Gifts, Charisms,
and Ministries of the Holy Spirit
Gifts, Charisms, and Ministries
The 7 Gifts for Sanctification
The 9 Charisms for
Service
1- The word of Wisdom
2- The Word of Knowledge
3- The Discerning of the Spirits
4- Gifts of Healing
5- The Working of Miracles
6- The Charisma of Faith
7-Prophecy
8- The Gift of tongues of various
kinds
9- The Interpretation of Tongues
Cast out Demons
The "much better way" of
Paul
Resting in the Spirit
Raising the Hands to Pray
Visionaries
Gifts, Charisms, and Ministries:
The Greek term charism or charisma denotes any good gift that flows from God's benevolent love (charis) unto man, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The plural is charisms or charismata.
In fact, all good things we have, material or spiritual, are charisms or gifts of God: The sun, air, our body, our soul, relatives, neighbors, animals, plants, mountains… any Divine grace or favor, ranging from redemption and life eternal to comfort in communing with brethren in the Faith (Rom.5:15-16, 6:23, 11:29).
In ordinary life, we say a person is charismatic because he has a certain quality which attracts people to his personality.
The spiritual gifts or charisms of the Holy Ghost are of two kinds:
1- The first, are specially intended for the sanctification of the person who receives them: The seven gifts of Is1:2-3: Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety (godliness), and fear of the Lord.
2- The second, more properly called charismata or charisms, are
extraordinary gifts granted for the help of another, for service to the Church, except the
"gift of tongues" which is "to strengthen oneself" (1Cor.14:4).
Some of these, are enumerated by St. Paul in 1Cor.12. They are 9:
"The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the grace of healing, the working
of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, interpretation
of tongues" (I Cor.12:4-10).
Ministries of the Spirit:
To these 9 gifts, are added the ministry charisms of apostles, prophets, doctors, services, and governments in 1Cor.12:28-31. Other ministry charisms are listed in Rom.12:6-8, Eph.4:11, and 1Pet.4:10-11, with a total of about 20 charisms and ministries.
Jesus speaks of "talents" in his parables, which are the same as special kinds of gifts or charisms given to each individual, (Mt.25:14-30, Lk.19:12-27)
These extraordinary gifts were foretold by the Prophet Joel (2:28) and promised to believers by Jesus: "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils and speak with new tongues… they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall be healed" (Mk. 16:17-18). The Lord's promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem (Act.2:4), and, as the Church spread, in Samaria (Act.8:18), in Caesarea (Act.10:46), in Ephesus (Act.19:6), in Rome (Rom.12:6-8), in Galatia (Gal.3:5), and more markedly in Corinth (I Cor.12 and 14). The abuses of the charismata, which had crept in at this latter place, induced St. Paul to discuss them at length in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. The Apostle teaches that these "spiritual things" emanate from the Spirit who quickens the body of the Church; that their functions are as diversified as the functions of the natural body; and that, though given to individuals, they are intended for the edification of the whole community (I Cor.12).
The 7 gifts for the sanctification of the person who receives them (Is.11:2-3, plus "piety"):
1- Gift of Wisdom: By detaching us from the world,
make us relish and love only the things of heaven: It help us, for example, to understand
and live the glorious fact that God is our Father, I am a child of God!… that Jesus
loved me so much that he died on a Cross for me, and is so much in love for me that he is
waiting for me every day in the Eucharist made now just bread and wine, to nourish me
daily with his love , praise the Lord!…
There are actually three kinds of Wisdom: Natural, learned, and
directly from God and associated with the particular work of the Holy Spirit. he three of
them are gifts of God, the last one is most cherished, the one of Virgin Mary, St. Joseph,
Abraham, Moses, the Apostles, St. Paul…
2- Gift of Understanding: Help us to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary. To understand and live the value of prayer, love, faith, hope, the Trinity, the Father, Jesus, the Spirit, the brothers, the creatures of God, the snares of the devil…
3- The gift of Council: It springs from supernatural prudence, and enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God, our own salvation, the good of the Church…
4- The gift of Fortitude or Power: We receive power and courage to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise in the practice or our religious duties, to be able to fight the world, the devil, and most specially the bad inclinations of our own flesh…
5- The gift of Knowledge: Points out to us the path to follow and the dangers to avoid in order to reach Heaven.
