What happens when under Holy Spirit anointing

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Vic_Taltrees_UK

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It was told me recently by a person that, when under Holy Spirit anointing, for example when about to intercede, or to explain Scriptures’ meaning to one’s fellow, it is usual to feel:
  • powerless
  • weak
  • isolated
  • tired
  • unprepared
  • blank
  • anxious
I wish someone had told me that 43 years ago.

Does anyone else wish someone had told them that 43 years ago?

In the 20 century semi-depersonalised situation, we weren’t sure we existed as individuals anyway (having spent years dumped behind the television set), hence especially if you were prone to illness in an atmosphere where “Christians” were insisting that some triumphal form of outer wellbeing was compulsory, no matter how willing, no wonder we had a deep down sense that it didn’t add up to be told “you aren’t supposed to feel like that, therefore there’s something not genuine with you”.

One can have deep down poise and confidence when about to do these things, but not unaccompanied with what I have listed.
 
First of all, anyone who has had Trinitarian baptism, and especially anyone who has been Confirmed, has been anointed with the Holy Spirit. Priests receive further anointing, allowing them to consecrate the sacred species, and bishops receive even further anointing, allowing them to anoint others with the Holy Spirit.

Remember, when you were baptized, you were proclaimed priest, prophet, and king. In other words, you were given sacred anointing. When confirmed, the bishop (or his designate) proclaims “Be sealed with the Holy Spirit”. So, if you are baptized, and especially if you have been confirmed, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, at least if you are in a state of grace. Trust in Him just as you trust in Jesus and in the Father. The Holy Spirit is, after all, God. And yet, the Holy Spirit is the least understood member of the Trinity. We know that the Holy Spirit guides both the Church as a whole and individuals in the Church.

The Holy Spirit bestows seven gifts, twelve fruits, countless charisms, and the three great theological virtues of faith, hope, and sacrificial love (often called agape or caritas) on everyone who has Him dwelling inside. The trick is allowing Him to operate. Most of us forget about the Holy Spirit. But truly, pray to Him - and allow Him to direct your prayers to Jesus and the Father. He’ll let Himself be known. And you’ll know it. He reveals Himself differently to each and every person, but you’ll know it when you let Him operate in your life.

Regardless, as for how a person feels… for me, one of two things happen. Either I feel a gentle breeze where there is no breeze (has happened to me when proclaiming the word) or, if I’m in intense prayer, I feel tingly and start shaking.
 
This is something I was thinking of today. Our separated brethren often talk about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have obviously received Him in two portions in Baptism and Confirmation. Now I still struggle in my prayer life and with sin. I almost wonder, could a further, like, activation of the graces I’ve received still be available? Like at mass I feel energized yet calm and peaceful, yet empowered. An the characsmatic renewal movement people also speak of a kind of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Is wrong to ask the Sanctifier to receive Him yet again anew? I don’t want to sound like I’m cheapening the Sacraments, but I feel like my Confirmation oil needs a spark to get things alight.
 
Layp3rs0n said:
This is something I was thinking of today. Our separated brethren often talk about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have obviously received Him in two portions in Baptism and Confirmation. Now I still struggle in my prayer life and with sin. I almost wonder, could a further, like, activation of the graces I’ve received still be available? Like at mass I feel energized yet calm and peaceful, yet empowered. An the characsmatic renewal movement people also speak of a kind of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Is wrong to ask the Sanctifier to receive Him yet again anew? I don’t want to sound like I’m cheapening the Sacraments, but I feel like my Confirmation oil needs a spark to get things alight.
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Seriously, as stated in my post #2, just pray for Him to lead you and guide you. The feeling you get at Mass is the Holy Spirit inside of you already. Just don’t let the worries and anxieties of the world choke it out.
 
I’ve felt various ways when the Holy Spirit has Graced me. One of the most common for me is a tingling, when I’m at Mass or in Prayer. Sometimes I feel a slight ‘quaking/shaking’, or a light where there is none, or a warmth. These are all most common when it’s ‘personal’ and private.

When I’ve been sharing/evangelizing, I do sometimes feel ‘blank’; other times, I feel a strong powerful force to share what has been put on my heart, almost a ‘pain’ of sorts that doesn’t part until I share. It’s not a physical pain so much as it is a heart pain, or push, from Him, for me to share. The only way the pressure/pain is relieved is to follow His Guidance. He has NEVER led me astray, no matter when I’ve been called to share, or if I’ve initially resisted or gave in to Him right away. The ‘blank’ times are good too; I just give myself over to Him, and He provides for me and the other person. It’s rather amazing what can happen if we just give in and trust. 👍
 
In response to your questions, it’s really the case that we keep needing practical anointings whether on our own or through our fellows, to keep re-activating the initial, formal anointing.

