Aura or plain holiness?

[melvfe]

I have been through many experiences with priests and nuns.
The first type is the most common, when I am with a priest or nun but I feel nothing special nor whatsoever when I am with them.
The second type is when I feel intimidated by a priest or nun because he or she gives me a distant feeling, and that many priests or nuns of this type are strict. Like really strict.
The last type is the one that I feel most puzzled with. It is pretty rare but when I am near or with these priests or nuns, I feel a certain sense of awe and reverence. It’s not that intimidating type, but I can sense some holiness or power or aura? I don’t know which it is. But when I am near or with them, I cannot think of evil stuffs most of the time.
Any such similar experience§

 

[Cloisters]

Same thing here, but we must remember that priests and nuns are human, too, and are formed by life experience – and regional expectations.

I knew of one priest who seemed to have no facial muscles, and never cracked a smile. Another was an undiagnosed member of the autism spectrum, and he refused to greet parishioners after Mass. I’ve also met nuns that I really would not want to be “sisters” with.

I think, instead of passing pseudo-judgment, we need to pray for whatever is needed to make them more like the third category that you’ve mentioned. And God may not want all of them to be in the third category. Some of our priests in East Tennessee were very “down home”. We never really took away a feeling like the third category, but then again, spiritual growth is very often imperceptible. Persons just realize that they used to react a certain way, but they’ve grown more Godly, etc. It was only at their deaths that we realized the influence that they had on us.

St. Vincent de Paul treated all men as if they were Christ, and all women as if they were Our Lady. He said it worked quite well.

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/

 

[Spyridon]

In Eastern Christianity there’s the concept of God’s Uncreated Light, or the Tabor Light. It’s thought to be the Light that emanated from Moses’ face, and the Light that enveloped Jesus at the Transfiguration.

Some very holy people, most notably St. Seraphim of Sarov, have manifested the Tabor Light.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[misstherese]

Yes this has happened to me. A few years ago I went to mass at a retreat center and a nun was present near me, in the full habit. It was the first and only time I’d ever seen a nun. She shook my hand at the time of peace with such a genuine kindness, with both her hands, I felt in awe by her.

 

[Brendan_64]

Personally I think we need to be very careful about attributing the holiness of things (and people) by how they make us feel. I don’t think we can measure grace and holiness by how they make us feel.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’ll be honest, I’ve never felt anything unusual around a priest or a nun just by virtue of them being a priest or a nun.
I’ve met priests and nuns I liked and/or respected as people, others who had a definite character flaw or two but for whatever reason on balance I liked them nonetheless, and others who I did not like, did not get along with, had a conflict with, etc.
None of them have seemed particularly holier than the others to me. I had a harder time maybe seeing the holiness in the ones whose personalities clashed a lot with mine, but I didn’t assume it wasn’t there just because the person seemed like a jerk to me. I realize I don’t know everything about a person and I would expect true holiness to be something pretty private for many people.