6- The gift of Piety (Godliness): Inspires us with a tender and filial confidence in God, and makes us joyfully embrace with love all that pertains to His service, the liturgy, the sacraments, prayers…
7- The gift of Fear to the Lord: It fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes as dread, above all timings, to offend Him… God is Holy and Merciful… and he is Just: If the devil would be in Heaven, God wouldn't be God. The "love" and "fear" of the Lord are like the "accelerator" and "brakes" of the car: Without accelerator we will go nowhere, but nobody would dare to drive without brakes!.
Gifts and Virtues:
The gifts of the Spirit are perfections of a higher order than the
virtues: The virtues dispose us to follow the impulse and guidance of reason, while the
gifts of the Spirit are functionally intended to render the will obedient and docile to
the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, they make us attentive to the voice of God, love the
things of God, and be faithful to the actual grace.
The 9 Charisms for Service, of 1Cor.12:
The 9 charisms of 1Cor.12 are the ones mostly practiced by the Charismatics, along with the Resting in the Spirit and the liberation from the devil. They are to serve the community, except the gift of tongues which is "to build up themselves" (1Cor.14:4). The 9 Charisms are mentioned three times in 1Cor.12:8-12, 28-30, and the gifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues specially treated in 1Cor.14.
To end 1Cor.12, St. Paul urges us "to strive eagerly for the greater spiritual gifts"… and finishes it "showing us a more excellent way", which is in next chapter 13, the way of Love, of Charity.
These 9 gifts or charisms of 1Cor.12 can be divided in 3 classes:
1- Three Charisms of the mind:
- The word of wisdom.
- The word of knowledge.
- The discernment of the spirits.
2- Three Charisms of action:
- The gifts of healing.
- The working of miracles.
- The gift of faith, that faith that moves mountains (Mt.21:21,
Mk.11:22-23).
3- Three Charisms of the tongue:
- Prophecy.
- Speak in tongues.
- Interpretation of tongues.
1- The Word of Wisdom (1Cor.12:8):
It is the most important one, as Wisdom is the first of the 7 gifts for sanctification (Is.11:2). It is a "Word", a "utterance" an "expression", you have to say it to have it!. It is the main gift of the ministry of the "apostles", also the first ministry of the lists of 1Cor.12 (28, 29).
Most of the sermons of Jesus are the Word of Wisdom: The Sermon on the Mountain, the Sermon of the Bread of Life, the Sermon of the Last Supper, the Sermon of the End of Times (Mt.5, 24, Jn.6, 13)… they are intended to give us wisdom, to know the secrets of God, to help us to live the wonderful adventure of being a Christian, praise the Lord…. because that's what is being a Charismatic, just a Christian, nothing more, and nothing less!… any preacher is supposed to express the Word of Wisdom.
2- The Word of Knowledge (1Cor.12:8):
It is also a "Word", a "utterance", you have to say it to have it!.… it is less often used in the Gospels, but most impressive: God gives a person an specific knowledge about a person or situation that could not be known otherwise, unless God revealed it.
When Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband"… Apparently was not too much to say, but the Samaritan got all excited, he went to the village shouting, "come and see a man who told me everything I did!, could he not be the Messiah?" (Jn.4:18, 28).
When Jesus said to Nathanael, "before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree and I saw you"… not much… but Nathanael got all excited and replied, "Master, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (Jn.1:48-49).
Peter told Ananias and Sapphira a Word of Knowledge when they were doing something apparently good, giving a gift to the Church, "Ananias, how is that you let Satan fill your heart and why do you intend to deceive the Holy Spirit by keeping some of proceeds of your land for money? Who obliged you to sell it? And after it was sold, could you not have kept all the money? You have not deceive us but God"… and the results were most impressive: Both, Ananias and Sapphira died instantly! (Acts 5).
