Archbishop John Wilson called upon the faithful to ‘announce the Gospel as Evangelists’ at a special Mass to celebrate the Life in the Spirit seminars which took place earlier this year.
“Apply to yourself the title of Evangelist,” Archbishop Wilson said, “Because that is exactly who you are, someone who, through the Holy Spirit knows and loves the Lord Jesus, someone who is called to share the heart knowledge of the Lord Jesus. By our words and actions, we must announce the Gospel as Evangelists.”
“Thank you to all who attended the Life in the Spirit Celebration Evening on 21st July in St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, and to all who contributed in any way, Special thanks go to the Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis and Southwark Catholic Charismatic Renewal who organised the occasion.”
Life in the Spirit seminars are designed as an introduction to a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. They provide an opportunity to find out more about that life, and to be helped in taking the first steps of a new relationship with the Lord.
The evening was filled with testimonies and praise and was completed by a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, celebrated by Archbishop Wilson. Following his homily, the Archbishop invited the congregation to join him on the Altar to pray for him, that he might ‘be a Shepherd after the Lord’s Heart’. The invitation led to a powerful experience where those gathered witnessed the ability of the Holy Spirit to meet us where we are and envelop us in the love of the Lord Jesus.
In his homily, Archbishop Wilson spoke of a shared calling to evangelise as Christians, and invited the congregation to pray on to the main sanctuary of St George’s Cathedral, Southwark. He also reflected on Pope St John Paul VI’s memorable discourse at the closing of the Second Vatican Council in 1963: “The Church has gathered herself in deep spiritual awareness to find in herself, active and alive, the Holy Spirit, the Word of Christ, and to probe more deeply still, the mystery, the plan, the presence of God, above and within her, to revitalise within her that faith, which is the secret of her confidence, of her wisdom and her love, which impels her to sing the praises of God without end.”
He encouraged those present to find the same qualities which Pope Paul VI described, within themselves, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.