Having Spiritual Gifts Without Being Charismatic - Oxymoron?

[TrueLight]

I was reading to Catholic radio and they were speaking of different spiritual gifts and one of the gifts they spoke of is the gift of discernment.

I have always felt that God blessed me with the gift of meeting someone and very quickly seeing what they are about. I also, at different times have had dreams that have come true and have felt the Spirit’s direction in terms of making one decision or the other.

During the radio broadcast, the speaker advised a caller that if they wanted to develop such gifts, there are charismatic services they can go to where people can pray over you to receive those gifts or where you might have an opportunity to “speak a word”.

I’m not interested in charismatic services.

How do you guys feel about these gifts outside of the charismatic renewal, or are they linked?

Is there a way to nurture such gifts, from a traditional perspective?

 

[FAB]

I was reading to Catholic radio and they were speaking of different spiritual gifts and one of the gifts they spoke of is the gift of discernment.

I have always felt that God blessed me with the gift of meeting someone and very quickly seeing what they are about. I also, at different times have had dreams that have come true and have felt the Spirit’s direction in terms of making one decision or the other.

During the radio broadcast, the speaker advised a caller that if they wanted to develop such gifts, there are charismatic services they can go to where people can pray over you to receive those gifts or where you might have an opportunity to “speak a word”.

I’m not interested in charismatic services.

How do you guys feel about these gifts outside of the charismatic renewal, or are they linked?

Is there a way to nurture such gifts, from a traditional perspective?

Prayer is a good place to start. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in how you are called to the Lord’s work.
I will get in trouble with Charismatics, but being prayered over doesn’t mean you will get gifts or "unlock’, gifts. The gifts you have are freely given from Father. We need only to seek with humble heart.
Any form of traditional prayer will get you to the same place as Charismatic prayer, It afterall worked for saints and holy people for hundreds of years.

 

[Sirach2]

How do you guys feel about these gifts outside of the charismatic renewal, or are they linked?

When the Holy Spirit indwells a person, He will bestow gifts according to His good pleasure, even without asking for them, and in accord with the readiness of the person to receive. I’m thinking about Sr. Briege McKenna who received the gift healing, yet she resisted using it until the Lord helped her understand that to use it would honor Him. Several people in the Body of Christ had received a word of knowledge connected with Sister having that gift, and they spoke to her about it.

As for discernment, I think this may well be an advanced state of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit - it is not unusual for a holy person to have a high degree of discernment. No, you don’t need to be prayed over for a particular gift, for God will not bestow it if there is no readiness, prudence, or maturity to use it wisely. St. John of the Cross detailed this gift in this chapter, although he did not specifically give it the name of discernment.

1. But over and above these habits or graces freely bestowed, what we say is that persons who are perfect or are making progress in perfection are wont very commonly to receive enlightenment and knowledge of things present or absent; these they know through their spirit, which is already enlightened and purged. Even as there appear in the waters the faces of those that look therein, so the hearts of men are manifest to the prudent.

This is understood of those that have the wisdom of saints, which the sacred Scripture calls prudence. And in this way these spirits sometimes learn of other things also, although not whensoever they will; for this belongs only to those that have the habit, and even to these it belongs not always and with respect to all things, for it depends upon God’s will to help them.

1. But it must be known that those whose spirits are purged can learn by natural means with great readiness, and some more readily than others, that which is in the inward spirit or heart, and the inclinations and talents of men, and this by outward indications, albeit very slight ones, as words, movements and other signs.

For, even as the devil can do this, since he is spirit, even so likewise can the spiritual man, according to the words of the Apostle, who says: ‘He that is spiritual judgeth all things.’ And again he says: ‘The spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.’

Wherefore, although spiritual persons cannot by nature know thoughts, or things that are in the minds of others, they may well interpret them through supernatural enlightenment or by signs. And, although they may often be deceived in their interpretation of signs, they are more generally correct.