In the Charismatic meetings, the Word of Knowledge is also most impressive: "There is a man here who is Mormon, and he is being healed now of his left arm"… and the Mormon comes out shouting and crying, rising the left arm he could not move for 20 years… and he becomes a Catholic… and it is the most exiting episode in that meeting, everybody is praising the Lord with great incredible joy!…
3- The Discerning of the Spirits (1Cor.12:10):
This is an important gift to distinguish the good and bad spirits, the true and false prophets. Because "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as ministers of salvation" (2Cor.11:14-15). Jesus warns us three times that at the last times will come "many" false prophets, and false Messiahs, that will mislead many" (Mt.24:4,11,24). See also 2Pet.2 and 2Tim.3.
A bad spirit can ruin a Prayer Group or an entire Christian parish or community, and Satan can counterfeit any charism of the Spirit … there are many false churches of Christ, many false apparitions… the discerning of the spirits is gift much needed today!.
My advice: The best discerning of the spirits is usually to follow the recommendations of your priest your pastor and bishop. They may even be wrong, but if you follow their advice, God will be with you. They will have to pay for their errors, but you will be safe, God will bless your obedience.
4- Gifts of Healing (1Cor.12:9):
This is a special charism… but every Christian, every believer in Christ has this gift, as promised by Jesus Christ himself, "these signs will accompany those who believe:… They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover": (Mk.16:17-18)… This promise is not just for those who are very saints, or for those who have great authority or knowledge of the Bible or theology, but for "those who believe", for any Christian, for you!… so, the next time you go to visit a sick person, lay hands on him!, in the name of Jesus, you will see wonders!.
Any Christian, and every priest has more healing power than any witch or santero, because these act with the power of the devil, and the Christian with the power of God… and a great problem is that many Christians don't exercise their power!… do it!, in the name of Jesus.
This was an important ministry of Jesus, and an important reason why the crowds were around Him (Mt.4:23-25, Jn.6:2). And every time Jesus send the disciples to preach he gave them, to all of them, the same order: Cast out devils and heal the sick, every disease and sickness! (Mt.10:1,8, Lk.9:1, 10:9,17, Jam.5:15)… and that's what the disciples did with great success (Act.5:12-16, 8:6-8, 19:11-12).
The charism is called "gifts", in plural… because there are many Christians who should do it, many sicknesses to heal, and many ways to do it: By laying on the hands, by anointing with blessed oils, or with blessed water, or by just praying, or using a relic or a crucifix… or God by using a doctor or a nurse or a hospital… just pray for the sick!, in the name of Jesus!, and let Him do it!, praise the Lord.
5- The Working of Miracles (1Cor.12:10):
This gift is different from healing in that it does not depend on the laws of nature. On the contrary, it is an event over nature, against the laws of nature, "a wonder", a "mighty work", produced by the power of God, beyond the power of any known physical law to produce it.
Jesus resurrected 3 persons. In the history of Catholicism, 400 persons have been resurrected. Jesus walked on the water twice, in the history of the Church, over 100 people have done it. Jesus multiplied the bread, and hundred of times have been duplicated in the Church.
And the greatest miracle of millions of Christians is to live with love and joy and peace, when they have nothing but the love of God!…. everybody on earth wants to have love and joy and peace: The President, the multimillionaire, the prostitute, the drug addict, the athlete, that's why they do it for, to have joy and love and peace… and most of them don't have it!, but millions of Christians and nuns and priests and brothers have it without money, nor power, nor fame, nor honors, but they have real constant deep joy and love and peace…. and it is almost funny, after that joy and love and peace on earth, they will have eternal Heaven, praise the Lord!.
6- Faith (1Cor.12:9):
It is probably the most important charism of the gifts of action: The gift of Faith is that power to remove mountains of Mt.21:21 "Truly I say to you: If you had faith and did not doubt, not only could you do what I have done with the fig tree, but you could even say to the mountain: 'Go and throw yourself into the sea!', and it would be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer full of faith, you will receive".
This is the charism of faith: To remove the mountains of hate and envy and prejudice and abortion… and to start a TV program without any money, or to find shelter for millions like Mother Theresa, or to help millions like the Red Cross, or to convert thousands of Hindus without knowing their language like St. Francis Xavier did, or to go on with joy in your hard job or marriage or apostolic work…
There are three kinds of Faith in the Gospels:
1- Saving Faith, to become a Christian.
