How do Catholics experience the Holy Spirit?

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mikeledes said:
You tell this to a Fundamentalist Baptist and to many other Protestant Christians and they will tell you that was not the Holy Spirit. In fact, they will tell you that you are not really saved. Speaking in tongues, they say, ended with the completion of the Bible. Any supernatural experience like the one you’ve just described is, they argue, of the devil.

God Bless,
Michael
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In I Co. 14:5 Paul says that he wished ALL spoke in tongues. That includes all Christians. In verse** 22 he states that the purpose of tongues is for a sign to unbelievers**. It comes through believers. Has that ‘purpose’ lost its validity? No, it has not.

In verses 2-4 Paul says that he who speaks in tongues speaks directly to God and edifies his own spirit through that direct communication, bypassing human understanding and reasoning. It is spirit to Spirit communication. Again, I would ask, “is that purpose no longer valid?” Do we not need to commune directly with God anymore? Again, I believe the answer is no. The gift of tongues is still active. God does not take His gifts and calling back.

Denial of the gifts of God still being active today is a lie of the devil that brings doubt and confusion about God and Who He is and what He does. Doubt and confusion are the foundation of a double-minded person and the Bible says that a double-minded person is unstable in ‘all’ his ways and shall receive nothing from God. (James 1:5-8)

On a personal note, I could not care what others may think about my experience. Its between myself and my Saviour,
I am happy to share it, even at the risk of being ridiculed… I was a broken filthy rag a few years back,now I am one with the spirit and 1 in the Lord.

He is worthy to be sought!!!
Simon
 
Abira said:
This may sound like a silly question :)… but when I was growing u I got taken to quite a few praise festivals and saw things there that I have never seen anywhere else…except on some tv channels 🙂

Do Catholics experience the holy spirit…do they speak in tongues or faint? I’ve only ever heard or seen this in evangelical or pentecostal situations.

How do you feel about the whole tongues/fainting thing? Do Catholics feel ‘close’ or in touch with this aspect of the trinity?

Take care x
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I think you are thinking of the Charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, but those are not the only gifts.
There is the Charismatic movement in the Church, but it is not a prominent movement in the Church. Again there are other ways to experience the Holy Spirit besides those types of actions just as the other posters have mentioned.
 
Abira said:
This may sound like a silly question :)… but when I was growing u I got taken to quite a few praise festivals and saw things there that I have never seen anywhere else…except on some tv channels 🙂

Do Catholics experience the holy spirit…do they speak in tongues or faint? I’ve only ever heard or seen this in evangelical or pentecostal situations.

How do you feel about the whole tongues/fainting thing? Do Catholics feel ‘close’ or in touch with this aspect of the trinity?

Take care x
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Do you mean do we suffer from the physiological effects of mass hysteria?🙂

I’m sure there are some protestants that do truly feel the power of the holy spirit, however most of what you may have seen on the TV is the product of very “talented” pastors.
 
NotWorthy said:
Yes, the Holy Spirit may have visited you like this, but to say you can call on the Holy Spirit at your whim is stretching it a little. The Holy Spirit will come and visit you when He deems it necessary, not you.

As Catholics teach, the Holy Spirit does dwell within each of us at Baptism and when we are in a state of Sanctified Grace.
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My friend,
A few verses to the contrary for your reading…
Luke 11
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[a] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Matt 7:7
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matt 21:22
22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Mark 11:24
24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours
John 14:13
13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

I’ve a bunch more if any want them…
 
Importantly here is where Christ promises the Holy Spirit

John 14:
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—
17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you.
18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I too will love him and show myself to him."
 
NotWorthy said:
Yes, the Holy Spirit may have visited you like this, but to say you can call on the Holy Spirit at your whim is stretching it a little. The Holy Spirit will come and visit you when He deems it necessary, not you.

As Catholics teach, the Holy Spirit does dwell within each of us at Baptism and when we are in a state of Sanctified Grace.
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I know we can see excesses and extremes of the Holy Spirit on some TV stations, and I have to admit sometimes I doubt if it is the Holy Spirit, but I don’t want to put God into a box of my limited belief. I have no problem that some Christians experience the Holy Spirit in very Charismatic ways and others in a more subtle way. I guess that it would take the gift of discernment to determine if these gifts are from God or not.
 
runandsew said:
I know we can see excesses and extremes of the Holy Spirit on some TV stations, and I have to admit sometimes I doubt if it is the Holy Spirit, but I don’t want to put God into a box of my limited belief. I have no problem that some Christians experience the Holy Spirit in very Charismatic ways and others in a more subtle way. I guess that it would take the gift of discernment to determine if these gifts are from God or not.
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I doubt those extremes misleading. When you received the Holy Spirit, you find yourself at peace with God.
 
BlestOne said:
Protestants tend to view Catholics as not inspired or filled with the HS because we do treat it as a wholly (and holy) personal experience. I think it is funny that we are viewed this way at times because I have so totally felt the HS in some very private personal ways that Protestants will never understand such as after a very complete and honest confession.
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Hi BlestOne,

It’s strange that you mention confession as over and over again… I had a problem I was talking about in another thread… people tell me that confession gives them this feeling.

I was out with an ex-catholic priest last night and he said that I should tell him what was on my mind, not as a confession, but to unburden myself :)… and I felt a bit silly…well a lot silly, as confession seems quite a scary thing! but I did feel better and I do wish that there was some kind of protestant equivilant lol

Take care.
 
What’s interesting to me about the Protestant view is that it tends to in one breath deny, condemn, or treat as suspect the sensuality of the daily Catholic experience in the mass and other sacraments while it embraces the situational encounters with the Holy Spirit at a revival meeting. It also runs the risk of reducing faith to a mere feeling versus an existential reality.

The Protestant would find it very difficult to embrace the concept of the dark night of the soul as described by St. John of the Cross.
 
StCsDavid said:
The Protestant would find it very difficult to embrace the concept of the dark night of the soul as described by St. John of the Cross.
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what’s the dark night of the soul?

lol I think protestants may not focus on things they find difficult to embrace, but few people do I expect…I’ve not heard of this before 🙂
 
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