Was what i was doing at adoration legit?

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theYS

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I went to Steubenville this year, not sure if you all know about this
we had eucharistic adoration as well along with like 4000+ people

this is pretty long so bear with me

during adoration my hands started to shake so bad that my shoulders were very sore and i was speaking in something.
I read about the gift of tongues but some argue babbling is not the holy spirit, others say it is.
Mine is a mixture. First i started to pray in my mind and all, than i started hissing. than after a few minutes i started to speak in gibberish while crying and tearing up for no reason. after adoration my hands were still shaking for a few hours and i could not speak in english. when ever i would breathe out i would speak in something, it was as if the gibberish was my breathing. later on i could control this and hold it in. BUT when i would talk to my buddies I would speak in this gibberish. I knew what I was saying, but my mouth didnt speak in english. It was the same with singing. when we finished adorationg, my church group started to sing and i sang in this gibberish. I also seemed pretty happy and laughed alot. it went away after a few hours though.

my question is, was what i was doing really the holy spirit? Some of you guys say gibberish is fake, but when i could control my speaking, i noticed whenever id say amen, it sounded the same. same with a few othe words, but i didnt really pay attention to it.

the thing is, i wasnt pumped in my faith like last year. instead i was much more aware of the sins i can commit. i still cursed every now and than but i was more aware of it. (im a teenager so i have a habit with bad lang)i also got closer to Mother Mary and started to pray the rosary daily with alot of other prayers id pray daily/weekend.

I have some more questions and things to say, but i feel this is long enough.
i will add on if any one would like to answer or hear it.

and i have to admit, i kind of wanted to speak in tongues before adoration. so im paranoid whether it was the holy spirit or not. i read one shouldnt seek anything
 
It could’ve been a serious psychological blow that effected you strangely, or it could’ve been the Holy Spirit. I’m going to say the controversial opinion that if it is leading you closer to God and the Catholic Church then perhaps there’s nothing to worry about.

Curious, which conference did you go to?
 
i went to SD
and what do you mean by serious psychological blow?
my church is very charismatic so its not new or anything
im still wondering about the tongues part
 
OK, not the one I was at. Just curious. 😛

What I mean is you might have gotten extremely excited that it took a toll on you for the night.
 
I’m not terribly Charismatic, but i was born and bred in steubenville, and my husband is an ex-pentacostal, and they put a lot of emphasis on speaking in tounges. I know tons of really solid, holy, awesome Catholics, adults and teens alike, who speak in tounges, and there seem to be no negative effects to their faith. My husband speaks in tounges at the festival of praise up on campus here, and i can certainly attest that the experience renews his faith, even though he has plenty of vices and problems he has to work on. this kind of expression of faith gives him renewed spiritual energy to work on those problem areas. I think God gives people tailor-made gifts, and the freedom to use those gifts or not. If it’s not bringing you into a dark place, i think it’s ok for you to develope your charisms, but you should definately find yourself a spiritual advisor or a trusted mentor whose faith is solid to help you. If you notice it is not helping you develope a good relationship with Christ, His Mother, and the Church, then you are right, prudent and wise to question the roots of your experiences. Again, a good mentor can help a lot!
 
It never hurts to seek the advice and guidance of a priest, deacon or spiritual director when we have such experiences. So, first off, I’d say if this is really something you need to understand, do that before all else. 🙂

Sometimes God will overwhlem our senses causing us to have spiritual experiences that lift our souls and spirits. (Song 1:2 O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!
For your love is better than wine.) God’s love can be sensed as a kind of inebriation. It’s nothing to be concerned about, but it’s not something to seek out, either.

If we start seeking for such consolations, as the saints called them, then we are no longer seeking God but rather seeking feelings/sensations. It’s a gift God sometimes gives when we are in need of a boost/a confirmation of our faith–like giving children Pedisure or an energy drink to an athelete or tired worker. Shots in the arm can be helpful, but we can’t live on them.
 
myabs said:
I’m not terribly Charismatic, but i was born and bred in steubenville, and my husband is an ex-pentacostal, and they put a lot of emphasis on speaking in tounges. I know tons of really solid, holy, awesome Catholics, adults and teens alike, who speak in tounges, and there seem to be no negative effects to their faith. My husband speaks in tounges at the festival of praise up on campus here, and i can certainly attest that the experience renews his faith, even though he has plenty of vices and problems he has to work on. this kind of expression of faith gives him renewed spiritual energy to work on those problem areas. I think God gives people tailor-made gifts, and the freedom to use those gifts or not. If it’s not bringing you into a dark place, i think it’s ok for you to develope your charisms, but you should definately find yourself a spiritual advisor or a trusted mentor whose faith is solid to help you. If you notice it is not helping you develope a good relationship with Christ, His Mother, and the Church, then you are right, prudent and wise to question the roots of your experiences. Again, a good mentor can help a lot!
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Della said:
It never hurts to seek the advice and guidance of a priest, deacon or spiritual director when we have such experiences. So, first off, I’d say if this is really something you need to understand, do that before all else. 🙂

Sometimes God will overwhlem our senses causing us to have spiritual experiences that lift our souls and spirits. (Song 1:2 O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!
For your love is better than wine.) God’s love can be sensed as a kind of inebriation. It’s nothing to be concerned about, but it’s not something to seek out, either.