2- The Fruit of Faith, for character, for faithfulness, fidelity
(Gal.5:19).
3- The Charism of Faith, to move mountains, the Faith of power:
And of this kind of Faith as Charism, the Gospels show people with faith, with little
faith, and with great faith:
1- With faith: The leper, the blind, the paralytic… the regular
people, they got healed!.
2- With little faith: It is curious, the Apostles!, the only ones Jesus
told them "men of little faith", and several times (Mt.8:26, 14:31, 17:20, Lk
8:25)… in one occasion, Jesus told the disciples, "Because you have little
faith. If only you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could tell that mountain to move
from there to there, and the mountain would obey. Nothing would be impossible for
you" (Mt.17:20)… and the mustard seed is like powder, in a pinch there are
thousands of seeds.
3- With Great Faith: And it is also curious, the only two people Jesus
said they had Great Faith were "two pagans", not Jews: The pagan Roman centurion
of Mt.8:10, and the pagan Canaanite woman from outside of Israel, from Tyre-Sidon of
Mt.15:28.
We just have to do as the disciples: "The apostles said to the Lord: 'Increase our faith"… and you know the answer (Lk.17:5-6).
7- Prophecy (1Cor.12:10, and chapter 14):
This charism, Prophecy, is important, mentioned 22 times in 1Cor.12-14, and for every Christian!: Every Catholic was proclaimed Prophet, Priest and King, at Baptism, and in the Sacrament of Confirmation was confirmed as Prophet, Priest, and King. See Duties of a Christian.
A Priest is someone who speaks to God about men, who prays for men... A Prophet is someone who speaks to people about God, or from God, he is a spokesmen of God to men.
This is a gift by which God, through a person, speaks a message to an individual or to the whole Christian community. It is God making use of someone, to state what he thinks about the present situation, what His intention is for the future, or what He thinks they should know or be mindful of right now. It is not primarily or necessarily a prediction of the future.
The prophetic office is for edification, instruction, consolation, and exhortation of the believers of a congregation (1Cor.14:3).
St. Paul explains that an individual of the congregation may prophecy in tongues and them be interpreted by someone who has the later gift (1Cor.14:5).
A word of caution: We already mentioned in the gift of discerning of the spirits that at the last times there will be many false prophets, so, watch out, and discern!.
8- The Gift of Tongues of various kinds (1Cor.12:10, and chapter 14):
This is an important charism, mentioned 57 times in the New Testament… and a charism that every Christian should have, as Jesus said: "these signs will accompany those who believe: … they will have the gift of tongues" (Mk.16:17)… "those who believe", all Christians!, do you believe in Jesus?… and still more: It is the only one of these 9 charisms of service which is not only to help the neighbor but also "strengthen oneself" (1Cor.14:4), and we all need to build up ourselves often!.
There are at least two kinds of gifts of tongues:
1- The one mentioned in 4 verses of Acts 2:4,6,8,11: "They begun to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak", "and the crowd was exited because each heard them speaking in his own native language", and the disciples were all Galilean!… this great miracle of Pentecost has never happened again in the Church… or has it?… the language of "joy" is understood by anybody… if you love someone, he will understand you, no matter if he only speaks German or Russian or Chinese or Japanese… the languages of "joy", and "love", and "peace", are understood by everybody, and they are probably the greatest miracles of the Christians of all times.
2- The other kind, "speak in tongues", is
one of the 9 gifts of the Spirit mentioned three times in 1Cor.12:10,28,30, and explained
again in 1Cor.14:1-33, where the gift to "speak in tongues" or "praying in
tongues" is mentioned 12 times.
This "speaking in tongues" is also called
"glossolalia" or "baby talk" that nobody can understand. It looks
apparently opposite to the one that happened at Pentecost… but it is actually the
same… because it is the language of joy and of love and of peace that anybody can
understand.
