Tongues is a ‘gift’ because the Bible tells us that it is. It is not something that comes from ourselves, it is something we are given by the Spirit, therefore, it is a gift. We are supposed to use this gift for the building-up of God’s people. I usually use tongues only privately or under my breath unless I’m in the prayer group. It tends to upset some people, confuse them, and so not build them up.
The Bible tells us that praying in tongues is a good thing. Paul goes on about it at length. In 1 Corinthians 14:2 he says, “For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.” [NRSV] (check out the whole letter, he has a lot to say about tongues in there. note that Paul claims to speak in tongues more than anyone else.)
I remember when I first received the gift of tongues, it seemed like a dam had broken and the ‘words’ just came tumbling out. Sometimes, now, I even get poetry or at least it has rhythm and rhyme, sort of like a psalm, and it just comes out of my mouth like that, and I’m hearing it for the first time. I don’t think about it before hand. So, I guess you could say that the Spirit is using my mouth, tongue, etc to pray, with my cooperation.
There is no trance state or even this ‘emptying’ spoken of. I even pray in tongues while driving and I couldn’t do that and be in a semi-conscious trance state.
It was just ordinary tongues at first but later I received Prophetic Tongues. This was a different kettle of fish. It felt like the ‘words’ were burning inside me, that I just had to speak. (road to Emmaus - are not our hearts burning within us?). Not compelled to speak, strongly urged would be a better description. However, I would class this as one of the least desirable of the varieties of tongues. It is fine if there is someone there to interpret. One evening, I received a prophecy and duly spoke it to the group but no one interpreted. Even though one of the leaders afterward told me that someone new had been given the Interpretation and had not spoken, I stifled the gift thereafter and did not speak when it came to me again. (Think spiritual heartburn.) But, as Paul says, if there is no one to interpret, prophetic tongues is useless.
The other ‘tongues’ I have been given is singing in tongues. In this, both the melody and the words are given. For me, it usually sounds like chant. There were several of us in my old prayer group who had this gift and we would sing in tongues together, each with our own melody yet somehow, we always harmonized. Since I am the only one with this gift in my prayer group now, I don’t use it very often.
I know it is just a feeling, but when I pray in tongues, I usually ‘feel’ like my prayer is going straight to heaven. I feel more united to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit than when I use my own words. I have more confidence that I am praying in accordance with the Will of God, since the Spirit is God. In English, I have come out with some pretty lame-sounding prayers. I know what I want to say, but the beautiful poetic words just don’t come to me. Yet, in tongues, it ‘feels’ like the beauty and poetry and eloquence are there.
Tongues have been disdained for a long time. I think the problem comes from a lack of Discernment. This Gift is absolutely necessary when it comes to tongues. When we are open to tongues, we are open to other (evil) spirits as well, so we have to pray for protection. Sometimes these other spirits can imitate tongues and this is where it has gotten a bad name and fallen into disuse over the centuries. Without the Gift of Discernment, we cannot tell if the source is the Holy Spirit or someone else. This is where you start to get ‘weird phenomena’ and ‘bad things’ happen. We must remain in full obedience to the Magisterium and if anything seems a bit suss, it should be tested against what we know to be true. So if Fr. X says something is wrong and stop doing it, listen to him.
Tongues is really the least of the gifts of the Spirit. It is just a very visible/audible gift that seems unusual or odd so it gets more attention than it should.
I think this is why the Church has emphasized the other Gifts of the Spirit which are listed in Isaiah - wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. These are better gifts when it comes to building up the Church.
secondexodus.com/html/catholicdefinitions/giftsofthespirit.htm
“We are to pray to the Holy Spirit and ask for one of these gifts. If He gives us a gift, we may ask for another, and so on.”
IMO, these days, people do not ask for the gifts of the Spirit, we just sort of assume that they have all been given at Confirmation. This is not the case - we have to ask specifically. Just like we have to ask for forgiveness, it isn’t just automatically given.
When we pray and ask God for something, He sometimes answer you in different way that you least expected, and later He will reveil to you how your prayer was answered.