Do Catholics believe in Supernatural Gifts from God

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Not being Catholic, I wondered about this topic. Do they as his children (congregation) have gifts of seeing the spirit world, healing, deliverance and so forth or is this only for the priest or men of the cloth? Thoughts?
 
TruthSeeker3 said:
Not being Catholic, I wondered about this topic. Do they as his children (congregation) have gifts of seeing the spirit world, healing, deliverance and so forth or is this only for the priest or men of the cloth? Thoughts?
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Supernatural gifts are given with each of the seven sacraments. However, there are other kinds of gifts such as preternatural gifts: those above and beyond the powers or capacities of the nature that receives them but not beyond those of all created nature. Also there are charisms: gratuitous blessings of an extraordinary and transitory nature, given for the good of others, and Saint Paul described them. These can be categorised into instruction, administration, miracles, service, and prayer.
 
TruthSeeker3 said:
Not being Catholic, I wondered about this topic. Do they as his children (congregation) have gifts of seeing the spirit world, healing, deliverance and so forth or is this only for the priest or men of the cloth? Thoughts?
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With regard to seeing or claiming to see the spirit world this is a sin of grave matter so Catholics should not be into that at all.

Church teaching:

CCC 2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

May I ask you to elaborate on what you mean by deliverance?
 
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TruthSeeker3 said:
Do they as his children (congregation) have gifts of seeing the spirit world
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In a divination sense of the word, this would be a sin for a Catholic as someone else said. The use of the term “The Spirit World” to us suggests a sinful involvement with divination or the occult, and we would not use that term.

If God wished to give someone a private revelation/ apparition of something like Heaven, Hell, the Virgin Mary, or another saint, then that is God’s prerogative to allow the person to have that private revelation. Many canonized saints and persons on the path to canonization have had a vision, apparition or revelation, and also some other people who aren’t canonized and probably won’t be canonized. The Church also has some formal approval processes for certain private revelations, but Catholics are not bound to believe in them even if the Church approves them.

One does not have to be a priest or other ordained clergy to receive a private revelation. Lay people (the term for persons who are not priests or clergy) can receive such revelations. But it is a gift that God chooses to give for his purposes. It is not something we can or should want, or try to get for ourselves.
healing
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Again, as above, lay people, not just priests, can receive gifts of healing. The healing comes from God, the person is just the intercessor with God. The gift is something given by God for his purposes.
deliverance
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If by this you mean casting out demons, in the Catholic church, only priests are permitted to do this.
It’s considered too dangerous for lay people and is something that is considered a proper role of a priest.
Lay people may pray in support of the priest. Catholic “deliverance ministry” usually consists of lay people who pray to support the priest who does the actual deliverance.

As someone else said, you will likely find a greater emphasis on all this among Catholic Charismatics than among other groups of Catholics.
One problem with it is that some people get carried away and their claims of the gifts they supposedly receive can be a little dubious.
This is why the Church will do a lot of investigation into any purported miracle or apparition before giving it approval.
 
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I am not saying they use divination or other, but just have the gift to see things or know things (gift of knowledge). By see things, they may just be walking down the street or other and have the gift. Some people are born with abilities to sense things. Regarding deliverance, the gift of casting our demons or other evil haunting someone or their property. I am talking about people truly walking in spirit.
 
I have known people who just know things. They don’t know why but just do. These people are walking in spirit with Jesus and are walking the walk. Very humble people with so much love in their heart.
 
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The people I know wouldn’t tell others of these gifts for they are humble and only use the gift when a God directs them. They will not deliver one( god delivers) usually unless the person commits his life to Christ for they understand as the Bible says that 7 more demons will attack. Unless the holy spiritual guides them, hey won’t do it. Also, they understand that no one should do this unless they are walking the walk with a Christ, otherwise, they are vulnerable to attack.
 
I’m presuming these people you’re talking about aren’t Catholics.
I gave you the Catholic perspective.
What people who aren’t Catholics choose to do is not something I know about or would pay any attention to, because as a Catholic I follow the Church teaching.
 
