Our History

Our History:

"…God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." Romans 5:5

Our beginnings as a charismatic prayer group at St. Mary's Parish in Middletown, New Jersey offered people the opportunity to experience new life in the Holy Spirit through weekly charismatic prayer meetings, monthly healing Masses, and Life in the Spirit Seminars. As with the first Christian Community at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit immediately started to change peoples' hearts and lives right in our midst. There was a new power, a new excitement, and a new desire to grow in personal holiness. Like the disciples who gathered for teachings, fellowship, breaking of the bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42), our new life in the Holy Spirit led us to a greater devotion to the Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist as we started to attend Daily Mass and participate in Eucharistic Adoration. New men's and women's share groups gathered to study the Word of God and Papal teachings. Our new life in the Holy Spirit gave us a deeper devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, and unfailing loyalty to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church under the leadership of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.

"To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1 Cor 12:7

As we responded to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we sensed this urge to share this new life in the Holy Spirit with others. The more we shared, the more we experienced the manifestation of the charismatic gifts of the Spirit. Our prayer meetings and ministries reflected this anointing and started to attract people from all over the Diocese of Trenton. We were all in awe of how God was blessing us, and we started to discern that He might be calling us to become more than a parish prayer group.

"So well disposed were we to you, in fact, that we wanted to share with you not only God's tidings but our very lives, so dear had you become to us." 1 Thes 2:8

The initial indication that God was calling us to live this new life in the Holy Spirit in a covenant community was in the desire to be with each other, and the realization that in order to grow in holiness we needed the love and support of brothers and sisters in Christ. Very naturally, our lives started to intermingle; families started to care for each other and we began to share our time, talents and treasures. Whether married, widowed, single, young or old, we experienced what it truly means to be baptized brothers and sisters in Christ, not just in name only, but in reality.

"As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

It wasn't until married couples attended the Marriage in the Holy Spirit Retreat Weekends that we fully realized God was calling us to a more committed life together. We discovered the beauty of God's plan for community life, and that it begins and is first experienced in the covenant of marriage. If true Christian Community is to be realized, it must first be lived out in the family. This new life in the Holy Spirit wasn't just for the times we gathered together for prayer meetings, but it was a new life in the Holy Spirit that is to be experienced daily in our homes; in what the Second Vatican Council refers to as our "domestic church". The fruit of the Marriage in the Holy Spirit weekends was the renewal of our family life and more confirmation for the need of the love and support of brothers and sisters committed to living this new life in the Holy Spirit in Christian Community.

"Today the Lord is making this agreement with you; you are to be a people peculiarly His own, as He promised." -Dt 26:18-19

We have come to believe that in God's sovereign plan He has called us together in the Mother of God Community to live this new life in the Holy Spirit. We desire to freely commit ourselves to each other in a covenant to reflect the seriousness of our relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ. A covenant is about relationships, relationships that are rooted in the Triune God, and lived out in love and sacrifice with deep commitment; not relationships that are based on convenience that are too common in our world today. The first fruit of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the formation of Christian Community. As we experienced new life in the Holy Spirit, we too were led by the same Holy Spirit to form the Mother of God Community.

"Presbyters who do well as leaders deserve to be paid double, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching." -1 Tm 5:17

As we began to grow in our new life in the Holy Spirit, we were blessed to have teachings, formation, and retreats given to us by the priests from the New Jersey Chapter of the Fraternity of Priests. These holy men (Fr. John Gordon, Fr. Joseph Meagher, Fr. Bill Halbing, Fr. Lew Papera, Fr. Bob Gorman, Fr. John Primish, Fr. Jeff Kegley, along with Fr. Brendan Williams, and Fr. Peter Kochery) have assisted us in our growth from prayer group to community life.

We beg you, brothers, respect those among you whose task it is to exercise authority in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them with the greatest love because of their work. Remain at peace with one another." -1 Thes 5:12-13

We are most grateful to the Most Reverend John M. Smith, Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, who has given us permission to form the Mother of God Community with the guidance of our spiritual director, Father Jeffrey J. Kegley, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Angels, Trenton, New Jersey. We sincerely ask you to join us in prayer as we continue to pray for the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God and spouse of the Holy Spirit, for her guidance and protection.