If we start seeking for such consolations, as the saints called them, then we are no longer seeking God but rather seeking feelings/sensations. It’s a gift God sometimes gives when we are in need of a boost/a confirmation of our faith–like giving children Pedisure or an energy drink to an athelete or tired worker. Shots in the arm can be helpful, but we can’t live on them.
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thanks, i was just curious about the tongues because i kind of wanted it to come to me like other retreats.
and i just read how that could bring other spirits and etc.
im pretty sure now it was the holy spirit because my relationship grew between mother mary and i started to pray the rosary daily. now i cant wait to start the 7 dolors once i get it blessed!
i didnt see anything negative from this. i was actually quite happy when i was praising in the tongues. what i dont get is that everyone around me only spoke a few languages. i mgihtve been speaking gibberish, but whenever i said something, such as amen, they all sound the same, like a language. but than again, couldve been coincidence. i didnt pay attention to it really.
ive had a negative experience where i got depressing news but that was for my own good.
 
I just opened the Bible after reading this thread and guess what? It fell open randomely at Corithians 14, the part where Paul discusses tongues in gthe context of a worship service!

I would suggest YS that you reflect deeply and prayerfully opver this section of Corinthians. My eyes were drawn particularly to this verse: “If I pray in a tongue my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive” (Corinth. 14.15)

Paul tells us above that “speaking in tongues” can be a genuine charism of the Holy Spirit which does not come from the mind, but is totally instantaneous and out with the control of the individual. Obviously you will get fakers, but rest assured in your case I would say that it truly was the spirit and not just your mind playing tricks on you.

You ask about tongues and “gibberish talk”. Well there are actually TWO kinds of tongues in the NT:
  • Tongues of Mortals: Gift of speaking in other languages which was necessary so that the Early Church could expand but which became defunct after the Apostolic times
  • Tongues of Angels: Speech that goes beyond words and sounds almost gibberish. This has existed post-apostolic times and seems to be a recurrent gift
Reference:

1 Corinthians 13.1-If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels

Angels do not have physical speech with words. But continually praise God and sing to him with ALL THEIR BEING. To speak then in the tongue of angels is to be so ecstatic with prayer that one moves beyonds words - which bring God down to the artificial human level of concepts and thoughts. God is so far above our understanding and so sometimes we move beyond language all together and just praise him with all of our being, which manifests itself in a gibberish-sounding language that is quite wordless and apparently unintelligible because it comes from the heart and not from the rational mind.

Episodes of this are related by the Fathers. They called this “Jubilation” or in Latin the Jubilus, which came to refer in High Church Gregorian Chant to the moment when the monks singing stop saying actual words and lapse into an eerie sounding “Ahh-ah-ahh” you know what i mean, those heavenly-like elongated “a’s” - wordless but heartfelt praise.

St. Jerome (347-420 A.D.) writes:

By the term jubilus we understand that which neither in words, nor syllables, nor letters, nor speech, is it possible to express or comprehend, namely, how much man ought to praise God. (Ps. xxxii.3)

And St Augustine comments on this phenomenon:

What is jubilation? Joy that cannot be expressed in words. Yet the voice expresses what is conceived in the heart and cannot be explained in words. This is jubilation…Where speech does not suffice… To manifest his joy, the man does not use words that can be pronounced or understood, but bursts forth into sounds of exaltation without words…they break out into singing on vowel sounds, that through this means the feeling of the soul may be expressed, words failing to explain the heart’s conceptions.* - St. Augustine (Commentary on Psalms, See this site.)*

In his book, “Tongues of Angels: Concept of Angelic Languages in Classical Jewish and Christian Texts”, Poirier points out that in the ancient Jewish pseudepigraphal books there are references to a liturgical jubilations - wordless, gibberish singings of praise like the one you experienced. This jubilus reflected the esoteric tongues of angels rather than human languages, which are word-based rather than heart-based. St. Jerome was known to have interacted with Jewish believers in Antioch and lived near Bethlehem. It appears to me that one can make a strong case that the jubilus he describes, coincides with the description of metaphorical angelic tongues described in Jewish pseudepigraphical writings and also mentioned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13.