Dan_Defender said:
Yes there have been saints who could see people’s hearts and knew things happening in other places or in the future. God granted them such knowledge.
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One has to also remember that sometimes the “gift of knowledge” is not totally a supernatural thing.
Some people are wise and very perceptive. Their wisdom still comes from God of course, but not in the supernatural psychic-gifts sense.
 
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I guess this is where people differ from the Catholic Church in regards to the Bible and where it says a priest must do it regarding deliverance. We are disciples of Christ if truly walking with the father. The main difference is some go back to the bible and first century Christians and what they did, but not what the churches changed to 3 centuries after Christ death. This my understanding. I appreciate your help feedback. I grapple with doctrine that came after the council of Nicaea in 325 AD. In general, many traditions of men have been added over the previous 1700 years. This includes traditions added by Protestants after the reformation. This also includes Protestants making changes authorizing divorce. I have spent much time researching divorce and gods intentions for man and marriage. This includes biblical meditation. That’s another discussion
 
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TruthSeeker3 said:
I am not saying they use divination or other, but just have the gift to see things or know things (gift of knowledge). By see things, they may just be walking down the street or other and have the gift. Some people are born with abilities to sense things. Regarding deliverance, the gift of casting our demons or other evil haunting someone or their property. I am talking about people truly walking in spirit.
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Exorcism is exclusively for priests and not lay people.

Canon Law:

Can. 1172 §1 No one may lawfully exorcise the possessed without the special and express permission of the local Ordinary.

§2 This permission is to be granted by the local Ordinary only to a priest who is endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life.
 
I understand and am just asking. I wanted to understand your views. Can you tell me if the Catholic Church encourages biblical meditation? Have you prayed, fasted and meditated on your teachings or do they not emphasize that relationship? I am not judging by any means, but just wondered. I ran from religion after 18 years of it being forced down my throat only to come back after having biblical experiences. My wife had them with me also. I just seek gods truth and to separate mans legality. I find a few here and there that begin doing this and are very surprised when they seek. I know most Protestant churches stay away from meditation or at least they don’t emphasis it.
 
Catholics engage in prayer, fasting and biblical meditation.
I personally do it every week. I’m sure many people on this forum do it every week or even every day.
However, we do that in light of Church teaching.
We do not read the Bible and decide it says something different from what the Vatican and the Magisterium have told us to do.

Catholics (and Eastern Orthodox) have a very long tradition of meditation going back to the time of Christ. It is not something new. We have many great saints who practiced some form of holy meditation and contemplation. Today is the feast day of one of our greatest mystics, St. John of the Cross.
 
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Thanks for sharing. Nothing God has shown me goes against the Bible, nor will it if it is God. It will help clarify it and then God will confirm. I personally try to go back what Christ taught and his message to his disciples.
 
Pastor Benny Hinn would say Catholics believe in miracles and spiritual gifts . but they don’t ways see and experience them
 
Deant said:
Pastor Benny Hinn would say Catholics believe in miracles and spiritual gifts . but they don’t ways see and experience them
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Benny Hinn is not a Catholic and is not a reliable source of information on Catholic beliefs, Catholic experiences, or Catholicism in general.

Also, if Benny Hinn would say what you just claimed he would say, then he clearly hasn’t met or talked to enough Catholics or researched the topic. There are many Catholics both in the past and in the present who had/ have supernatural gifts and saw and experienced them. In terms of some who might have such gifts and not see or experience them, that’s true of the whole population, not just Catholics.

Benny Hinn does not offer any special way of getting to see or experience one’s gifts that isn’t already available in the Catholic Church through the Charismatic movement or the writings and teachings of mystic saints both East and West.
 
You’ve asked some very good questions, and have been given some very good and accurate answers.

I would suggest that you obtain the latest edition of our Catechism of the Catholic Church and read it. It will tell you a lot about what the Church teaches.

And, thank you for posting your questions on CAF. We are happy to help answer them.
 
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