BY KATHI STEARNS

Georgia Bulletin Staff Writer

MARIETTA--The transforming energy of the Holy Spirit ignited the hearts of more than 700 people who had gathered together Oct. 28 to glorify the Lord.

Words of praise, exaltation and thanksgiving reverberated throughout the Cobb Galleria Center as participants sought the renewal, grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This group of charismatic Catholics were attending a FIRE Rally, an evangelistic gathering emphasizing the topics of Faith, Intercession, Repentance and Evangelism. The rally was sponsored by the Catholic non-profit Faith Enrichment Institute based in Atlanta.

Three speakers, Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, Ralph Martin and Ann Shields, well known in the Catholic charismatic renewal movement over the past 25 years, travel as a team addressing key elements of the Gospel message.

Martin, a trustee of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and coordinator of The Word of God, an ecumenical Christian community in Ann Arbor, Mich., spoke of the need to wear a shield of faith. Active faith brings to life what grace has given, he said.

"Faith, for many of us, is an inherited gift that we receive from our families," he said. "Genuine faith in Jesus will lead to a transformed life."

Faith is never simply intellectual, but is a response to God in obedience and trust, Martin said. "We need to surrender, abandon and yield our lives to Christ." Salvation has been won by Christ's death and resurrection and is a matter of faith, not merit.

"By our very nature we deserve the wrath of God," Martin said. "But what we get instead is the mercy of God. We deserve hell, but what we are getting is heaven. That is why it is called the 'Good News.'"

"Salvation is a free gift," Martin added. "We are all equal before God in that we are complete beggars and totally dependent upon Him for grace and salvation."

Martin also stressed a need to turn from the ways of sin toward the way and life of God. Conversion is brought about as a result of hearing and preaching the word of God, he said.

"No one is going to drift into the Kingdom of God; one drifts into hell because that is where our society is leading us," Martin said. "No matter whose description of hell you hear, the fact remains that you don't want to go there. Whatever it is, wherever it is, hell sounds terrible. The only way not to be there is to be with Jesus who saves us from the wrath of God."

The second speaker, Ms. Shields, established that the scope of God's love and knowledge is unlimited; it embraces everything in the world and penetrates into every human heart.

"You are absolutely unconditionally loved by God," she said. "You were loved before the foundation of the world. You are not loved because of all your good desires or charitable works. You're loved by the mercy of God; it is a gift. He loved you so much he died for you, and he would be willing to die for you all over again. That's the kind of love God has for each one of us."

To illustrate, she related the story of a Protestant minister in California who was frustrated that his ministry was not helping people become more holy. He decided to take a trip across the country with his family to get away from the pressures of his ministry. While traveling in Ohio they stopped at a Dairy Queen and the minister decided to walk around outside the restaurant and pray while his family went inside. A pay phone outside the restaurant began to ring. He assumed the call was intended for a worker, but when it continued to ring the minister, filled with a mixture of curiosity and irritation, finally answered the phone. The operator asked for the pastor by name. He was incredulous, since no one, himself included, really knew where he was.

On the other end of the line was a suicidal woman from Pennsylvania. She told the pastor, "'Once I saw you on television in California, so I asked the Lord if I could talk to someone like you and these numbers just came into my head. I thought the numbers might be a phone number, so I dialed them. Are you in your office?'" And his response was, "'Madam, only God knows where I am.'"

Ms. Shields asked the rally participants to reflect on Psalm 139 in praise of God's omniscience. "The point I want to make is that God did know where (the minister) was," Ms. Shields said. "God knows right where you are. That same truth that (he) experienced is true for you today. He knows you and He knows all about you. This is unlimited love; this is forgiving love; this love is forever."

She explained that prayer, the raising of the mind and

soul to God, is necessary since through prayer people seek communion with God and are linked by love with the entire Church on earth and in heaven.

She asked the participants if they had ever prayed for something and then noticed that things had become worse and stopped praying. "That is the work of the enemy," she said. "When you start praying you engage the enemy in battle. He loves to kick up a lot of dust. You need to double your prayers in the face of the enemy; you'll be amazed at what happens. The enemy is really a coward."

Ms. Shields stressed that through prayer, reception of the sacraments, and perpetual adoration Christians abide in Christ's love. But abiding in God's love at times is challenging. "For God's love to abide in us, we must be willing to obey Him."

She recalled a conversation in which a friend told her that she felt that the Lord was asking something specific of Ms. Shields, who is a leader of women committed to single life in The Word of God community. She argued with her friend saying, "'You're wrong. God doesn't want that from me; I know what he wants from me.'"

The friend, shocked by Ms. Shield's response, said, "'Who do you think you are, the vice-president of Creation?'" Ms. Shields said she found herself honestly acknowledging her attitude of the moment, "'Yes I am. God is the president, and I acknowledge it. But I have a few good ideas and at the very least He could listen to my ideas and they might help adjust His plans; together we can make it work.'"

