The first time I was invited to join a cell group meeting, I was immediately willing and fallen in love.
I am Liza Nagaria. My initial goal for joining Holy Trinity Community (HTC) in 2008 was to find friends to socialize. At that point, I did not have any relative in Melbourne and my husband worked in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Bernadette was the one who invited me to the cell group meeting. At that time, I only knew that HTC was a group of Catholics led by Fr. Yohanes Indrakusuma, CSE – founder of HTC. Before then, in Jakarta, I had once attended a mass of the Triduum and stayed in Lembah Karmel, Cikanyere, West Java, where Fr. Yohanes was based in. I also had attended several healing masses celebrated by the priest who was also the founding father of Serikat Putri Karmel (The Society of the Carmelite Sisters – the community of the same spirituality as HTC for nuns– TN) and CSE (Carmelitae Sanctii Eliae – the community of the same spiritually as HTC for fraters – TN). So I know who Fr. Yohanes is.
Although I had not known about HTC, I agreed to Bernadette’s invitation without questions. Praise God, I fell in love straight away until now.
I was lucky to meet my cell group mates who were very friendly and had the same point of view as her. We clicked. My cell group regularly meets at the members’ homes twice a month. Aside from the regular activities such as praying, teaching and giving testimonies, there are also informal programs that everyone always eager to come: sharing food and tales.
Positive Influence
12 years into the cell group, I realized how valuable the benefits that I got from it. As a Catholic who was baptized as a baby and took the Catholic education from the primary school to high school, I felt that I had an unremarkable faith. I attended the mass weekly only as an obligation and routines.
Through HTC, my faith grew. I am always grateful for every God’s blessing. I am also called to repent and lament my sins and weaknesses. HTC also taught me to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit and the importance of His roles in my daily life.
Furthermore, in every cell group meeting, there were testimonies from fellow cell group mates about their life of faith which could strengthen my faith and my knowledge. I think, as someone who lives in the foreign land, far away from my relatives, joining a group that has the same vision and mission is very useful.
Speaking in Tongue
I had attended several Retreat of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I had always been there with an intention to be able to speak in tongue.
However, I had always been afraid that I would not be able to control myself when I spoke in tongue. As usual, at the end of the retreat, I still could not speak in tongue.
My longing was answered one year ago. At that time, I was with a priest and the Carmelite sisters from Indonesia to pray for a fellow HTC member who was ill. When the priest and the sisters were praying, I felt an unusual sensation. My tongue was trembling along and felt unusually hot. Then I thought to myself, was this speaking in tongue?
I was so thankful to get the chance to go along with the priest and the sisters that I got the valuable experience. I felt that God wanted to touch me and wanted to give me a gift, which can happen any time without a great ceremonial and spectacular rite.
I hope that my faithful experiences and my joy for gathering in a cell group or going to the regional meetings and retreats with HTC Melbourne could be shared by everyone. I wish that many people would be touched to praise and worship the Lord with HTC Melbourne. HTC has a very clear vision and mission.