Ok. Why do we have a problem then?
No it hasn’t. First of all, Scripture clearly says to seek them (and seek especially prophecy). Second of all, you’re quoting Lumen gentium there from the Vatican website. It is a mistranslation. Such a statement would blatantly fly in the face of what Scripture says. Check it out in a different translation, or a different language. It says something different. I was shocked when I saw that, so I checked the original Latin. The original Latin reads: Dona autem extraordinaria non sunt temere expetenda (you can see it all here
ewtn.com/library/councils/v2lumlat.htm ). That word temere is an adverb, and it means “by chance, randomly, without cause, rashly, thoughtlessly”. This is totally dropped from English translation.
So what is this saying?
Dona = “gifts”, neuter second declension noun, accusative plural.
autem = “but, on the other hand, however”.
extraordinaria = “extraordinary” adjective, modifying “dona”
non sunt = are not
temere = “rashly, thoughtlessly, without cause” adverb
expetenda = “demand, ask for, exact (as a penalty)” third conjugation verb, and it’s a gerund, going with “dona” again.
My translation would be: extraordinary gifts are not to be rashly demanded. Totally different. It is NOT saying “do not seek these gifts”. Rather, if you’re going to seek them (good idea) be careful about it, use discernment, submit to the proper judgment of authorities, and know what you’re getting in to - take it seriously. No where else in any official Church document is there anything that even suggests “don’t seek these”.
Yes, we do seek things like tongues and prophecy. One, Paul (in the Bible!) says to. Two, there’s no reason not to. Three, because the Holy Spirit requires our cooperation. It’s important to seek gifts like tongues, because the Holy Spirit will absolutely not force the gift on anyone. He will never violate one’s free will or self control, unless someone lets Him - and even then, only to a certain degree. The gifts require a great deal of openness, and some of them especially require us to seek them. Ultimately, there is nothing dangerous in seeking spiritual gifts. There is room for deception, for error, for misunderstanding - but the act of seeking itself is a good thing. We should all seek to have an abundance of spiritual gifts for our own sakes, but more especially for the sake of the whole Church.
I think many non-charismatics hold fast to some baseless idea that we should not seek charisms, and should even avoid them, due to a misunderstanding of the charisms. They are not extraordinary personal consolations - like visions, locutions etc. Those we shouldn’t seek, and we should be very careful of them if they do occur. The charisms are different (though they may be accompanied by visions and locutions - especially prophecy). We should seek them, because they’re meant to be sought. But more importantly, we should open ourselves up to and use what we have already been given through the sacraments.
I also think many non-charismatics uphold this idea because they are uncomfortable with the idea of tongues, or prophecy, and a lot of Catholics have a knee-jerk reaction to discover that the Holy Spirit and His gifts are still around.
While we should test them, St. Paul warns us that in testing them we should not quench the Spirit. The Church does not need to authenticate every single little manifestation of the Holy Spirit. That is ridiculous. If that is your attitude, then the charisms will be of little use to you. Certainly test them, certainly discern them, certainly submit to the authoritative discernment of the clergy - but to simply say “I won’t consider it good until it has been proven to be authentic” is somewhat senseless, and counter-productive.
