FACULTY SPOTLIGHT and equips Catholics to carry out the mission Jesus has given us : to proclaim his glorious good news in the power of the Holy Spirit . Jesus told his disciples , “ Heal the sick , and tell them ‘ The kingdom of God is at hand for you ,’” and that missionary mandate still holds today . We are to evangelize not using only human resources , but using the supernatural gifts by which the Holy Spirit equips us for our mission — including healings , prophetic gifts , and miracles . Most Catholics are entirely unfamiliar with these charisms of the Spirit that the New Testament teaches us about , which were normal in the early Church and in the lives of many of the saints . Encounter Ministries is helping to re-normalize the gifts .
Encounter also puts a lot of emphasis on discipleship and Christian identity , because in order to lead others to Jesus effectively , we have to be faith-filled missionary disciples , secure in our own identity as a beloved son or daughter of God . So many of the students in Encounter have told me that it has radically transformed their relationship with the Lord .
How would you explain charismatic prayer to Catholics who find it outside of their comfort zone ?
Getting out of our comfort zone is pretty important when it comes to things of God ! But it ’ s important to make a distinction . Not all are called to belong to the charismatic renewal as a movement with its own particular style and culture , characterized by exuberant worship , contemporary praise music , communal praying or singing in tongues , etc . But the grace of being “ baptized in the Holy Spirit ” ( Acts 1:5 ) and the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit as such are for all Christians . We are all called to know and love the Holy Spirit as a Person , distinct from the Father and the Son . We are all called to surrender to him , open ourselves to his gifts , and let him lead us , which he longs to do on a daily basis . Charismatic prayer is a way of letting the Holy Spirit lead us in prayer and being attentive to his inspirations .
You are also involved with Renewal Ministries . Why is a ministry like this needed ?
I have been so blessed by Renewal Ministries over the years . I remember as a teenager watching Ralph Martin ’ s EWTN show The Choices We Face , which has been running for about 200 years now ( well , OK , 38 ). For the last eight years , I ’ ve been more formally connected with them as a consultant . Renewal Ministries evangelizes , encourages , strengthens , and builds up the faith of countless Catholics around the world through their international short-term missions , their youth and young adult ministries , and their TV , radio , podcast , and other media apostolates . People know that what they get from Renewal Ministries is the pure , undiluted Gospel — not a Gospel reengineered to conform to the spirit of the age , or soft-pedaled , or embellished , or intellectualized , or sentimentalized , but just the Gospel of Jesus Christ , handed down by the Church through the ages .
What do you love about being a professor at Sacred Heart ? What have been some of the biggest teaching moments for you ? Biggest surprises ?
I love helping students , especially future priests , mature in their faith as they wrestle with the word of God and let God speak to their hearts through it . One beautiful teaching moment occurred a few years ago in my course on the Synoptic Gospels . I was teaching on the parable of the unforgiving servant , in which Jesus illustrates the necessity of forgiving all offenses without exception . In my class there was a religious sister from West Africa . A few days after the class , she came to me privately and told me she had really struggled with what I said because during the civil war in her country a man whom she knew personally had murdered her brother and two of her uncles . She had decided never to forgive him . Unfortunately , this man had died a few years ago . But after the class , she said , she went to prayer and “ God strongly told me to forgive him .” By the grace of God she did forgive , and a newfound peace filled her heart . I commended her for her honesty and her willingness to forgive as Jesus did , even when it was costly . At my suggestion , the following week she shared this testimony with the whole class , and they were deeply moved .
One “ surprise ” that occurs
Our goal is to help preachers , teachers , and lay Catholics discover the treasures in the Word of God ”
— Dr . Mary Healy
again and again is in the research papers that I assign graduate students . Some of them really get into it — they hit the stacks in the library , pore over books and articles , pray about the passage they ’ re studying , and present the results in the paper they turn in . I sometimes find beautiful new insights in papers from these “ rookie Bible scholars ”— points that I had not thought of before nor read before in any academic works .
Any future projects in the works that you ’ re excited about ?
Yes , I ’ m writing a commentary on the book of Genesis as part of the commentary series that I co-edit with Dr . Peter Williamson ( and now also with Dr . Mark Giszczak ), the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture . We ’ ve completed the New Testament volumes and we ’ re about to launch the Old Testament . Our goal is to help preachers , teachers , and lay Catholics discover the treasures in the Word of God — to understand what each biblical passage means and how to apply it to our lives . The Genesis volume is a huge project taking several years , but I ’ m greatly enjoying it , delving into this first book of the Bible which is so full of mysteries and so rich in theological and psychological insight . shms . edu 31