I had a patient who hit the lotto and earned $15 million. At home everything was shouts of joy, without any specific words, but a language that anybody could understand, and that's a little of speaking in tongues… the day you live a little more the fact that you are a child of God, that day you hit the lotto with $1,000 million, because your Father is the multimillionaire, and he has all those thousands of millions of dollars for you, and you will shout with joy, without words, a baby talk, but with a language that anybody can understand…
… Another day you will speak in tongues, is the day you realize how horrible is Sin: I saw on TV a woman with his 8 year old child just drown in the mud of an avalanche in Colombia. She didn't said words, but her deep sorrow could be understood, and almost felt, by anybody, even by Hindus or Chinese… Sin is the most horrible event that may happen in your life or in the life of your son, and the day you realize it, there would be no words to express it, only shouts of deep sorrow, baby cry, that anybody will understand.
St. Paul mentions both, "speaking in tongues" and "praying in tongues" (1Cor.14:14-15).
Catholic Charismatics believe that God gives the gift of praying in an "unknown tongue" to anyone who seeks it. The person is able to speak this new language of praise to God or repentance, even though the individual does not understand what is being said, it is the Spirit of God within the heart praying. St. Paul says, "the Spirit too comes to the aid of your weakness; for we don't know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexplicable groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will" (Rom.8:26-27).
Moreover, the one who speaks in tongues should pray to be able "to interpret those tongues", so the congregation can be built too with it. In fact, Spiking in Tongues plus the Interpretation of them, amounts to Prophecy (1Cor.14:13, 27-28).
9- The Interpretation of Tongues (1Cor.12:10, and chapter 14):
The Interpretation of Tongues is not a translation of what the other said, but an Interpretation: For example, one may pray in tongues for 2 minutes, and other interprets the message in may be 10 seconds.
When someone in the assembly speaks or prays in tongues should also be someone there who Interprets those Tongues to build up the Church. Otherwise pray in tongues by yourself for your own edification (1Cor.14:27-28). We already mentioned what St. Paul says, that tongues plus interpretation are equivalent to prophecy.
Cast out Demons (Mk.16:17, Mt.10:1):
This is another gift of the Spirit, not in the list of St. Paul, but in the promise of Jesus Himself, and it is for every Christian: "This signs will accompany those who believe: In my name will cast out demons" (Mk.16:17)…. it is the first of the five signs that accompany all Christians, "those who believe in Jesus"!, even the humble one who doesn't know how to read, that's what Jesus says.
Jesus cast out many demons, an every time He send out his disciples to preach the Gospel, he gave them the power to cast out demons, "Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits" (Mt.10:1, Lk.9:1), and "the 72 disciples came back jubilant, saying: In your name, Lord, even the demons submit to us" (Lk.10:17).
Any Christian has the power to drive out the demons of envy and pride and jealousy, and the demons of alcohol and drugs and homosexuality… and when you meet a heretic, don't waste much time arguing with him, just drive out the devil of heresy from him, in the name of Jesus, and you will see wonders!.
Jesus is a million times more powerful than all the devils together, and a Christian, and most specially a priest or a nun, have more power in the name of Jesus that all witches put together, and the main problem is that most Christians don't use their authority!, use it!, in the name of Jesus!, for the glory of the Father, for our own good, and for the good of the Church.
There are three kinds of demonic influence:
1- Temptation: For everybody, including Jesus when he was fasting and praying for 40 days!… you and your friends will also be tempted, specially when you pray and fast long, like Jesus. (Mt.4).
2- Obsession, compulsion, oppression They are very frequent, causing the impulse to masturbation, stealing, lying, hitting the relatives, homosexuality, alcohol, drugs, irrational compulsions, depressions… Here the person may have an irresistible impulse to perform something he well knows it is wrong or irrational, or an anxious and inescapable preoccupation with an idea or emotion that he realizes it is not right… in contrast with the demonic possession, here the person can exercise volition, he is capable of voluntary actions, and he realizes he is doing something bad or wrong.
