Speaking in Tongues

[guanophore]

Between the speaker and God? If he does not know what he is saying then why is this important?

Rom 8:26-27

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. 27 And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

It is a way to pray when one does not know how to pray as one ought.

1 Cor 14:3-4
4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself,

It is also a way to build up ones Spiritual strength, as any prayer would do.

It is also a way to let the mind rest while the Spirit prays in and through us:

1 Cor 14:14
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.

Which is very helpful for those of us whose heads have a way of interfereing with our prayers.

It is the same as when words are not necessary during contemplation - one is in the presence of God, and the Holy Spirit prays THROUGH the person.

I had never heard of this phenomenon until a few years ago and from my research until about 1830 it was the general consensus that tongues was a foreign language,not a special language between the prayer and God.

Yes, there is a form of tongues that is written about in the NT that relates to known languages.

Until I am certain that some of these prayer experiences are not the kundalini spirit.I remain quite guarded and skeptical.

Indeed, one should not open one’s heart and mind to those things that are not of God.

There is no new revelation, so prophesies have nothing to offer us. We know everything we need to know.

I find this position to be absurd. I agree that the fullness of public revelation is found in Chirst, but if there is no place for the Spiritual gifts, why did He give them to the Church?

You are invalidating all of the Saints and mystics of the Church!

I don’t see how any faithful Catholic can deny the value of the works of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila (who speaks often of the charismatic gifts).

Secondly, the Apostles spoke in foreign tongues, and people from every nation understood them.

Actually, I am not sure this is true. It may be that they spoke in their own language, but it was heard by others in theirs. This has happened at other times throughout history.

This is evident by the same verses you reference. Until this protestant incursion into Catholicism, no one thought this was in reference to speaking in incomprehensible babel.

I think you have missed the mark there. The epistle of Paul to the Corinthians demonstrates that what you are saying is not entirely true.

I don’t trust it. It’s way too easy to fake. Speaking in an “unknown” tongue is also just completely pointless.

Such a statement is a direct contradiction to the Holy Scriptures.

But before the protestants invented speaking in tongues like we know today, we thought speaking in tongues meant speaking in foreign tongues.

Well, we all have room to grow, do we not? The Protestants did not “invent speaking in tongues”. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

There has been a lot of abuse of this gift (one of the reasons that Paul was writing to the Church in Corinth). But never did Paul invalidate the gift.

 

[bardegaulois]

Certain recent statements from the Holy See aside, I always find myself very disinclined toward charismatic phenomena within the Church, taking my bearings on this from the early issue the Church had with Montanist schismatics. Anyone unfamiliar with this is encouraged to look it up. As the private revelations of supposed prophets undermined the authority of the bishops and presbyters in that day, so I think it too often does in our day.

As for glossolalia, we can see clearly that the pilgrims from across the known world could understand the preaching of the Apostles on Pentecost. There’s a big difference from communication and mere babbling (Come to think of it, isn’t that the difference between Pentecost and Babel? One unites the Church; the other divides the world.)

 

[Vanez]

I have been to Pentecostal church several times, my mom is Pentecostalist. During prayers at church, a few people including the priest, speak in tongue. Speaking in tongue comes from 1 Corinthians. I think it’s in 1 Corinthians 14. When the priest prays for those who need prayer, he and a few members of the church who are able to speak in tongue, speak in tongue and the one who is being prayed often cries, even screams because of a few things: whether this person has sinned too much, got a curse from his/her ancestors, is healing, or any other things.

However, there are those people who overact, or what can i say…those who…always cry and scream every time they pray for them. Kind of scares me off.

If you are new to hearing people speaking in tongue, don’t be confused if it scares you off. I have heard people speaking in tongue for years and hearing it still scares me off. I had thought that i would never get scared if i’m at church. I was wrong.

.

 

[grannymh]

I have been to Pentecostal church several times, my mom is Pentecostalist. During prayers at church, a few people including the priest, speak in tongue. Speaking in tongue comes from 1 Corinthians. I think it’s in 1 Corinthians 14. When the priest prays for those who need prayer, he and a few members of the church who are able to speak in tongue, speak in tongue and the one who is being prayed often cries, even screams because of a few things: whether this person has sinned too much, got a curse from his/her ancestors, is healing, or any other things.

However, there are those people who overact, or what can i say…those who…always cry and scream every time they pray for them. Kind of scares me off.

If you are new to hearing people speaking in tongue, don’t be confused if it scares you off. I have heard people speaking in tongue for years and hearing it still scares me off. I had thought that i would never get scared if i’m at church. I was wrong.

.

Thank you for sharing.

What you are describing sounds similar to “Praying in Tongues” which is part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Praying in Tongues happens when a person yields her or his speech mechanism to the Holy Spirit. This allows the Holy Spirit to form the sounds of the prayer to God. Praying in Tongues to God is an individual prayer which can be offered for many intentions or reasons. We can use the Gift of Praying in Tongues to praise God, to thank God, to ask God for mercy for our sins, and to petition God to answer our prayers for ourselves, others, and the world.

It sounds like the people in your Mom’s Church are praying for others.

Yes, there can be all kinds of reactions to hearing someone praying in Tongues. And there can be people who overact. What we need to remember is that the basic reason for praying in Tongues is that we personally want to reach God. In the Catholic Church, the main way we reach God is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here, Jesus Christ becomes present in the Eucharist. We receive the Eucharist as Holy Communion.

Another thing about praying in Tongues is that we do this freely in the same manner when we choose to pray the Our Father or the Hail Mary; both are very popular prayers. The goal of all of us, the goal of our prayers, is to communicate with our loving God.

 

[grannymh]

A quick addition to post 30.

In the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, praying in Tongues can be used anywhere, for example, in the privacy of one’s home.

 

[Vanez]

Thank you for sharing.

What you are describing sounds similar to “Praying in Tongues” which is part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Praying in Tongues happens when a person yields her or his speech mechanism to the Holy Spirit. This allows the Holy Spirit to form the sounds of the prayer to God. Praying in Tongues to God is an individual prayer which can be offered for many intentions or reasons. We can use the Gift of Praying in Tongues to praise God, to thank God, to ask God for mercy for our sins, and to petition God to answer our prayers for ourselves, others, and the world.

It sounds like the people in your Mom’s Church are praying for others.

Yes, there can be all kinds of reactions to hearing someone praying in Tongues. And there can be people who overact. What we need to remember is that the basic reason for praying in Tongues is that we personally want to reach God. In the Catholic Church, the main way we reach God is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here, Jesus Christ becomes present in the Eucharist. We receive the Eucharist as Holy Communion.

Another thing about praying in Tongues is that we do this freely in the same manner when we choose to pray the Our Father or the Hail Mary; both are very popular prayers. The goal of all of us, the goal of our prayers, is to communicate with our loving God.

I forgot to mention that what i meant by speaking in tongue is also praying in tongue and it’s also used during praising, thanking God. It is said that tongue language (as we call it) is a way to communicate with God that devil doesn’t understand.

 

[Vanna_Grace]

After visiting my friend’s Pentecostal church one Sunday, and witnessing several people speaking in tongues (kind of freaked me out to be honest), I spoke with my priest about it. He said pretty much what has already been stated here that the Church does recognize it but is cautious because of the inability to truly verify what is happening there in most circumstance (I’m paraphrasing by the way). I asked him if it would be ok if I just fell out of the pew and started speaking in tongues during mass (I like to give him a hard time…he’s very funny). He said, “If my amazing homily moves the spirit within you to cause you to speak in tongues, who am I to say it’s wrong.” Hahaha. He cracks me up.

So I guess the gist of it is, it is cautiously recognized but I wouldn’t believe it every time you hear or see it.

 

[Vanez]

After visiting my friend’s Pentecostal church one Sunday, and witnessing several people speaking in tongues (kind of freaked me out to be honest), I spoke with my priest about it. He said pretty much what has already been stated here that the Church does recognize it but is cautious because of the inability to truly verify what is happening there in most circumstance (I’m paraphrasing by the way). I asked him if it would be ok if I just fell out of the pew and started speaking in tongues during mass (I like to give him a hard time…he’s very funny). He said, “If my amazing homily moves the spirit within you to cause you to speak in tongues, who am I to say it’s wrong.” Hahaha. He cracks me up.

So I guess the gist of it is, it is cautiously recognized but I wouldn’t believe it every time you hear or see it.

See, we both got freaked out

A funny priest is lovely, isn’t he?

I can’t say i can’t believe, i have seen paralyzed man cured when a priest prayed in tongue and laid his hand on his head. But -without meaning to be disrespectful- i can expect someone who is faking the “tongue language” to make others think this person got its gift from God.

May God bless you!

 

[Goldberry]

I pray in tongues all the time, but I don’t usually talk about it because people get freaked out about it. I started about 25 years ago. I am usually by myself. We don’t have Catholic Charismatic prayer groups where I live, but I’d be interested in attending them.

Praying in such a way is really good if you want to pray about something, but you’re not sure what exactly to pray about. Many times while I’m praying in tongues, I sense what I’m praying about, or I get insights about the situation. Sometimes, though, it’s just a mystery. I feel the Holy Spirit speaking through me, but I don’t know what I’m praying.

I think that it’s unsettling to people who listen to it because they think that the person praying is somehow out of control. You’re not out of control. I can stop at any time. I went to a healing mass one time, where I fell down, but I felt overwhelmed with God’s presence and a sense of peace. I wasn’t scared or anything.

I guess it’s like other forms of prayer- sometimes I don’t feel much spiritually, but at other times, I feel the Holy Spirit quite powerfully and it’s an emotional experience.

I have been healed emotionally from past traumatizing experiences by praying in tongues.

I don’t have much experience with Protestant churches who pray in tongues, so I can’t comment on them.

There’s a Catholic Charismatic author who wrote a book about it that I like:

amazon.com/The-Gift-Tongues-Linda-Schubert/dp/1450705758/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408760106&sr=8-1