 26:15.

4) “The flesh is weak” Mt 26:41.

5) “Will die by the sword”. Mt 26:52.

6) The wife of Pontius Pilate .Mt 27:19.

7) St. Peter. Mt 26:74.

8) Judas Iscariot. Mt 26:48.

9) Simon of Cyrene. Mt 27:32.

10) The place of the Skull. Mt 27:33.

Editorial Note:- This newsletter has been compiled by and is brought to you with the prayers and blessings of the prayer group.

If you would like to contribute with any article (snippets, jokes, short stories, quiz, please contact Caroline Simoes by email: [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]

“be who god meant you to be and you will set the world

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