Charismatic Catholic Experiences

  • Thread starter Thread starter catholicdude942
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
"as a former Pentecostal, I can tell you that the very same Holy Spirit that makes them successful is in Catholic Charismatics. "

Hi DavidB,
Your experience seems very interesting - if you don’t mind, can you tell me more about how you came from being a pentecostal to a Catholic Charismatic, many thanks
 
i’m a charismatic catholic. i don’t think it’s necessary to be charismatic for your salvation. but i am.
here is my experience in resting in the spirit:
i’ve only done it once. it was this past may when i was being prayed over. i was being prayed over for protection from satan and his demons as i go through vocation discernment. while they were praying, i was overcome by the feelings of God’s love. they became so strong that body could not support it and i went down. While resting, God revealed to me all the souls who intercede for me, and all the angels and saints who are there to help protect me. this wasn’t something that i could have revealed to me while in a normal state because my body would not be able to handle it. it was a wonderful experience.
again, i don’t think charismatic experiences are NECESSARY for salvation, but the bible does talk about them. the apostles received these gifts, too. we aren’t just making them up. for those of you who condemn the charismatic movement, i will pray that you have a more open attitude towards a wonderful gift from God.
 
40.png
catholicdude942:
I hate to start another thread, but I recently discovered this movement and I started wondering about something that hadn’t been answered. I’m wondering what happens at charismatic masses that triggers the slaying in the spirit and such. I mean it seems like these spiritual gifts happen to everyone. I’ve gone to so many traditional masses and have never seen such experiences even when people pray before the Blessed Sacrament. It’s almost like these masses are a sure fire way to get these gifts. I just do see why the gifts are given so gratuitously at these charismatic masses just by the laying of the hands. I was always under the impression that spiritual gifts were a rarity, but something must go on at those masses that causes a lot of these gifts. Is this just triggered by the laying of the hands and the praying? Not to sound cynical but isn’t it a possibility that some people are pretending to speak in tongues because it is expected of them. The whole falling back thing seems to me like something you would see on one of those TV shows. I mean I don’t know it just sounds like a few too many miracles happen at EVERY mass all around the country. It’s very possible that it’s all okay and everything I do not doubt that especially since the Pope is ok with it. I trust in the Holy Spirit but I know there are also many other spirits out there. That’s why they warn people against Ouija boards and centering prayer. I mean a lot of Catholics will tell you centering prayer is cool when it’s actually rooted in Eastern religions and focusing on the individual rather than God. I’ve never been to one of these masses I’m just judging my questions based on what I’ve read on this site and other places. Sorry if I seem cynical I’m just pointing out some of the doubts in my mind that make me hesitant. If you can help me learn more about this I’d be greatful. I’m also kind of wondering how Pope Benedict is going to feel about this movement and whether he will want to keep it given his conservative stance.
Click to expand...
i was reading this and thought of a couple other comments. you said “a few too many miracles.” miracles happen at each and every mass. we call it transubstansiation.
yes, i am sure that some people pretend to rest or pretend to speak in tongues b/c it’s “expected” of them. those people make me very sad. but there are also people who pretend to be catholic, so are we going to condemn the entire catholic population? probebly not…although some people do.
it’s understandable for you to be hesitent. all i can tell you is to pray and trust in the Holy Spirit.
 
Hi, is the catholic charismatic movement happening largely in America or all around the world? I’m from UK, would love to check out one of these masses, but have never heard of anything like this around
 
40.png
lydiabeeuk:
Hi, is the catholic charismatic movement happening largely in America or all around the world? I’m from UK, would love to check out one of these masses, but have never heard of anything like this around
Click to expand...
Hi lydiabeeuk
The charismatic movement is happening all round the world.I think is particularly flourishing in Latin America and Africa. If you want information on what is happening in UK have a look at the CCR web site www.ccr.org.uk (which is the Good News magazine on line, plus more) The Directory and Events section will give you a lot of information.
If there is any more information you want that I may be able to give you please feel free to send me a private message
 
Hi
Just wanted to say how happy I am to meet all the Charismatic Catholics who have recently joined CA.

I also want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who do not much care for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for your consideration and wonderful manners in not coming here to debate. We all know that your respect has kept this thread going longer than many. What a blessing you have been to us. Thanks again.
 
40.png
robertaf:
… for your consideration and wonderful manners in not coming here to debate. We all know that your respect has kept this thread going longer than many. What a blessing you have been to us. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
I would like to applaud all of you too. Good job .:clapping:
 
A charismatic renewal group was used by God to give me faith in christianity some 25 years ago. While still a faithfull catholic,and no longer participate in charismatic renewal groups I firmly believe that the holy spirit is at work within it.

I was raised catholic, my family always attended weekly mass. I went to chatecism classes untill I graduated from hihg school. And yet my faith was at best very weak. I certainly would not have trusted God regarding anything the slightest bit difficult. I had serious doubts about religion in general and in general trusted “science and reason” more than religion. I remember frequently thinking that the religion a person is, is based on what religion there parents were. Why should I consider the catholic or christian faith as being more likely true than say Budhism?

This changed when I was introduced to CCR. I experienced things that were unexplanable by my science. I was being touched by God. This was what I needed to truely receive faith. From that my understanding (a big thank you to CA for part of that) and faith grew from the tiny seed. I really feel that it is what I needed and is the tool God used to bring me home.

While I don’t attend CCR now I wouldn’t hesitate to go again. I am actualy thinking of finding one around here and taking my kids.
 
Okay, have a question. I know the Holy Spirit can work in us. I have felt Him myself a few times when I was praying. My question to the charismatics is: do you have to feel that every time? I know we are warned about dry times in our spiritual lives. I know there have been times when I didn’t feel like praying, when it held no emotional appeal to me, but I kept at it because God deserves it and He knows that I’m trying. What do you do in a circustance like that? Or does that ever happen to you at all? If you are accustomed to a strong emotional experience whenever you worship, what do you do if you do not feel that? Just wondering.
 
40.png
PhilNeri:
I know the Holy Spirit can work in us. I have felt Him myself a few times when I was praying. My question to the charismatics is: do you have to feel that every time?
Click to expand...
Oh heavens no! Our emotions are a gift from God. When I can use them to help me praise and worship God, then I should. God did not give us our talents to go bury in a field. But any one with a half a brain can tell you that our religions is based on FAITH and LOVE of God, and not some emotional fluff. Use the fluff. Don’t need the fluff.

So what do we do when we’re dry?
I go before the blessed sacrament in adoration. His presence is so powerful and holy, it doesn’t matter if I can’t muster the effort to say a prayer if my life depended on it. His holy presence recognizes the prayer of my just being there, and he works in me.

That is, of course, the entire purpose of the Renewal. To bring us to the Holy Spirit, which in turn brings us to the Church and the Sacraments, the foundation of which is the Eucharist.

Josh
 
Wonderful post Josh.

I agree 100%.

Our Church has the most beautiful of all Gifts in the Blessed Sacrament.

Allelulia!
 
40.png
threej_lc:
Oh heavens no! Our emotions are a gift from God. When I can use them to help me praise and worship God, then I should. God did not give us our talents to go bury in a field. But any one with a half a brain can tell you that our religions is based on FAITH and LOVE of God, and not some emotional fluff. Use the fluff. Don’t need the fluff.

So what do we do when we’re dry?
I go before the blessed sacrament in adoration. His presence is so powerful and holy, it doesn’t matter if I can’t muster the effort to say a prayer if my life depended on it. His holy presence recognizes the prayer of my just being there, and he works in me.

That is, of course, the entire purpose of the Renewal. To bring us to the Holy Spirit, which in turn brings us to the Church and the Sacraments, the foundation of which is the Eucharist.

Josh
Click to expand...
Thanks for explaining.
 