The crowd roared with laughter as they remembered the instances in their lives when they had tried to tell God what to do. "How many times have we told God to work it out in a particular way?" she said. "When we get desperate we tell God what to do. Remember God is God. We are not God."

"Each of us has such a limited vision," she said. "We can only see this present moment. Neither you nor I know what is going to happen tomorrow, but God does."

Father Scanlan, president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, told the participants that true repentance means sorrow for sins and turning to God, and conversion or changing of intention or attitude.

"Each of us needs an ongoing repentance," Father Scanlan said. "At all times, whether we are a little off course or whether we're way off course, we need this change of thinking. Repentance opens us up to mercy and the blessings of God. Repentance brings us closer to God. Repentance is what opens the heart of God."

"The conference was absolutely phenomenal," said Valerie Hoeft, a Catholic who had traveled from North Carolina to attend the FIRE rally. "All of the speakers touched my heart and soul. It was a very blessed day for me."

The rally concluded with the celebration of Mass. Father Tim Hepburn, parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, was the principal celebrant of the Liturgy. Father Scanlan, Father David Mary, and Father Larry Niese, parochial vicar at Holy Cross, Atlanta, concelebrated the Mass.

Father John Bertolucci, a priest evangelist of the Diocese of Albany, NY, who was originally scheduled to preach, was hospitalized after undergoing medical tests and was replaced as homilist by Father Scanlan.

His homily was the story of an student who had graduated in absentia in 1993 after losing a battle to cancer. Father Scanlan described this young woman as an academic scholar as well as someone who truly loved the Lord. Her motto was, "Take the light of the Lord and He will grant you your heart's desires; commit to the Lord your ways; trust in Him. However, the cancer was too much for her to fight off, and she slipped into a coma.

Unexpectedly Christie suddenly awakened from her coma, and her mother asked to whom she had been talking. Christie told her mother about her conversation with the Lord.

"Christ told her this was the time; 'I'm taking you home,'" Father Scanlan said. "But she asked the Lord for more time to share important values and the 'Good News' with those high school classmates whom she had not yet seen. And the Lord told her, 'If you go back, you'll be paralyzed.' Christie told Him that would be okay."

"What was amazing about her life was that she delighted in the Lord until the end," Father Scanlan said. "He gave her that heart's desire, that extra week. And during that week she became more than ever before an evangelist," as her friends came to her and listened to her story.

Father Scanlan told the congregation that each one of them, like Christie, is called to be an evangelist. "Christie was not exactly in the best shape to be an evangelist. She was paralyzed and dying of cancer. But knowing the call of God and knowing the gift of God in her life, she knew it was to be shared. And knowing it was to be shared, she asked for the opportunity to share it. If you know the glory, tell the story."

Father Scanlan encouraged the congregation to walk side by side with their brothers and sisters who don't know the Lord. He told them not to be afraid to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Reiterating the words of Pope John Paul II, Father Scanlan told the congregation, "You walk along beside them until you can teach them to walk along beside Jesus."

He encouraged the rally participants to meet in small groups weekly to pray, sing, share the Spirit and testify about personal faith experiences.

"We must continue to call one another to deeper commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Church," Father Scanlan said. "As long as you continue to invite others in, you are doing evangelizing work."

He encouraged rallies, perpetual adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, pilgrimages, groups like Promise Keepers and groups formed to assist the new evangelization effort.

Blessed with a gift of knowledge by the Holy Spirit Father Scanlan shared his insights with the congregation. He encouraged seven people who were exploring vocations to come forward so that the priests in attendance could pray over them.

Throughout the day music was performed by members of the Alleluia Community, an ecumenical community in Augusta committed to successful Christian living.

Thirty minutes before the rally began, the music served as a call to worship as the participants searched for seats. With arms outstretched they shouted out words of praise to their God. A series of musical selections also preceded the introduction of each speaker. The conclusion of the music signaled numerous spontaneous expressions of praise and thanksgiving. At times when the words necessary to praise Jesus were neither capable nor adequate for expressing what the spirit revealed, many rally participants praised their Lord in tongues.

Over 200 people lingered at the end of the rally to ask Father Scanlan to pray with them.

The rally was sponsored by FEI, a lay ecclesial organization

affiliated with the Archdiocese of Atlanta that provides educational and spiritual programs intended to enhance understanding of Church teachings and deepen the faith of Catholics in the Southeast.

"I was absolutely delighted with the response," said Deacon Loris Sinanian of FEI. "You could really feel the presence of the Spirit at work in that room. I've been getting phone calls all week thanking us for hosting such a spiritual weekend."