According to the preacher of the Pontifical Household, the first
consequence of a baptism in the Holy Spirit is an overwhelming desire to
proclaim Christ.
Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa said this
at an international colloquium on baptism in the Spirit, held March
17-20 in Rome.
The event was attended by some 150 theologians
and sponsored by the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services
(ICCRS) in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, president of that dicastery, celebrated the Mass on Friday.
Father Cantalamessa, in addition to his address, also led Eucharistic adoration.
The
colloquium considered the contemporary experience of baptism in the
Spirit from biblical, theological and pastoral points of view,
especially in its relationship to the sacraments of baptism and
confirmation.
According to an ICCRS report, Father Cantalamessa
noted "that in contrast to many other charismatic and prophetic groups
in Church history, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal has had a strong
ecclesial bent.
It aligned itself with previous renewal movements
through the capacity it brought for a change of life, but differed from
them in its fidelity to the institutional Church.
He emphasized that
credit for this belongs not to the Charismatic Renewal alone but also to
the hierarchy, and particularly to the courage of Popes Paul VI, John
Paul II and Benedict XVI."
Father Denis Biju-Duval, a professor
at the Pontifical Lateran University, looked at baptism in the Spirit in
relation to the sacrament of confirmation.
He lamented "the
secularized atmosphere of Western culture [that] does not favor the
integration of faith into a person's life" and thereby restricts the
effects of the "sacrament of Pentecost."
The ICCRS report noted
his affirmation that for spiritual growth to take place, it is necessary
that the graces of baptism and confirmation unfold at the level of
experience.
Bishop Michel Santier of Créteil, France, spoke
about baptism in the Spirit in the writings of the Church Fathers, while
Beatriz Spier Vargas, a leader of the Charismatic Renewal in Brazil,
shared about the impact of the Renewal in her country.
Other
lay leaders and priests shared about the impact of the Charismatic
Renewal in India, Malta, Guatemala, Benin, Cameroon, England and Korea.
According
to Oreste Pesare, director of ICCRS, the colloquium will be followed by
the publication of a document on baptism in the Spirit.