Father Cantalamessa's Talk

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I was so blessed to be able to hear Father Cantalamessa speak at church on Wednesday night. My grandparents were celebrating their forty-eighth wedding anniversary, and they came in to hear him and spend time with us. Let me start off by saying that this man is amazing! He has written a handful of books, many on the Holy Spirit, and he is the personal preacher to the pope! He preached to our holy fathers John Paul the second, and now to Benedict the sixteenth. Father Cantalamessa was introduced with an extended round of applause, but he turned to the altar and clapped with us. I was immediately struck by two things, his humility and his joy. He had a constant smile on his face that lit up the room. Also, is accent was great, it was a very soft, nice sounding Italian accent that resonated with joy and emotion. Right at the beginning my mom whispered to me, “I bet he will be canonized some day.” I truly got the feeling that I was in the presence of a living Saint. I felt God say to me, “This, Alyse, is special. This is special.” it was such a beautiful feeling that it brought me to tears.

I wish I could remember everything he said. Even though I kept my ears tuned in to every word that came out of this man’s mouth, a lot of it has escaped my memory. I would love to share a few things that he said, and I will try, but it might be best to buy his cd :) . His talk was on a new pentecost, and of course the Holy Spirit. As he opened his talk he said, “I want each of us to be able to go home and say, I saw Christ tonight, and share it with everyone.” One great thing that he said was this, “To know God is not an intellectual knowledge, it is something you experience. Christ is not a character, like Napoleon or other historical figures. Christ is a person. Even though you can talk about Napoleon to people, if you ever said, ‘I talked with Napoleon last night’, people would think you are crazy.” He made so many good points! Another good point that he made was this, that often the term “baptism in the spirit” is thought to be made up by a religious group, when really Christ instituted it as it can be seen in Acts 1:5. Also that baptism in the spirit is not a new baptism, simply a rekindling of our first one.

He also gave the homily for mass, and that was awesome too. He said that the point he wanted to bring across was joy. He said that in the world when you think of happiness and sorrow, happiness comes first. It is always the high that leads to the let down. With Christ though, it is the opposite. Suffering brings eternal redemption, that is why Good Friday is first and Easter is second. He said that in Italy the cold of November and March is the same, but for some reason he can stand the cold of November. It is because, he continued, that the cold of March brings the hope of spring whereas the cold of November brings the prospect of more cold.

Like I said, I wish I could remember everything he said. But I hope I was able to bless you through a few of the words of this holy man of God. I was so glad I decided to give my night so that God could give me such a huge blessing. God bless!

Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse