Speaking in Tongues Advice

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ICXCNIKA

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A little background.
When I was 14 (28 years ago) I “accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior” and all that went with it. I attended Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches and was exposed to speaking in tongues. I don’t find it odd, or scary. I believe it is a gift from the Holy Spirit, although from the abuses that I saw in the Pentecostal movement I question if much of what I was exposed to came from the Holy Spirit.

When I was “saved” I also was prayed over to receive the gift of speaking in tongues and later the same day began speaking in a different language. Since I left the Pentecostal movmement, years ago, I have not practiced that language and I am very doubtful that it was from the Holy Spirit.

My wife and I go to a weekly “Charismatic” Catholic prayer group. I really like it. It is very different from the emotional free for all I expereinced as a young Christian. We pray the rosary, lay hands on members with special needs, and some of the members get visions. (I realize these are private revelations and there is nothing sensational). Most of the members do speak in tongues and do so quietly during some of the prayers. Nothing is dis-orderly and everything is done in reverence.

The woman who leads the prayer group has asked me, at our next meeting, to lay hands on each member and pray and pray for special intentions. As we discussed it she asked if I have a prayer language. I knew this was going to happen. I told her no, however God has given me other gifts.

I am concerned now that she is going to try to compell me to ask for the gift of speaking in tongues. And I have a feeling that our ideas about that gift will differ. I am planning to speak to her tomorrow.

It seems to me that Confirmation is the sacrament when one receives the infilling of the Holy Spirit and at that sacrament one receives one’s spiritual gifts. Since it is a sacrament, then it is something that must be performed by a priest. At one of our meetings the group prayed over a woman to receive the gift of speaking in tongues. If it isn’t God’s will for a person to have that gift, then they won’t get it.

So, can anyone give me some advice about this? Any official teaching on how this should be done and how I should deal with it.

Thanks.
 
This is an area many Catholics are very uncomfortable with.

First, (and I am in a bit of a hurry, so I speed read your post) don’t assume that you did not receive a prayer tongue from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit blows where He will.

Second, I would strongly suggest if you want more information, and not just personal opinion, ask around if there is a Life in the Spirit group, as they are generally the most knowledgable about the questions you have.

God bless!
 
I would also love to learn more about the Catholic Charismatic movement as I have some Pentecostal background. 🙂
 
I have about 30 years experience in old line pentecostalism and new-fangled Protestant charismaticism. I’m also a trained linguist (used to be 6 foreign languages, but after finishing Span-102 this past December, I now count it as my 7th).

I have never heard a recognisable foreign language from someone who was speaking in tongues. On the other hand, there is too much anecdotal evidence for that phenomenon to be discounted.

By the same token, I have found just about all the goings-on in pentecostal and charismatic circles to be explainable as actions of the flesh, rather than manifestations of the Spirit. On the other hand, there have genuine miracles that have taken place.

My advice–just let it happen, if it’s going to happen. Don’t intentionally speak gibberish just to go along with the crowd. On the other hand, don’t discount the possibility that the Holy Spirit might have something special in store for you.

DaveBj
 
I have attended prayer meetings, and life in the Spirit seminars, and heard others praying quietly in tongues, and some of the sisters we meet with regularly pray in tongues in a subdued voice after Mass sometimes. It sounds like a vocalized chant in repeated syllables in a narrow tonal range. It is not at all disturbing and does not interfere with my prayer. I have never been “compelled” to ask for the gift of tongues or any other gift at one of these meetngs.

What I have experienced however is to my mind somewhat akin to the gift of understanding tongues. This has occurred at least a half dozen times since moving here, where Spanish is spoken more often than English in some places. Several times at retreats, prayer meetings, cenacles etc. the speaker or worship leader has been speaking in Spanish, or someone has been giving testimony in Spanish, and I can understand their message completely, My Spanish instruction consists of a 6 week class, enough to greet people and ask simple questions. Yet I can understand these communications about spiritual topics. What would you call this gift?
 
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ICXCNIKA:
It seems to me that Confirmation is the sacrament when one receives the infilling of the Holy Spirit and at that sacrament one receives one’s spiritual gifts. Since it is a sacrament, then it is something that must be performed by a priest. At one of our meetings the group prayed over a woman to receive the gift of speaking in tongues. If it isn’t God’s will for a person to have that gift, then they won’t get it.
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Just a comment on this.

If you’re implying that she was wrong to ask for the gift of tongues because she didn’t already have it, under the reasoning that God had already manifested it wasn’t His will, I’m going to have to disagree. Otherwise… well, you’ve completely debunked all intercessory prayer.

Otherwise, why would we pray for anything? Obviously, if it was God’s will, we would already have it, so there wouldn’t be any purpose.

Rather, God chooses to give us gifts and do His works at various times, through other people. Its part of what unites us all together as the body of Christ. Therefore, just because someone didn’t have the gift of tongues at confirmation doesn’t mean God didn’t want to give it to someone through antoher person.

You are correct that the sacraments of baptism and confirmation are the only sources of instilling the Holy Spirit ordinarily in one’s soul. However, we are imperfect, and our receptivity to the grace is not 100% straight away. Rather, we slowly come to grow and be more open to the grace we were already given. Hence gifts manifest over time, and not necessarily at confirmation.

Also, there is mention in Acts where some gentiles recieve the gifts of the Holy Spirit before confirmation. This confuses some at first, and the apostles use it as a sign that God wishes them to recieve the sacraments as well. This shows that God is not limited by his own sacraments, but gives His Holy Spirit to others as he chooses.

Josh
 
Hi! I come from a charismatic background as well. When I was 16 I prayed for the gifts of the spirit in the “usual” way. I didn’t speak in tongues until I was 21. This caused some problems when I was training to be an Assemblies of God pastor. Their doctrine states the “initial physical evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues.” From personal experience I knew this was faulty theology. I still speak in tongues sometimes when I pray. Not always. For the most part, I don’t think most Pentacostals/Charismatics who speak in tongues are speaking human gibberish. Though I’ve been in a church or two where I know that was the case. You could feel it. God wasn’t in it at all. But in my entire life experience in that world, that’s only happened once. I think, perhaps, one reason why it’s so common in those churches is because it is commonplace. Therefore no one is afraid of it. Our fears and insecurities can keep the Holy Spirit from working in our lives sometimes. God is a gentleman. He doesn’t force anything on us we’re unwilling for whatever reason to receive. If you’ve spoken in tongues before, then you do have a prayer language. You just choose, at this point in time not to use it. And that’s okay. All the gifts are important. Too many churches remind me of the Corinthian church. It’s all about tongues. That was one reason I left the Assemblies, though I wouldn’t have said so at the time. It’s one reason why I’m Catholic today.
 
I guess I shouldn’t have given so much background info. What I really want to know is if there is specific Church teaching on this issue.

The interesting thing is, interesting from my background, refreshing is more like it, the woman who spoke to me about a prayer language has not pressed the issue. In fact, at this week’s prayer meeting when she prayed over me she spoke about the very gifts of the Holy Spirit that I’ve been given.
 
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ICXCNIKA:
I guess I shouldn’t have given so much background info. What I really want to know is if there is specific Church teaching on this issue.
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As for official church teaching, She has remained fairly quiet on the issue. The Church acknowledges the charismatic gifts, and approves of the Charimatic movement as a whole, but anything specific beyond that has not been stated, AFAIK.
Josh
 
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Klm:
Hi! I come from a charismatic background as well. When I was 16 I prayed for the gifts of the spirit in the “usual” way. I didn’t speak in tongues until I was 21. This caused some problems when I was training to be an Assemblies of God pastor. Their doctrine states the “initial physical evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues.” From personal experience I knew this was faulty theology. I.
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this is one of the main areas where the Catholic Charismatic Renewal parts company with classical Pentecostalism (the historical movement that became AG). Tongues is regarded as a gift given to some people for a specific purpose, not as mandatory evidence of Baptism in the Spirit. that purpose can be individual or group praise, or when exercised in common with someone who has the gift of interpreting tongues, for discerning and communicating a very specific message from the Holy Spirit to the person being prayed for or for the group. In CCR tongues is not regarded as essential.

for instance in a prayer service as members are praying for healing of an individual, one member may speak briefly in tongues and another may say: the Spirit is telling you to forgive the one who hurt you, or, the Spirit is saying to love your child but to be firm in discipline. I have never seen this except in groups that have been praying together for a long while, and to my mind this is the manifestation of the gift that requires the most discernment. There is usually also present the leader of the group, usually a priest to help with this.
 
I don’t understand this whole “speaking in tongues” business at all. At Pentecost the assembled Jews were amazed that, although they were from different places and spoke different languages, they could all understand the preaching, “each in his own language.”

But it seems to me that what is nowadays called “speaking in tongues” is actually speaking nonsense syllables that don’t mean anything to anyone who hears them. What possible spiritual value could reside in such a phenomenon?
 
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5-Decades-a-Day:
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But it seems to me that what is nowadays called “speaking in tongues” is actually speaking nonsense syllables that don’t mean anything to anyone who hears them. What possible spiritual value could reside in such a phenomenon?
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Paul tells us “the Spirit Himself will intercede for us with inexpressible groanings” speaking of times when we cannot pray, can’t find the cite right now because I can’t turn on the light in here. It is not necessary for anyone except God, to whom the praise is directed, to understand the speech of one praying in tongues. It could indeed have spiritual value if such prayer is a sign that the individual praying has turned over his prayer completely to the guidance of the Spirit.
 
Hi,…I`m in RCIA & expect to become a Catholic during this Easter Season.I was a lifetime member of a Pentecostal church (the Assemblies of God) and attended Southwestern A/G College for a couple years,so I was familiar with thier ideas about the various manifestations of the Holy Spirit.I am very reluctant to say anything negative about that.For right now I do not anticipate trying to seek out any Catholic charasmatic group,do not practice glossalia (speaking in tongues) as a prayer practice & do not anticipate that I will .I have found that the Catholic pracitce of saying the Rosary is more fullfilling and meaningful than anything yet.Also I love going to Mass.I expect Mass will be more meaningful once I start recieving the Eucharist.I believe that the Catholic Church has the whole Truth and the A/G while they contain partial truth are missing out on a lot. 🙂
 
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whitehat:
I have found that the Catholic pracitce of saying the Rosary is more fullfilling and meaningful than anything yet.Also I love going to Mass.I expect Mass will be more meaningful once I start recieving the Eucharist.
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I agree. I came from a Pentecostal background and I love the Rosary!

I was a bit reluctant to get involved with any Charismatic Catholic groups because of my background, however I have found all the “Charismatic” Catholics I’ve met to be very Orthodox.

By the way. I really don’t like the term “Charismatic” Catholic. The name Catholic means Universal, therefore the Church encompasses a great number of different types of spiritualities. We don’t call some Franciscan Catholics, or Jesuit Catholics or Quiet Catholics or Rosary Catholics or Medjugorie Catholics or Fatima Catholics. We are all Catholics and part of the Holy Family with Jesus, Joseph and Mary; each with our own gifts.
 
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