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ISSUE 113 July 6th, 2004 THE
EUROPEAN CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL INFO-LETTER (Euccril) |
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TO BUILD EUROPEAN UNITY How can we communicate what we discover in the
European meetings to the people of the basic prayer groups? This good
question was raised by Pierre Chieux, member of the
European sub-committee of ICCRS. For him, the only
answer is to discover the world (and Europe) inside the heart of Christ, at
the place where everything is healed if we maintain it there. We asked Pierre to explain this a little. His answer
is only a personal idea, but it can help us to Christian attitude towards
Europe. Kees Is n' it an exciting time to build
and celebrate European unity, to participate to Christian European meetings,
to have good friends of other European countries, easily reached by modern
means of communication. At the same time, in each of our countries, we can't
get away from divergences concerning our past heritage, from fears, struggle
for power, and lack of vision about our common European future. This can be
especially upsetting when it affects Christianity, charismatic circles, and
our own group or community. Each time we want to grasp a glimpse of Eden, and to enlarge it, it seems
that it immediately escapes. However this is exactly the key point, the crux.
When a spark of light comes from Heaven, it is in our darkness that we have
to let it shine. The more the light comes from Heaven, the more it touches us
deeply, in our heart, our intimate thoughts, and at last calls us to change
our cultural habits and collective behaviours. This fire starts to propagate
when all the dimensions of our own darkness with no exception are
illuminated. As human beings we are very reluctant to such radicalism and we
always dream of a man-made (scientifically, philosophical, theological,
juridical, economical, rational, social, political...) light which would be
exempt of shade and could be shined under our control. But in doing so, we
simply manifest our enslaving in the darkness. As disciples of Christ, our call is different,
it is to remain in His heart, in its broken heart, bringing all the darkness
of the world in the burning fire of the Father's love. The more we immerge
ourselves in this unique place, the more the world's darkness is revealed in
ourselves and in our circles. This can be a real storm and battle for our
faith, our mind, our body, but the victory is in the midst of it, a heavenly
victory that Christ has won. This is the coming of the Kingdom, which
manifests itself similarly in all dimensions of humanity and of the cosmos,
and is our only hope. We might be tempted to remain aside, but for each of us
it is our choice to say: here I am, Lord, in Your heart broken in the world,
at your will. Pierre Chieux, vice-chairman of the European sub-committee of ICCRS and National co-ordinator of CCR
in France NEWS - National representatives of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in 31
European Countries and representatives of 3 international networks of
communities will meet in Prague, September 2004. We ask your prayer for them. - September 7th - 11th 2005
is the next European ICCRS-conference of leaders
and intercessors. This will be in Budapest. This Info-Letter Euccril is
free to everybody who wants it. They can sent to keesslij@ision.nl and e-mail with the subject Euccril and this message: yes, put me on the
mailing-list of the European Catholic
Charismatic Renewal Info-letter. This Info-letter
started in 1999 and is issued by the European sub-committee of ICCRS, Chairperson Michelle Moran,
e-mail peterandmichelle@ukf.net Editor: Kees
Slijkerman, e-mail: keesslij@ision.nl |