I have a question. Overall I think CCR is a good thing but I find myself very suspicious of those who say they speak in tongues. I find that many who assert this gift use it as a way to claim pious superiority over others. I guess I find it difficult to believe that an entire congregation of people would all start speaking in nonsensical words. Isn’t it possible that the power of suggestion and peer pressure plays a large role in such an occurence? I think I would be more convinced if people were actually speaking in real foreign languages which is what the bible refers to as the meaning of speaking in tongues. Speaking nonsense is easy to do, but speaking Swahili with no previous knowledge of the language is something completely different, and far more beneficial in ministering to the people of God. Please don’t be offended by anything I’ve said, I want to understand. I just get this image of pentecostals rolling around on the floor and barking like dogs every time I think of speaking in tongues.
 
40.png
DavidB:
You’re calling gifts that God gives the Church “unnecessary” and “emotionalistic”. Be very careful in issuing such judgements. When your spurn the gifts, you also spurn the Giver of the gifts. God doesn’t give unnecessary gifts! It’s pride and foolishness to believe otherwise. And Paul commands us to “earnestly seek the greater gifts”!!

I suggest you study 1 Corithinians to discover the very integral role the gifts are intended to be used in building and edifying the Church. Without those gifts, Jesus and the Apostles never would have performed a single miracle, cause all of the miraculous were a result of the gifts. And without the gifts, how successful would they have been in establishing the Church. The sad thing is that we’ve so neglected the gifts over the years, that someone such as yourself can no longer see the value of a gift as wonderful as healing.
I think it’s wrong of you to suggest in any form or fashion that I am denying the Holy Spirit His clear outpouring of authentic gifts. My belief system is firmly rooted in Thomistic theology with a heavy helping of Eastern mysticism. No way did I deny the legitimacy of the movement, within the mindset of temperance and intellectual understanding… my concern is a potential overreliance on emotionalism rather than intellectual digestion of the faith.

David
Click to expand...
 
40.png
Starsweeper:
I have a question. Overall I think CCR is a good thing but I find myself very suspicious of those who say they speak in tongues. I find that many who assert this gift use it as a way to claim pious superiority over others. I guess I find it difficult to believe that an entire congregation of people would all start speaking in nonsensical words. Isn’t it possible that the power of suggestion and peer pressure plays a large role in such an occurence? I think I would be more convinced if people were actually speaking in real foreign languages which is what the bible refers to as the meaning of speaking in tongues. Speaking nonsense is easy to do, but speaking Swahili with no previous knowledge of the language is something completely different, and far more beneficial in ministering to the people of God. Please don’t be offended by anything I’ve said, I want to understand. I just get this image of pentecostals rolling around on the floor and barking like dogs every time I think of speaking in tongues.
Click to expand...
The first thing to note is that the gifts of the spirit are gifts. We do not earn them. We could never earn them. They are given indiscriminately to whom God chooses. Therefore although it may be sad that some with the gifts lack the humility to use them properly, does not make the gifts themselves unauthentic.

Secondly, no one said you can’t fake having gifts. I’m sure many do. This is why we do not base our faith in the gifts, but in the gift-giver. That is why we have the church, the sacraments. These are the bases of all grace. The purpose of the gifts are only to lead people to the chruch and to the sacraments, and to help us to experience them more fully. If someone has the gifts, then praise God for yet another way he reveals his church. If someone is faking, then the gifts won’t upbuild the church. So go find someone whose gifts are.

Thirdly, the bible speaks of two different gifts of praying in tongues. The first is one which is interpreted and upbuilds the community as a whole, as you recognized. The second exists as a private gift which enables us to freely pray to God without the limitations our mind and native language impose. Because it is private and not for the community, St. Paul refers to it as “The Least of the gifts.” And rightly so. This form of prayin in tongues is mentioned in Romans 8, and the two different forms of tongues are described and differentiated in 1 Corinthians 14.

Remember, the gifts were not meant to prove the existance of God. They, as all things of God, are meant to be taken on faith.

All good questions! Let me know if you have any more, or would like me to explain further.

