First Seminar LOGOS ON LINE of CHARIS

The message that remained with me after the LOGOS seminar is: the Word of God is not chained! (2 Tim 2:9); I cannot keep it for myself. Pepe Prado, with his direct and essential pedagogy, restored to me the awareness of the mission that the Holy Spirit conferred on me as baptized: he reminded me of the trust that God has placed in me. The facilitator, with a loving approach to the Word, invited us to speak about the truth of Jesus in our lives, giving us a compass to organize an effective and truthful preaching. What struck me is the care of the message and the care of how that message is transmitted: first, if you have no purpose in your life, then your preaching will be without purpose. This shocked me because preaching demands Truth. Second, if the message is not organized, it is a problem. The Spirit is order, which is why we needed some suggestions for clear and direct preaching. At this point, I believe I have the tools to practice and, above all, to transmit to my brothers what I have learned that is precious.

My name is Danilo and I am a member of the Association Via Pacis in Arco, Trentino, Italy. I am very happy and thank God for having been able to live this formative experience thanks to CHARIS with Josè Prado Flores. The seminar opened my heart and mind by giving me clear and immediate tools to learn the simple pedagogical method, the same one that Jesus used, in bringing the Word of God through preaching. Despite many years of walking in the Spirit, I consider this experience a fundamental stage in my life. I thank Formator Prado Flores for his ability to guide the participants with simplicity and professionalism in understanding the concepts of preaching the Word of God with extreme clarity.

These two things that impressed me in the LOGOS Seminar:

Matthew 15:18 BUT THE THINGS THAT COME OUT OF THE MOUTH COME FROM THE HEART…

The Holy Spirit and the Word must dwell in my life to overflow into what I think, say and do. Romans 8:28 EVERYTHING IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THOSE WHO LOVE GOD!

Our God knows how to draw good from evil. This Word gives me hope because even that which

in my eyes is evil in life, for God it is a “seed” of good. To God nothing is impossible!

From the cross, Life was born, and from our crosses –new Life will be born, because the last word will be God’s! Thank you for the opportunity that has been given to me, it is becoming a given gift.

It was a great experience. I would like to share the sentence that most impressed me.

“If you do not have a goal in life, not even your mission, your evangelization will not have one.”  A burning phrase, categorical, yet stimulating and vivaciously provocative. If I participated in this seminar it is because I feel in me the desire to announce and to be an instrument in the hands of God. This phrase has called me back and urges me to keep my attention on the goal of my life because when I am convinced of my direction, I can be a credible witness, missionary and credible announcer of Jesus Christ’s love first for me and then for others. It was a short seminary that excited me and renewed my desire to use myself for God, in the Church, so that every eager man can have a personal experience of the power of the Holy Spirit. It was a short but intense seminary and, above all, full of hope. José H. Prado Flores, assisted by his collaborators, involved me with enthusiasm and a great simplicity of spirit. From this seminar, I learned many precious things, two of which are:

God wants to use us as heralds of His Gospel and that, precisely through the personal experience we have made of Him, we are enabled and made worthy of this great mission and responsibility;

Each of us has different gifts, characteristics, styles and charisms: it is therefore not important to copy the great preachers we have heard or admire. What is most important is to have the purpose of our evangelization very clear and to pursue it with the specific gifts we have. In this, we can bear witness to God and proclaim it precisely through our uniqueness.

Participating in the Logos seminar was like going on a journey: a flight from ourselves to others. It is a practical seminar, full of useful suggestions to immerse yourself in the preaching of the Word. I really liked the examples provided and the sharing among all the participants in the practical tasks to build preaching. One does not learn by oneself, but with the experiences of all. To be ready for action following the example of the Holy Spirit: in order!

I could tell you many positive things about the Logos seminar of CHARIS that we have participated in the past few days; I will limit myself to two which particularly impressed me. The first is the style of training. We have been guided in a path of progressive learning of the ways of evangelization, so that they are really effective and the message can reach those who listen: understand the needs of those in front of them, articulate the discourse in a clear way, use the voice and the body so that the heart, the passion we have, can emerge in our words. All this – and much more – however, has not been dropped from above, as a sort of “method” to learn and apply, but each of us has been helped to rework the essential coordinates according to our own style, character, formation, since it is what we are that “speaks”, before and through what we say. Finally, I could not leave out a grateful thought to our trainer, Pepe Prado Flores. Despite the fast pace and fatigue that is surely involved coordinating a course of many hours, he always showed attention to all of us, to our needs, and to misunderstandings; always courteous and friendly, ready to value what we did and to push us to improve. Thank you.

I have just participated in the CHARIS Logos Seminar, masterfully animated by Pepe Prado Flores. We were a dozen people to follow the training in Italian on Zoom.

Different points touched me:

 The interactive pedagogy which allowed our small group to get to know and appreciate each other. This is why the seminar is given in groups of 12 people;

 The formation recommended to all those who want to learn how to prepare and preach in the Charismatic Renewal: The Seminar is full of very useful practical advices, but also of spiritual suggestions for learning how to follow the Holy Spirit;

The presence of many young people at this Seminar which is specially adapted for them: it is a very useful formation for future servers of the Charismatic Renewal called to exercise responsibilities;

 The communicative zeal of our host, Pepe Prado, for the Word of God and the fire that he was able to share with us in few hours.

It was an unforgettable experience. I recommend this experience to anyone who wants to progress in the art of preaching by listening to the Holy Spirit.

Jean-Luc Moens CHARIS moderator