Are there real spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit that are similar to these things? I’m just curious.
I’ve known people who were very God fearing people who had certain intuitions, for lack of a better word. They had premonitions about things, not specifically, but always relating to people needing immediate prayer. It was often times uncanny, but never used in a bad way, more of intercessory in nature.
Just curious as to the Catholic position on this.
As described on
catholic.net, the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit:
"Wisdom is the Gift in which the Advocate “enables man to understand more deeply the truths of faith and to discover their intimate meaning, their hidden treasures and sublime harmonies.” With Wisdom, man can comprehend that there is no contradiction be tween rational truths and the divine mysteries.
By the Gift of Understanding, “the Holy Spirit en ables man to understand created things in their relation to God.” Therefore, one appreciates that each human person is made in the Lord’s likeness, that even irrational creatures contain a “trace” of the Creator, that human events can purify us and lead us to a more perfect union with God and that sin—a terrible evil—mars the human person.
The Consoler, by virtue of the Gift of Counsel, “suggests that which is to be done or not to be done in a specific case.” Hence, uncertainties arising from a particular situation are dismissed.
Fortitude is the Gift by which “the Holy Spirit gives to man’s will the energy enabling him to undertake without hesitation, and to carry on their ultimate ends, the most arduous tasks for God’s glory and the good of souls, and also to bear gladly, even for many years, the most severe sufferings.” This Gift is especially evident in the lives of the martyrs.
The Spirit of Truth, through the Gift of Knowledge, “gives man a superior knowledge of God as a lovable Being, and a proper appreciation of all created things in God.” This “superior knowledge” is more lofty and excellent than that obtained through the use of faith and reason. By way of this Gift, God “causes in it (the soul) a sense of nearness to Him as a life-giving Prin ciple and a Being Who is extremely amiable and infinitely superior to all other concepts.”
The Gift of Piety provides the occasion for the Counselor to cause “in man’s will a superhuman filial love toward God as our Father, and sentiments of fraternal love toward his neighbor, including those who may have wronged him.” This charity brings about in the soul a total dedication to God’s glory and the good of souls.
The Paraclete, through the Gift of Fear of the Lord, “produces in man’s soul a filial respect, that is, a reverent fear of Divine Majesty, a fear which does not interfere with an intimate union with God, our Father, but which deters man from anything which might offend God.” This Gift also inspires man to reject all inordinate affections and discipline his senses."
I guess I was wrong in asking such a question, although it doesn’t seem as though what you have quoted speaks to anything other than occult practices, the seeking out of these things in order to obtain powers over people or events. 