And we need solid teaching about these anointings and about the things we are called to do like the evangelising and the informally catechising our fellow, and the interceding. This may come partly through official channels and it may not. In either case, we can help each other understand.

It’s not necessary to display specific manifestations on any particular occasion.

The result should be a reduction in sentimentality rather than its increase. The introduction of loud amplifiers is a big step backwards.

Huge confusion got caused over the last 50 years by rolling out some of these things disjointed from the teaching.

If I thought I had a bout of illness coming on, and would rather duck out of evangelising or interceding, I was told I was a coward or hadn’t enough faith and was pooping the party and blighting our movement’s image. Nobody told me it was right to feel like that and that I could ask God to guide me through the next step.

Some people have been doing these things without as it happens calling themselves “charismatic”, but somehow have been operating in a different loop than some of us folks and in any case perhaps we have as much to show them as they have us.

At last the different “streams” in God’s people are beginning to mingle . . .
 
I don’t think that is generally the case. Perhaps this was this one person’s own experience. I enjoy reading the lives of the saints, and I don’t recall any of them saying this happened to them, though obviously the Holy Spirit would have been important in their lives, particularly when it comes to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
And too the Book of Acts is often called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, and it sometimes explicitly speaks of men under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Acts shows quite a different thing when men are affected but the Holy Spirit, as in Acts 2:1-21 and 4:31 for example.
 
Blessed Angela of Foligno

…This searching and beholding (whereby God is seen in such a manner that the soul can behold naught else) is so profound that much doth it grieve me that I cannot make manifest aught whatsoever of it, seeing that it is not a thing the which can be touched or imagined or judged of. Moreover, the soul doth know in many other ways that God hath without doubt entered into it, of the which ways I will now speak of two.
One is an holy unction which doth so instantly revive the soul, make meek all the members of the body, and cause them to agree together with the soul, that they cannot be touched or offended by anything whatsoever the which could even in the smallest degree agitate the soul. Therefore doth it feel and hear that God speaketh within it, and by means of this great and in all ways unspeakable unction the soul doth understand with the utmost certainty that God is within it, because no saint nor any angel in Paradise would have power to grant this. But seeing how that it is a thing the which cannot be expressed, it grieveth me that I can find no words wherewith to describe it in comparison of that which it truly is.
Wherefore I pray God that He will pardon me, for this is not of mine own will, and if I were able and if it were pleasing unto God, I would make manifest somewhat of His goodness. The other way whereby the soul knoweth that God is within it is by an embrace which He doth give unto the soul. There is neither father, nor mother, nor son, nor any other person whatsoever who can embrace the object beloved with so great a love as that wherewith God embraceth the soul. For He doth embrace it with such love and draw it unto Himself with such sweetness and gentleness that methinketh there is not a man in the world who can declare it, nor express it, nor believe it unless he hath himself experienced it ; and although he might perchance divine somewhat of this love, yet could he not possibly know it as it truly is. Of a surety, God doth implant most sweet love in the soul, the which doth make it burn for Christ alone. And it beareth with it so great a light (whereby it understandeth the fulness of the goodness of God which it experienceth within itself) that it hath understanding of much more than it feeleth within itself.
Then hath it the assurance and certitude that Christ dwelleth within it ; but all that we can say is as nothing in comparison with that which it really is. Then the soul hath no more tears, whether of joy or of sorrow or of any other kind, seeing that when the soul hath tears it is in a lower state. For God poureth into the soul an exceeding great sweetness, in a measure so abundant that it can ask nothing more yea, verily, it would be in Paradise if this should endure, its joy being so great that it filleth the whole body ; and all injury which the soul suffereth, whether by deeds or words, is esteemed as naught and is turned into sweetness.

