The Birth of a New Community
Thursday, May 28, 2026
The Spirit cannot withhold itself from any heart that longs to know the presence of God.
—Richard Rohr, The Good News According to Luke
In 1971, Father Richard was placed in charge of the youth retreat program for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio. For most of the very first retreat, Richard says that he thought all the boys—“a bunch of jocks”—were just tolerating him. But as Richard finished preaching on the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32), “a perfect story of how Jesus saw God,” the boys began to cry and embrace each other. Richard recounts being rather afraid of this unexpected appearance of the Holy Spirit:
I moved back; I didn’t know what to do with this. You’d think I’d be grateful that one of my sermons worked! And then they began singing in tongues. I’d never heard someone speaking in tongues before. My mouth fell open. What did this mean? I’d never heard anything so beautiful, and no one was orchestrating it!
I endured it for about ten or fifteen minutes. Although I was delighting in it, I was also scared. I didn’t know what to do; I didn’t know how to join in, so I just watched. Finally, I broke in and said, “Guys, I’ll put the pizzas in the oven next door. Come over in twenty-five minutes.” No one paid a bit of attention to me. I put those pizzas in the oven. Twenty-five minutes later, I took them out and there were no boys. I couldn’t understand why they were not on time!
I’ll never forget walking back across the parking lot into the chapel and opening the doors. Now they were all kneeling around the high altar of St. Anthony’s Church (where I had been a novice), still singing in tongues. They never left the church the whole night.
That was the birth of the New Jerusalem Community. The next Friday, many of these boys brought their girlfriends and it grew quickly by word of mouth. Soon the girls were singing in tongues, too. The next month they brought their parents and grandparents. [1]
Friends of Richard’s, Andreas Ebert and Patricia C. Brockman, summarized how the Spirit was at work during this period of Richard’s ministry:
The young people he taught and led on retreats were overwhelmed with the gospel message. They gathered around this enthusiastic young priest, hungry for Scripture, increasingly eager for the shared life described there. Their weekly prayer gatherings began with fervent charismatic prayer and expanded from a group of teenagers to, at times, more than a thousand persons of many ages and diverse backgrounds. All the signs and wonders of the early church flourished among the prayers. It eventually became clear that enthusiasm was not enough, and among those followers some desired to live in a closer bond and within the discipleship of Christian community. Thus, New Jerusalem came into being, a laboratory-church where many came to commit themselves to the dream of a church that follows and trusts Jesus. [2]
References:
[1] Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love, selected by Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Orbis Books, 2018), 92–93.
[2] Richard Rohr: Illuminations of His Life and Work, eds. Andreas Ebert and Patricia C. Brockman, (Crossroad Publishing, 1993), xiii.
Jesus Calling – Sarah Young
Trust and Thankfulness will get you safely through the day. Trust protects you from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps you from criticizing and complaining: those “sister sins” that so easily entangle you.
Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me. It is a free choice that you must make thousands of times daily. The more you choose to trust Me, the easier it becomes. Thought patterns of trust become etched into your brain. Relegate troubles in the periphery of your mind, so that I can be central in your thoughts. Thus you focus on Me, entrusting your concerns into My care.
Christianity
RELATED SCRIPTURE:
Colossians 2:6-7 NLT
Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ
6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Additional insight regarding Colossians 2:6-7: New life in Christ starts and continues when we acknowledge him as leader over all we are and do. Then we must accept his leadership daily by being rooted, built up, and strengthened in the faith. Christ wants to guide us and help us with all our decisions and challenges. You can live for Christ by 1) committing your life and submitting your will to him (Romans 12:1-2); 2) seeking to learn from him and more about him, his life, and his teachings (Colossians 3:16); and 3) recognizing and utilizing the Holy Spirit’s power within your (Acts 1:8; Galatians 5:22).
Additional insight regarding Colossians 2:7: Paul uses the illustration of being rooted in Christ. Just as plants draw nourishment from the soil through their roots, we draw our life-giving strength from Christ. The more we draw our strength from him, the less we will be fooled or entangled by those who falsely claim to have life’s answers apart from Christ.
Books & Literature
Psalm 141:8 NLT
8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.
You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.
1st Peter 5:7
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
Additional insight regarding 1st Peter 5:7: Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit your need, and to let others in God’s family help you. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God’s concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, he will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don’t submit to circumstances but to the Lord, who controls circumstances.
