By CHRISTINA LESLIE
Correspondent
UPDATED June 12, 2025
Faithful from around the Garden State gathered in St. Mary Parish, Middletown, June 7 for the Garden Revival, a Pentecost rally of prayer, song, healing and impassioned presentations from those touched by the Holy Spirit.
Hosted by the parish and the Diocese of Trenton Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the day featured Mass for the Vigil of Pentecost celebrated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.
PHOTO GALLERY: Pentecost Rally in Middletown
In his homily, the Bishop described the event as “not just a remembrance of an event 2,000 years ago, [but] an invitation for us to experience anew the fire of God’s love, the power of His presence, and the transformation He desires for each of us.”
Explaining that, in this Jubilee Year, Pentecost calls upon the faithful to fan the flames of hope, Bishop O’Connell told them, “What is dead in us, what is weary, what is broken – can be revived by the breath of God. This is our promise.”
“The Spirit is not given in small measure – He and his gifts are poured out abundantly! Are you ready and willing to accept them? To use them? To renew in the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Spirit, the face of the earth?”
Baptism in the Spirit
Father Jeff Kegley, parish pastor and diocesan liaison to the Charismatic Renewal, said the revival “is an outreach to the entire state of New Jersey to come and ask for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our state.”
He reminded participants that all were called to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit is living inside you, so heaven is inside you,” he said. “Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit made his home in the apostles and us. Baptism by the Holy Spirit is more than a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
Jim Tortorici, director of the diocesan Charismatic Renewal, Matej Živković, Life Teen youth minister at St. Mary Parish, and Father Jeivi Hercules of the Archdiocese of Newark were the keynote speakers for the daylong event.
Tortorici told the congregation, “You have won the father’s heart, and you will receive more than you have ever asked for or imagined.” He said the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish nun whose vision of Christ led to the institution of Divine Mercy Sunday, “is linked to Pentecost.”
“There are two rays of red and white streaming from the heart of Jesus. The red represents blood, and the white is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is mercy; if you can open your heart to trust, you haven’t seen all God has to give you. Jesus is the sender of love.”
Jesus the healer
Živković, a native of Croatia, invited the congregation to come forward to testify about their healing in Christ. Relating the story from the Gospel of Luke about the 10 lepers healed by Jesus, he continued: “As you testify, you stir our faith that if God did it for them, he will do it for me. Faith is the fuel about what God will do.”
Živković added, “We are not pursuing healings, we are pursuing The One, just to touch his hem. Jesus had a healing service every day: his normal life.”
Father Hercules said the Blessed Mother was the first disciple to experience the Holy Spirit, rejoicing at the conception of Christ. She also was the first to feel the Spirit’s outpouring.
“I believe the Blessed Mother had all the charisms; what are you doing with the ones you already have? We are meant to share, to go out and take risks. We should be willing to be fools for Christ.”