 

[Heuchler]

You don’t need the charismatic movement to deal with your gifts and in some cases I believe their movement can cause “gifts” where God has not given any. However, throughout everything stay close to God and flock to the sacraments which are channels of his grace. By praying more often and receiving the sacraments, your will can conform and become more like God’s will. This is what matters. Don’t focus on trying to nurture any gifts that God may have given you, follow the will of God and continue as usual and these gifts will be used for good. Your gifts will bring good if you follow God and his will. Take what God has given you instead of trying to get more from God. God will help you with these gifts on His time. You do not need the charismatic movement to use your gifts that God has given you; people were doing without the charismatic movement up until the 1970s in which it began. So, don’t worry, God will give you strength and help you on your journey. All you have to do is use your gift to help others. That’s all God wants from you.

 

[TrueLight]

You don’t need the charismatic movement to deal with your gifts and in some cases I believe their movement can cause “gifts” where God has not given any. However, throughout everything stay close to God and flock to the sacraments which are channels of his grace. By praying more often and receiving the sacraments, your will can conform and become more like God’s will. This is what matters. Don’t focus on trying to nurture any gifts that God may have given you, follow the will of God and continue as usual and these gifts will be used for good. Your gifts will bring good if you follow God and his will. Take what God has given you instead of trying to get more from God. God will help you with these gifts on His time. You do not need the charismatic movement to use your gifts that God has given you; people were doing without the charismatic movement up until the 1970s in which it began. So, don’t worry, God will give you strength and help you on your journey. All you have to do is use your gift to help others. That’s all God wants from you.

It’s funny. For most of my life, I’ve tried to ignore it. It’s not that I really want them. They just are.

I’ll pray for God to show me why he gave me those gifts and how I can use them in his service.

 

[TrueLight]

When the Holy Spirit indwells a person, He will bestow gifts according to His good pleasure, even without asking for them, and in accord with the readiness of the person to receive. I’m thinking about Sr. Briege McKenna who received the gift healing, yet she resisted using it until the Lord helped her understand that to use it would honor Him. Several people in the Body of Christ had received a word of knowledge connected with Sister having that gift, and they spoke to her about it.

As for discernment, I think this may well be an advanced state of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit - it is not unusual for a holy person to have a high degree of discernment. No, you don’t need to be prayed over for a particular gift, for God will not bestow it if there is no readiness, prudence, or maturity to use it wisely. St. John of the Cross detailed this gift in this chapter, although he did not specifically give it the name of discernment.

Thanks! I printed a few chapters to read on the train.

 

[TrueLight]

Prayer is a good place to start. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in how you are called to the Lord’s work.
I will get in trouble with Charismatics, but being prayered over doesn’t mean you will get gifts or "unlock’, gifts. The gifts you have are freely given from Father. We need only to seek with humble heart.
Any form of traditional prayer will get you to the same place as Charismatic prayer, It afterall worked for saints and holy people for hundreds of years.

Prayer is key, isn’t it?

 

[Bigcat71]

I was reading to Catholic radio and they were speaking of different spiritual gifts and one of the gifts they spoke of is the gift of discernment.

I have always felt that God blessed me with the gift of meeting someone and very quickly seeing what they are about. I also, at different times have had dreams that have come true and have felt the Spirit’s direction in terms of making one decision or the other.

During the radio broadcast, the speaker advised a caller that if they wanted to develop such gifts, there are charismatic services they can go to where people can pray over you to receive those gifts or where you might have an opportunity to “speak a word”.

I’m not interested in charismatic services.

How do you guys feel about these gifts outside of the charismatic renewal, or are they linked?

Is there a way to nurture such gifts, from a traditional perspective?

As much as they would want you to believe otherwise, the Charismatic Renewal Movement is completely 100% unnecessary to obtain, unlock, nurture or use these gifts. If you look at the history of the Church you will finds hundreds, heck thousands of people who possessed the charismatic gifts, yet amazingly there was no charismatic movement to bring these gifts into the open. Why? Because it is totally unnecessary and always has been. The Holy Spirit moves on His own and bestows His blessings on whomsoever He chooses… I will guarantee you there is not a layperson, a protestant minister, a priest a Bishop or even a Pope that can channel the Holy Spirit and unleash the charismatic gifts that we all have. That is something between you and the Holy Trinity.