Peace
 
hazcompat said:
Blessed Angela of Foligno

…This searching and beholding (whereby God is seen in such a manner that the soul can behold naught else) is so profound that much doth it grieve me that I cannot make manifest aught whatsoever of it, seeing that it is not a thing the which can be touched or imagined or judged of. Moreover, the soul doth know in many other ways that God hath without doubt entered into it, of the which ways I will now speak of two.
One is an holy unction which doth so instantly revive the soul, make meek all the members of the body, and cause them to agree together with the soul, that they cannot be touched or offended by anything whatsoever the which could even in the smallest degree agitate the soul. Therefore doth it feel and hear that God speaketh within it, and by means of this great and in all ways unspeakable unction the soul doth understand with the utmost certainty that God is within it, because no saint nor any angel in Paradise would have power to grant this. But seeing how that it is a thing the which cannot be expressed, it grieveth me that I can find no words wherewith to describe it in comparison of that which it truly is.
Wherefore I pray God that He will pardon me, for this is not of mine own will, and if I were able and if it were pleasing unto God, I would make manifest somewhat of His goodness. The other way whereby the soul knoweth that God is within it is by an embrace which He doth give unto the soul. There is neither father, nor mother, nor son, nor any other person whatsoever who can embrace the object beloved with so great a love as that wherewith God embraceth the soul. For He doth embrace it with such love and draw it unto Himself with such sweetness and gentleness that methinketh there is not a man in the world who can declare it, nor express it, nor believe it unless he hath himself experienced it ; and although he might perchance divine somewhat of this love, yet could he not possibly know it as it truly is. Of a surety, God doth implant most sweet love in the soul, the which doth make it burn for Christ alone. And it beareth with it so great a light (whereby it understandeth the fulness of the goodness of God which it experienceth within itself) that it hath understanding of much more than it feeleth within itself.
Then hath it the assurance and certitude that Christ dwelleth within it ; but all that we can say is as nothing in comparison with that which it really is. Then the soul hath no more tears, whether of joy or of sorrow or of any other kind, seeing that when the soul hath tears it is in a lower state. For God poureth into the soul an exceeding great sweetness, in a measure so abundant that it can ask nothing more yea, verily, it would be in Paradise if this should endure, its joy being so great that it filleth the whole body ; and all injury which the soul suffereth, whether by deeds or words, is esteemed as naught and is turned into sweetness.

Peace
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👍
 
From the Journey of the Mind to God by Saint Bonaventure

Mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit

Christ is both the way and the door. Christ is the staircase and the vehicle, like the throne of mercy over the Ark of the Covenant, and the mystery hidden from the ages. A man should turn his full attention to this throne of mercy, and should gaze at him hanging on the cross, full of faith, hope and charity, devoted, full of wonder and joy, marked by gratitude, and open to praise and jubilation. Then such a man will make with Christ a pasch, that is, a passing-over. Through the branches of the cross he will pass over the Red Sea, leaving Egypt and entering the desert. There he will taste the hidden manna, and rest with Christ in the sepulcher, as if he were dead to things outside. He will experience, as much as is possible for one who is still living, what was promised to the thief who hung beside Christ: Today you will be with me in paradise.

For this passover to be perfect, we must suspend all the operations of the mind and we must transform the peak of our affections, directing them to God alone. This is a sacred mystical experience. It cannot be comprehended by anyone unless he surrenders himself to it; nor can he surrender himself to it unless he longs for it; nor can he long for it unless the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent into the world, should come and inflame his innermost soul. Hence the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit.

If you ask how such things can occur, seek the answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight; and look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul to God with intense fervor and glowing love. The fire is God, and the furnace is in Jerusalem, fired by Christ in the ardor of his loving passion. Only he understood this who said: My soul chose hanging and my bones death. Anyone who cherishes this kind of death can see God, for it is certainly true that: No man can look upon me and live.

Let us die, then, and enter into the darkness, silencing our anxieties, our passions and all the fantasies of our imagination. Let us pass over with the crucified Christ from this world to the Father, so that, when the Father has shown himself to us, we can say with Philip: It is enough. We may hear with Paul: My grace is sufficient for you; and we can rejoice with David, saying: My flesh and my heart fail me, but God is the strength of my heart and my heritage for ever. Blessed be the Lord for ever, and let all the people say: Amen. Amen!

Peace
 
Hazcompat, when there was talk of Egypt and the Dead Sea, there was a riot in the diocese, mob rule and arm twisting.
 
Vic_Taltrees_UK said:
Hazcompat, when there was talk of Egypt and the Dead Sea, there was a riot in the diocese, mob rule and arm twisting.
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Thank you Vic. There are probably more that share your situation than mine. It is not achieved but received. We do not know what tomorrow brings. Perhaps you’ll join us one day?

Best Regards
Patrick
 
St Bonaventure’s writings appear to be an under-used resource.

(As to “joining you” I adopted my present “religion description” as a decoy and it’s working a treat! 😉 On the whole, forum members couldn’t cope with my not being of the regulation ethnic extraction and not having been to the regulation school - both at the same time which is a very rare combination - factors which, in combination, I am powerless to change!)
 
Vic_Taltrees_UK said:
St Bonaventure’s writings appear to be an under-used resource.

(As to “joining you” I adopted my present “religion description” as a decoy and it’s working a treat! 😉 On the whole, forum members couldn’t cope with my not being of the regulation ethnic extraction and not having been to the regulation school - both at the same time which is a very rare combination - factors which, in combination, I am powerless to change!)
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My prayer is that you will “join us” in a sacred mystical experience. Jesus is the good Samaritan.

Peace
 
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