Is there any official Church documents on the legitimacy of "spiritual experiences"

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PseudoHermit_22

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Just curious if there is an official release that would give information on how to tell if an experience is a legitimate “spiritual” experience (for lack of a better term), or just a coincidence that felt like it was directed by God.

I have had several experiences in my life that I just feel could not be coincidences – you know, that kind of thing.
 
PseudoHermit_22 said:
Just curious if there is an official release that would give information on how to tell if an experience is a legitimate “spiritual” experience (for lack of a better term), or just a coincidence that felt like it was directed by God.

I have had several experiences in my life that I just feel could not be coincidences – you know, that kind of thing.
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Here’s one…

“***every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of ***antichrist” (1 John 4:3)

I would add that for a Catholic, if the spiritual experience is urging your toward the commission or omission of thoughts, words, or deeds contary to Catholic teaching, then I doubt it was directed by God.
 
“The Ascent of Mt. Carmel” by St. John of the Cross is a good resource for this. He spends quite a bit of time discussing proper discernment of “extraordinary experiences” . . . visions, locutions, revelations and the like.

He gives very specific ways to determine when these are given by God, the devil or when they are a product of our imagination/auto suggestion. Equally important, he discusses the proper way we are to behave before, during and after such experiences.

If what you’re refering to in this thread isn’t of the “extraordinary” type, both he and St. Teresa of Avila speak at great length in all their works about the “ordinary experience” of God. By “ordinary” I’m refering to contemplative prayer in which things like visions, locutions and revelations don’t play a part.

Hope this helps.

Dave
 
DBT said:
“The Ascent of Mt. Carmel” by St. John of the Cross is a good resource for this. He spends quite a bit of time discussing proper discernment of “extraordinary experiences” . . . visions, locutions, revelations and the like.

He gives very specific ways to determine when these are given by God, the devil or when they are a product of our imagination/auto suggestion. Equally important, he discusses the proper way we are to behave before, during and after such experiences.

If what you’re refering to in this thread isn’t of the “extraordinary” type, both he and St. Teresa of Avila speak at great length in all their works about the “ordinary experience” of God. By “ordinary” I’m refering to contemplative prayer in which things like visions, locutions and revelations don’t play a part.

Hope this helps.

Dave
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Thanks, yes this sounds like (yet another:) ) book that I need to add to my book list.
 
Yes, I know what it’s like to have a long reading list . . . my eyes are always bigger than my head when it comes to books:)

While you’re waiting to read this or any other book that might be of help, here’s something you can do to quickly test the validity of the inspirations/coincidences you’re talking about in this thread.

Do they draw you to a deeper love of God and neighbor?
  • Do you find yourself spending more time alone with God in prayer?
  • Are you becoming more faithful to the tenets and teaching of the Church?
  • Are you growing in the practice of virtue?
If the answer is yes to these questions, you’re likely on firm ground. If the answer is no or maybe, then more prayer is probably needed to discern the real meaning of the coincidences you mention.

This is the type of exercise St. John presents in “The Ascent” – but obviously in much more detail. Hopefully this is a quick fix in the meantime . . .

Dave.
 
Thanks – my experiences pretty much check out. Now, I am not really talkng about seeing visions or huge things like that. If you have seen the movie “I Am David” there is an incident in the movie with the book that is similar to what I am talking about – except my experiences have led me back to God and the Church.

They are like coincidences that just seem too intentional and pertinent to be random happenings.

One example, the first in this path, in college I wandered down a pretty dark path of philosophy and atheism (i realize now I was depressed over my parents divorce, etc) but eventually I turned away from this and one night I was trying to say the Lord’s prayer for the first time in probably 6 years but (like a dum-dum) could not remember it and had no Bible at the time. I really wanted to pray but could not. The very next day, in a Shakespeare class of all things, a class that has really nothing to do with religion, especially in such a liberal school like San Francisco State, for some “unknown” reason, the professor passed around a replica of a 16th century print and on this print written in old english style font was THE LORD’S PRAYER!!! I just felt like this was God or an angel that sent this to me via this professor. Some may say it was just a coincidence and I was reading into it but I feel otherwise – I then of course was able to get the words to the prayer that I was missing and started to pray again.

The professor even mentioned the church he goes to and where it was down the road – I tried to find it the next Sunday but ended up running out of time and stopped into the first church I came to – which was not so much a mystical experience as it was sort of an odd church.
 
PseudoHermit_22 said:
They are like coincidences that just seem too intentional and pertinent to be random happenings.
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OK, I get it now.

I’ve often heard it said “there’s no such thing as coincidences.” 🙂 Yes, God is always at work in our lives and one of the principal ways he recalls our attention back to Him is through the words, example and our dealings with other people . . . especially those we’d least expect. It is a real blessing to “hear” him this way . . . the problem for many of us is we just don’t know how to listen.

The best way to learn to listen, the Saints teach us, is to spend more time in prayer. And methods like Lectio Divina (many threads around here on that subject) are especially helpful in this regard since it’s purpose is to make us more receptive to the quiet whispering of the Holy Spirit.

Soon one will find the experience of interior “inspirations” to be a fairly common occurance. And yes, you’ll “hear” God speaking to you through other people more and more often. And please remember if you ever doubt the validity of what you’re hearing – if it’s God (vs. the devil or imagination) you’ll always be led toward the good.

Dave.
 
PseudoHermit_22 said:
If you have seen the movie “I Am David” there is an incident in the movie with the book that is similar to what I am talking about – except my experiences have led me back to God and the Church.
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Just noticed this part of your post. Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about . . . both the movie and from personal experience. Sometimes God makes and active intervention in our lives leading to a profound conversion. The fact your experience led you back to the Church is a very good thing. He has plans for you.

In my case, I was led to a life of contemplative prayer and, ultimately, the Secular Order of Carmel through an instantaneous conversion that occurred when a baseball, of all things, inexplicably rolled up to me in my Church parking lot with a very specific (and highly unusal) name on it. I can’t really go into the details of what this all meant to me at the time; all I’ll say is that it was no coincidence. Not a chance. The name and the fact it was on a baseball had so much meaning to me that my entire life changed in that single moment.

I like to think God felt it necessary to take a dramatic step like this because He wasn’t getting my attention through His normal means of communication. Like I said in the last post, I wasn’t listening. I never knew He was calling me all along.

Dave
 
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