mjlm: News

Since I've last written, my pastor, Fr. Bill Halbing, has been appointed the Liason for the Charismatic Renewal in the Archdiocese of Newark. Fr. Bill has a desire to reach every parish and institution in the Archdiocese with the Gospel and the wonderful gift of being Baptized in the Holy Spirit. We, of Gratia Plena Evangelical Community, wholeheartedly support Fr. in his work to do just that!

Kim Faszczewski, our first female residential member of GPEC, has discerned that Community is something she'd like to further explore and has begun a period of six months of continued living at St. A's. Please congratulate her, and pray for Kim and her family!

Lastly, our first Mission Immersion was a tremendous experience with so many moments of grace and growth in God. We will be having our first official follow up on February 19th. See our Gratia Plena Evangelical Community Organization page on Facebook for details.

Peace!

mm

My friends, it is with joy and wonder that I announce the birth of a new lay community in the Church: Gratia Plena Evangelical Community! Gratia Plena is Latin for "Full of Grace." I will be sharing in the Blog section more about the name and the mission as we go on.

We have been under the spiritual direction of Fr. Joseph Meagher, and under the pastorship of Fr. Bill Halbing of St. Antoninus Church in Newark, where we have been in residence for 4 months.

Our vision is to run short-term mission trips in Newark as a way of serving and evangelizing our neighbors. Please pray for us as we plan our first one, scheduled for early January, 2011!

To God be all the glory!

We are planning a concert to benefit Long Way Home. Their mission is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty by providing access to education and vocational training.  The school is being built using recycled materials.  With trash service a problem in rural areas, this innovative ‘green’ building project addresses both education and the environment.

Click on the link for more details on Long Way Home.

http://www.firstgiving.com/maryannskender

And more details on the concert will be posted in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

A few of us who have been praying about community will be moving into St. Antoninus tomorrow (Saturday May 1, 2010) for two weeks. We will begin with a Mass with Fr. Fortea, followed by a talk on Pentecost and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We plan on having shared prayer times, meals in common, and to open our hearts to serve one another and God.

The Christian life is not for half hearted people, but for those who will swan dive into Grace, Faith, and Love. Jesus calls us to a radical departure from the world's view point and values. Life in God, that is the goal. And as Paul wrote, we go "from glory to glory!"

Please feel free to call us or visit: St. Antoninus Church, 337 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07013. My number is 973-489-0509. To God be all the glory, now and forever!

I have just published a poetry page here on the web site. Before I started my day to day journal accounts on October 3, 1983, I had another journal with mostly poetry and lyric in it. I have written poetry ever since. I am not a trained poet or a studied poet or perhaps even a good poet. But I write poetry and I love poetry. And I hope you enjoy my poems, and if you are so inspired, share yours with me!

mjlm

A note of thanks to everyone who helped out at Youthfest. First, again, to Tom Berrios, who prodded me to call Rich Donovan, the associate director of special events for youth and young adults in the Archdiocese of Newark, to see if he was open for me to do a workshop. Well, Rich not only gave me a workshop slot, but asked me to play some music as well. Thanks, Rich! Thanks, Tom!

Muchos gracias to Luci Labrego who took pictures throughout the day (rumors are she was born with a camera in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other:) and to Johanna Fuentes who drew the little fishies and other characters on the cardboard box that held my cd's and who also helped put the cd cases together.

Thanks to Steve Landelius and Eliza Aguilar who shared their gifts of music. Look for them at future gigs as well!

Crazy thankful thanks to Kim Faszczewski who did too much to mention, including helping put cd's together, spending hours designing the flyers, making signs for the table, sitting at the cd & flyer table all day, and through it all smiling and saying it was a joy to serve!! I don't deserve brothers and sisters in Christ like I have, but I sure am grateful for them!!!

Thanks, last of all, and MOST of all, to God, who is in restless pursuit of every soul that He has lovingly created. Thank you, Lord, for yet another opportunity to hear from You, to be loved by You, to find strength and comfort and inspiration in You, and to sing songs of love and praise to You. Your love is a greater good than life itself!

On the last two Sundays, 2/14/10 & 2/21/10, I attended LifeChangers Gospel Church in Union, NJ to lead worship while Mark Adamy, who normally leads, was away. It was one of the only times I went into a brand new congregation "cold" so to speak. So I prayed that God would give me favor and that I would be able to help the people forget that a new guy was up there and fix their eyes on the Lord. Well, God answered my prayers! It was great to worship with Pastor Banjo, his wife Pam, and the LGC family.

Thanks to my buddy Tom, I'll be heading to Youthfest on Sunday, February 28th, to share my testimony at one of the many workshops and lead a short time of praise and worship before Steve Angrisano plays.

It's great to be back up at Ramapo College every Sunday night with Fr. Bill Sheridan, CRU and FOCUS, along with a faithful crowd of worshippers. We meet in the Birch Mansion for an 8:30PM Mass.