As to a traditional perspective of the charisms I would give you the case of Saint Padre Pio, one of the best known charismatics of recent days. He prayed for hours on end from his youth till his death. He never strayed far from prayer and as a result his gifts were manifested to a high degree almost unheard of. Unbelievable actually. I would reccomend that you read the accounts of his life because one of his greatest gifts was that of discernment.

And yes there were no Charismatic Movement members praying over him trying to force the gifts out so that he could use them.

 

[FAB]

Prayer is key, isn’t it?

Always

 

[DebChris]

You do not need to be a member of any particular movement in order to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is true that God gives His gifts to each person according to His Will. What you will find within in the Charismatic Renewal, which is a work of the Holy Spirit, is support and fellowship. All gifts are to be received with gratitude and humility for the upbuilding of God’s kingdom.
The gift you describe appears to be the gift of knowledge. Discernment, knowing what God desires, is a powerful gift that generally develops over time. As already mentioned, prayer is key to knowing how God would have each of us use the gifts we received by virtue of our Baptism and Confirmation. The Giver of the gifts is always more important than the gifts themselves.

 

[christosdavid]

The Holy Spirit isnt the domain of Charismatics only. We all share in God the Spirit and his gifts.

 

[WoundedIcon]

I know where you’re coming from because I speak in tongues and have dreams and visions and other more complicated stuff happen to me but I really don’t want much to do with the “Charismatic” brand of spirituality. I’m a more theologically minded individual… I don’t like all the excitement and emotionality. I myself am trying to figure out why the heck all these things happen to me and to what end they’re intended to be ordered to, to no avail.

 

[vardaquinn]

The Charismatic Renewal is there to promote renewal of the charismatic gifts and the understanding of Pentecost. The gifts of the Holy Spirit aren’t limited to any movement, but all Catholics are supposed to exercise whatever charismatic gifts they are given for the upbuilding of the Church. Like it or not, all Catholics are “charismatic” (even if they aren’t associated with the new renewal movement). In your case, it seems discernment is one of your special charisms!

As for nurturing the charisms… well, obviously the best way is through prayer and openness to whatever gifts the Holy Spirit wants to bring. But the gifts are given really for the service of others, and sort of play off everyone else’s spiritual gifts. Someone has one gift which is supported by another’s gift and so on. The Charismatic Renewal would naturally be the prime place to go for more of an experience of the charismatic gifts in a community setting, because unfortunately outside the movement there’s a lot of ignorance of the gifts and a closed-off mentality. I can understand from a traditionalist perspective that this is kind of uncomfortable. Still, I know there are some charismatics that have a more traditionalist sort of approach to things.

But, the Holy Spirit has given you the gift of discernment for a reason, and probably towards the service of others.

 

[DebChris]

The Charismatic Renewal is there to promote renewal of the charismatic gifts and the understanding of Pentecost. The gifts of the Holy Spirit aren’t limited to any movement, but all Catholics are supposed to exercise whatever charismatic gifts they are given for the upbuilding of the Church. Like it or not, all Catholics are “charismatic” (even if they aren’t associated with the new renewal movement). In your case, it seems discernment is one of your special charisms!

As for nurturing the charisms… well, obviously the best way is through prayer and openness to whatever gifts the Holy Spirit wants to bring. But the gifts are given really for the service of others, and sort of play off everyone else’s spiritual gifts. Someone has one gift which is supported by another’s gift and so on. The Charismatic Renewal would naturally be the prime place to go for more of an experience of the charismatic gifts in a community setting, because unfortunately outside the movement there’s a lot of ignorance of the gifts and a closed-off mentality. I can understand from a traditionalist perspective that this is kind of uncomfortable. Still, I know there are some charismatics that have a more traditionalist sort of approach to things.

But, the Holy Spirit has given you the gift of discernment for a reason, and probably towards the service of others.