Josh
 
40.png
Spooky7272:
And a miracle DOES happen at every Mass: Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us His Body and Blood for our Food & Drink. Now THAT’s a real miracle.
Click to expand...
I used to a charsimatic Protestant and now I am a Catholic. Catholic worship is by far more superior than charismatic worship. You are right. The bread and wine turning into the Body and Blood of Christ is far more superior than the charismata.

I had prayed in tongues in the past. And I now pray traditional prayers such as the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Believe me, the traditional Catholic devotion have tongues beat. When I used to pray in tongues, I still was living in sin. I noticed no special holiness in me nor other charistmatic Christians. I knew a man who would pray in tongues and then smoke marijuana after church. The Catholic devotion actually keeps me from sin. Tongues just gave me a spiritual high. Nothing more than that. As Paul wrote in I Corinthians, once I became a man, I put away childish things.

If tongues and the charismatioc movement is so great, why were the great Catholic mystic saints able to grow with God without them? Why did not St Fransic of Assisd mention them? Nor St Teresa de Avila? Nor St John of the Cross? Nor St Theresa of Liseux? Nor St Padre Pio? Where is a saint who was part of the charismatic movement? There is none. Not until some canonized saint comes out of the charismatic movement should we bother with it.

Also, I notice that chariamatic Catholics speak of “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” and “Slain in the Spirit” as if they are the 8th and 9th sacraments of the Church. But the last time time I looked, there are still only 7.
 
40.png
PaulAckermann:
I used to a charsimatic Protestant and now I am a Catholic. Catholic worship is by far more superior than charismatic worship. You are right. The bread and wine turning into the Body and Blood of Christ is far more superior than the charismata.

I had prayed in tongues in the past. And I now pray traditional prayers such as the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Believe me, the traditional Catholic devotion have tongues beat. When I used to pray in tongues, I still was living in sin. I noticed no special holiness in me nor other charistmatic Christians. I knew a man who would pray in tongues and then smoke marijuana after church. The Catholic devotion actually keeps me from sin. Tongues just gave me a spiritual high. Nothing more than that. As Paul wrote in I Corinthians, once I became a man, I put away childish things.

If tongues and the charismatioc movement is so great, why were the great Catholic mystic saints able to grow with God without them? Why did not St Fransic of Assisd mention them? Nor St Teresa de Avila? Nor St John of the Cross? Nor St Theresa of Liseux? Nor St Padre Pio? Where is a saint who was part of the charismatic movement? There is none. Not until some canonized saint comes out of the charismatic movement should we bother with it. .
Click to expand...
This is a very interesting post. I wish I was at home answering it and not at work with so many distractions.
I agree that Catholic worship is superior to (non-Catholic) Charismatic worship but we Catholic Charismatics are doubly blessed. We have both.

I also pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and many other traditional Catholic Prayers.

Most of the Saints, by the way were charismatic. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and operated in the Power of the Spirit. I think you might be referring to a particular label. However, read the lives of the Saints. Padre Pio bi-located! That is cannot be anything other than a Holy Spirit gift.

How do you define the Mystical life? It is indeed a Spirit moving life.
 
40.png
PaulAckermann:
Not until some canonized saint comes out of the charismatic movement should we bother with it.
Click to expand...
JP2 good enough for you?

And the logic doesn’t make much sense. How can there be a canonized saint from the movement if people don’t bother with it?

Edit: I would request that no one respond to my post here. It will only serve to throw off an otherwise good thread. I don’t intend for this to be aggresive sounding, but I couldn’t find better wording.
 
40.png
robertaf:
This is a very interesting post. I wish I was at home answering it and not at work with so many distractions.
I agree that Catholic worship is superior to (non-Catholic) Charismatic worship but we Catholic Charismatics are doubly blessed. We have both.

I also pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and many other traditional Catholic Prayers.

Most of the Saints, by the way were charismatic. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and operated in the Power of the Spirit. I think you might be referring to a particular label. However, read the lives of the Saints. Padre Pio bi-located! That is cannot be anything other than a Holy Spirit gift.

How do you define the Mystical life? It is indeed a Spirit moving life.
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top