We know that this practice of jubilation was widespread in the early church and continued for centuries. For example, the Benedictine theologian Rupert of Deutz (1075-1130 A.D.), spoke of the devotional prayer practice of jubilation that continued in his day:

We jubilate rather than sing, and extend a short syllable over several neums or groups of neums, in order that the spirit may be moved by the beautiful sounds

The standard form in Catholicism to express this “jubilation” became Gregorian Chant, which truly is angelic. Just listen to this:

youtube.com/watch?v=_MbDqc3x97k

See wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia

For more quotes from the Fathers regarding “Jubilation”.
 
This kind of reminds me of this story. A news reporter started speaking gibberish on live TV. It turns out it’s a medical condition. This could be something like that. Not saying that’s what in fact happened. youtu.be/IG7NuH5QTdE
 
theYS said:
I went to Steubenville this year, not sure if you all know about thisduring adoration my hands started to shake so bad that my shoulders were very sore and i was speaking in something.
I read about the gift of tongues but some argue babbling is not the holy spirit, others say it is.
Mine is a mixture. First i started to pray in my mind and all, than i started hissing. than after a few minutes i started to speak in gibberish while crying and tearing up for no reason. after adoration my hands were still shaking for a few hours and i could not speak in english. when ever i would breathe out i would speak in something, it was as if the gibberish was my breathing. later on i could control this and hold it in. BUT when i would talk to my buddies I would speak in this gibberish. I knew what I was saying, but my mouth didnt speak in english. It was the same with singing. when we finished adorationg, my church group started to sing and i sang in this gibberish. I also seemed pretty happy and laughed alot. it went away after a few hours though.
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just because you or someone else cannot understand the language does not make it gibberish. If you came down here to a Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean or Indian Mass and did not understand the language it would not be gibberish.

Praying, singing and speaking in tongues is a praise and prayer language that can come out even unexpectedly in a situation where you open yourself to the action of the Holy Spirit. It is a sign that your praise and worship no longer relies only on your own words and actions but that you are praying in, with and through the Holy Spirit in the way Paul describes.

The way the Adoration services are conducted at the Steubenville conferences is one such occasion. I do wish they (they do it sometimes but not all the participants seem to get the message) and other conferences that incorporate some specifically charismatic worship styles would first educate the participants on what to expect so they would not be surprised. They might be afraid to put ideas into your head or make you expect to speak in tongues, rest in the Spirit etc. or feel you were somehow lacking if this did not happen. The Eucharistic adoration and procession in these conferences is a powerful experience and like all their works in that blessed place, under the direction of and dedication to the Holy Spirit, so charismatic expressions are normal.

What you should do, when you experience something spiritual like this that is new or concerns you, is take it to the priest or youth leader, priest is better, and fortunately they always have plenty of priests available.

yes this was a normal and beautiful gift you experienced, but don’t go looking for such experiences, demanding them, expecting them all the time. That is not how gifts come.

full disclosure: my conversion from good enough do it my way cafeteria Catholic to committed, active serving Catholic happened at a Steubenville conference during the Eucharistic adoration and procession. beware, when a univesity and a community dedicate themselves and place themselves completely under the direction of the Holy Spirit as Franciscan U has, powerful things happen to them and all whom they touch.

please take your experience to your own priest for discernment, everything you read here is personal opinion, sometimes informed by experience and reliable teaching, sometimes not, so you yourself must take your own spiritual experiences to your own priest.
 
well if the result is that you’re more aware of your sins, and have a greater devotion to God and Mary, that is great… in fact that is much better than just having a spiritual high after a conference etc.

As for your experience, - this type of discernment is outside the scope of this forum, I’m afraid, I think it’s better to speak with a good priest 🙂

God bless!
 
puzzleannie said:
just because you or someone else cannot understand the language does not make it gibberish. If you came down here to a Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean or Indian Mass and did not understand the language it would not be gibberish.
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The Word “gibberish” in the dictionary means "not intelligible; not capable of being understood. " He/She didn’t mean that the language was horrible or stupid.
 
blanc10 said:
The Word “gibberish” in the dictionary means "not intelligible; not capable of being understood. " He/She didn’t mean that the language was horrible or stupid.
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the language may have been unintelligible to some of those present, that still does not make it gibberish. Speaking in tongues has been a recognized spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit since the earliest days of the Church, read Acts, Romans, Galatians, etc. To suggest to this young person that somehow her experience was not authentic, is a psychological or physical mal-adaption is simply wrong. The poster is correct who advised her to speak to her own priest. Just because you or I or others present with OP in that event did not receive the gift does not make it less authentic or suspect in any way.
 
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