As mentioned in my earlier post, we are to seek the Giver of the gifts over the gifts themselves. A “closed-off mentality” can come from our response to the gifts when first received. There is excitement and a genuine desire to show off what we have received. Think of the child who receives a new bicycle and has to show it around the neighborhood. Only later does he realize the many uses of his bicycle; as transportation to school as an example. Charisms are special gifts of the Holy Spirit. They have been active throughout the history of the Church. When the gifts are first awakened our amazement that God would show His love in such a way means our zeal, our desire to share, can stand in the way of discernment, of listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides us in the use of these very special gifts. We may still need to learn how to ride that bicycle.
Newcomers to the Charismatic Renewal are nurtured by more mature members. While it is not necessary to be a part of the Renewal in order to be charismatic, neither is the Renewal something to fear.

 

[vardaquinn]

As mentioned in my earlier post, we are to seek the Giver of the gifts over the gifts themselves. A “closed-off mentality” can come from our response to the gifts when first received. There is excitement and a genuine desire to show off what we have received. Think of the child who receives a new bicycle and has to show it around the neighborhood. Only later does he realize the many uses of his bicycle; as transportation to school as an example. Charisms are special gifts of the Holy Spirit. They have been active throughout the history of the Church. When the gifts are first awakened our amazement that God would show His love in such a way means our zeal, our desire to share, can stand in the way of discernment, of listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides us in the use of these very special gifts. We may still need to learn how to ride that bicycle.
Newcomers to the Charismatic Renewal are nurtured by more mature members. While it is not necessary to be a part of the Renewal in order to be charismatic, neither is the Renewal something to fear.

Very, very well said!

 

[TrueLight]

Thanks for the advice!

As for nurturing the charisms… well, obviously the best way is through prayer and openness to whatever gifts the Holy Spirit wants to bring.

In the past, I have sort of resisted these type of gifts out of fear. I didn’t want them, especially when it comes to dreams. I had a dream about a guy at my job about 2 months ago. In the dream, he suffered a heart attack or seizure, or something like that while at work. . We had to call the ambulance. Every time I see him, I want to say something, like “have you been to the doctor lately?” But I don’t need to be labeled as a freak at work. So I just pray for him.

The Charismatic Renewal would naturally be the prime place to go for more of an experience of the charismatic gifts in a community setting, because unfortunately outside the movement there’s a lot of ignorance of the gifts and a closed-off mentality.

One side of my family is pentecostal. I grew up around these type of charismatic services and they aren’t for me.

 

[DebChris]

Thanks for the advice!

In the past, I have sort of resisted these type of gifts out of fear. I didn’t want them, especially when it comes to dreams. I had a dream about a guy at my job about 2 months ago. In the dream, he suffered a heart attack or seizure, or something like that while at work. . We had to call the ambulance. Every time I see him, I want to say something, like “have you been to the doctor lately?” But I don’t need to be labeled as a freak at work. So I just pray for him.

One side of my family is pentecostal. I grew up around these type of charismatic services and they aren’t for me.

The “Praise & Worship” services with which the Charismatic Renewal is associated is only a small part of what it means to be charismatic. The primary focus of the stateside group to which I belong is intercessory prayer. Each prayer meeting begins with praise and thanksgiving for the blessings we have received during the week. After that, the focus is praying for the needs of individual group members and the parish as a whole. It would be a time to mention what God revealed to you in a dream. I understand not wanting to be labeled a “freak” at work. You can pray for the man’s healing without his ever being aware.
Personal conversion is ongoing. This personal conversion includes an increased love of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Listening to the Holy Spirit leads a person to accept not only the Spirit’s promptings, but the conviction of sin which leads to more frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Scriptures become alive.
Overseas, I belong to an English Charismatic Prayer group. It is much larger than the stateside group. There is praise. There is time for worship. Much time is spent on our knees. There is a teaching. Members are reminded to read Scripture and pray the rosary daily. Intercessory prayer is on a different day and time than the weekly prayer meeting.
Praise and worship services may seem as a mountain top experience. This mountain top experience is always followed the need to live our lives in accordance with God’s Will in the valley where we live and work. I work in a Muslim country.