Holy Spirit

[Pulpit]

Has anyone had an experience where they were completely overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit. I felt the Holy Spirit come into me and completely took over my senses, where I started blinking my eyes really fast and had the feeling of ecstasy throughout my whole body. I have been trying to find other people that have had this experience, but can’t seem to find anyone. Also, I had one other experience at a Catholic Healing Mass, where the Holy Spirit completely engulfed me. I actually saw what appeared to be a spirit covering the entire ceiling of the Church, with small spirits lined up along top of the wall. The feeling I had was absolutely incredible. I could feel the presence of God and could actually feel people or angels praying for me. This experience has left me with an incredible thirst for knowledge, where I study and read about God and the Catholic religion almost non-stop. All doubts about the existence of God are completely gone. Please let me know if you have experienced anything like this.

 

[RitasKid]

I know God is real too. He let me experience something of his life. I felt myself as a distinct person and participant in Creation. I kept trying to recreate that feeling, but could only get part way. Meanwhile grew in grace and 35 years later, he touched me again. This recent time, I enjoyed it, was grateful. But I’m so happy to know I’m loved whether I feel Him or not. I am filled with joy even tough it’s a very ordinary day.

 

[MaryT777]

I had a personal crisis in my life that overwhelmed me with feelings of hopelessness and despair. One day I was at daily Mass and I looked at a statue of Jesus and immediately I was filled with a sense of peace that every thing would be ok.

I am certain it was the Holy Spirit giving me hope and forgiveness for my part in a failed marriage and I never looked back again and let go of the guilt and feelings of failure I had.

Mary.

 

[eazyduzit]

The HS would come upon me when I would least expect. Back at the fist Pentecostal church I attended, Bishop would always call for folks to come up for prayer for various reasons each Sunday. So you go up not expecting anything unusual, but at two different times, the same thing happened when I got just past the front pew. I was almost carried forward to the platform steps and fell over just praising and thanking God uncontrollably or without my own effort. However being new to experiences at this time I really didn’t know how to react. But being wiser now, I understand that you don’t try to do anything but relax and receive.

 

[TK421]

I only ever had one experience in my life that I might call mystical, although I’m unsure if it was, since I had also been awake for over 48 hours at the time, and who knows what the brain is up to at that point. When I first decided to become Catholic I verbally mouthed it to myself at the time, and I felt a wave of euphoria and had this unique sensation within me. I felt like I was holding hands and dancing to and fro and to and fro with somebody, although I was laying there on the floor perfectly still.

That’s the best I got. It was either mystical, or it was me being drastically fatigue. I’ve reflected & prayed for insight over the strange event since then, and I’ve concluded that the answer doesn’t ultimately matter. Love & faithfulness are what matter.

 

[Dorothy]

I only ever had one experience in my life that I might call mystical, although I’m unsure if it was, since I had also been awake for over 48 hours at the time, and who knows what the brain is up to at that point. When I first decided to become Catholic I verbally mouthed it to myself at the time, and I felt a wave of euphoria and had this unique sensation within me. I felt like I was holding hands and dancing to and fro and to and fro with somebody, although I was laying there on the floor perfectly still.

That’s the best I got. It was either mystical, or it was me being drastically fatigue. I’ve reflected & prayed for insight over the strange event since then, and I’ve concluded that the answer doesn’t ultimately matter. Love & faithfulness are what matter.

God does work in mysterious ways. And, your last paragraph says it all.

 

[hazcompat]

Maxims for the Direction of a Soul that Desires to Obtain Perfection in the Love of Jesus Christ
by Saint Alphonsus Liguori

1. To desire ardently to increase in the love of Jesus Christ.
2. Often to make acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Immediately on waking, and before going to sleep, to make an act of love, seeking always to unite your own will to the will of Jesus Christ.
3. Often to meditate on his Passion.
4. Always to ask Jesus Christ for his love.
5. To communicate often, and many times in the day to make spiritual Communions.
6. Often to visit the Most Holy Sacrament.
7. Every morning to receive from the hands of Jesus Christ himself your own cross.
8. To desire Paradise and death, in order to be able to love Jesus Christ perfectly and for all eternity.
9. Often to speak of the love of Jesus Christ.
10. To accept contradictions for the sake of Jesus Christ.
11. To rejoice in the happiness of God.
12. To do that which is most pleasing to Jesus Christ, and not to refuse him anything that is agreeable to him.
13. To desire and to endeavor that all should love Jesus Christ.
14. To pray always for sinners and for the souls in purgatory.
15. To drive from your heart every affection that does not belong to Jesus Christ.
16. Always to have recourse to the most holy Mary, that she may obtain for us the love of Jesus Christ.
17. To honor Mary in order to please Jesus Christ.
18. To seek to please Jesus Christ in all your actions.
19. To offer yourself to Jesus Christ to suffer any pain for his love.
    20 To be always determined to die rather than commit a willful venial sin.
20. To suffer crosses patiently, saying, “Thus it pleases Jesus Christ.”
21. To renounce your own pleasures for the love of Jesus Christ.
22. To pray as much as possible.
23. To practice all the mortifications that obedience permits.
24. To do all your spiritual exercises as if it were for the last time.
25. To persevere in good works in the time of aridity.
26. Not to do nor yet to leave undone anything through human respect.
27. Not to complain in sickness.
28. To love solitude, to be able to converse alone with Jesus Christ.
29. To drive away melancholy.
30. Often to recommend yourself to those persons who love Jesus Christ.
31. In temptation, to have recourse to Jesus crucified, and to Mary in her sorrows.
32. To trust entirely in the Passion of Jesus Christ.
33. After committing a fault, not to be discouraged, but to repent and resolve to amend.
34. To do good to those who do evil.
35. To speak well of all, and to excuse the intention when you cannot defend the action.
36. To help your neighbor as much as you can.
37. Neither to say nor to do anything that might vex him. And if you have been wanting in charity, to ask his pardon and speak kindly to him.
38. Always to speak with mildness and in a low tone.
39. To offer to Jesus Christ all the contempt and persecution that you meet with.
40. To look upon [religious] Superiors as the representatives of Jesus Christ.
41. To obey without answering and without repugnance, and not to seek your own satisfaction in anything.
42. To like the lowest employments.
43. To like the poorest things.
44. Not to speak either good or evil of yourself.
45. To humble yourself even towards inferiors.
46. Not to excuse yourself when you are reproved.
47. Not to defend yourself when found fault with.
48. To be silent when you are disquieted.
49. Always to renew your determination of becoming a saint, saying, “My Jesus, I desire to be all Yours, and You must be all mine.”

Peace

 

[DebChris]

Continue to be open to the gifts that the Holy Spirit has for you as a result of your Baptism and Confirmation. What you experienced is because you sought the giver of the gifts rather than the gifts themselves. The Holy Spirit is indeed the great Consoler.