3- Demonic Possession: A demon takes over the personality of a human, so that he is incapable of voluntary thinking or actions: Most heretics, those involved in the occult… Here the person is even unable to recognize that he may be wrong… at times, the individual normal personality is replaced by another, specially while talking about a specific subject: He is fine, except when you touch that special subject… other times, not often, he may manifest bizarre symptoms, such as hysteric behavior, incoherent speech, uncontrollable physical movements, with extraordinary feats o physical strength that may be self-destructive or destructive to others or to material objects…
In all instances, it has to considered that the symptoms or actions may be due to pathological (natural) factors rather than by the supernatural power of evil spirits.
Jesus cast out many demons, described specially in the Gospel of Mark. Those of Acts 16:16 and 19:13-19 relate to non-Christians.
Official Church exorcisms are rare, but those which are performed are usually administered by priests who are special delegates of their local bishops, always after a very rigorous physical and psychological examination that rules out any natural explanation for the problems. And since 1972, the official Church declared that the minor order of exorcist would not longer be received.
The "Much Better Way" of St. Paul (1Cor.13):
"I will show you a much better way" (1Cor12:31)
St. Paul shows us what he calls "a much better way" just after talking about the 9 charisms, in the last verse of 1Cor.12:31. And he describes that "much better way" in 1Cor.13:
That much better way is "Love": Because, he says, "if I could speak all the human languages and angelic tongues, but had no love, I would only be sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I had prophecy, knowing secret things with all kinds of knowledge, and had faith great enough to remove mountains, but had no love, I would be nothing".
Verse 3 impresses me the most: "I may give all I possess o the needy, I may give my body to be burnt, but if I have no love, I gain nothing by it"… is not that love?… think about this: If you use all your money to feed and dress your children and your body to your wife, but they go to Hell, because you taught them bad with your live and actions, when you die, your children or wife are going to shout from Hell: Don't let my father or husband enter Haven!, because I am in Hell because he deceived me!, with his money and influence he helped me to come to Hell!… the most important aspect of love is to help your relatives an neighbors to go to Heaven, to be an evangelist, a co-redeemer with Jesus…
The words of Jesus impress me still more: "Many", says Jesus, many who spoke in may name, and who cast out devils and performed miracles in the name of Jesus, many will go to Hell (read it in Mt.7:21-23)… I pray you and I are not one of those many!.
So, what is love, charity?: It is
to do what Jesus did and said… look at the Cross at Calvary, and read it in
Mt.25:31-46 and Mt.5:38-48, and right here in 1Cor.13, the chapter of love of St. Paul,
just in between the two chapters of the charismatic gifts.
Do you want to become God?, says St. Augustine, become love!, because
God is love (1Jn.4:8, 16)… do you want to become love?, become God!, have Jesus in
your heart, and live that glorious fact every minute of the day, because it is the essence
of being a Christian, "it is no longer I, but Christ living in me"
(Gal.2:20)… and it is the only way to become love, because God is love.
Often, in the Catholic Charismatic meetings occurs another gift that is called "Resting in the Spirit" or "Slaying in the Spirit"… St. Therese of Avila used to call it "Flying in the Spirit", and she had it many times as we read in her life.
It consists in the fact that someone falls while being praying for him or her. The first time I attended a Charismatic meeting was to give a talk about the Eucharist. A friend of mine told me at the end of the talk that now we were going to pray for people laying hands on them asking God to help them to understand well and live the glorious reality of the Eucharist. I had no problem with that, because I have spend much of life praying for people, except that I had never laid on hands to pray for anybody. So, I laid my hands on a seven feet man, and I was going to say: "Holy Spirit, help this man to understand and live the most glorious realty of the Eucharist"… but I only had time to say, "Holy", because immediately he fall back with all his seven feet long, and hit the floor hard with his head… I thought he would had been hurt. My friend told me, "don't worry", he is resting in the Spirit. But I am a Medical Doctor, and I stayed with him until I was sure he had no problem with his head… and I even called him the next day and the next week, and he was all right.
I the last 30 years may be thousands of men and women have had this Resting in the Spirit while I prayed laying hands on them. However, since that first one, I always pray for them placing may left hand on the back of their heads, just in case the fall!, or I make sure that someone is on their backs to catch them if they fall, I don't want to practice medicine in the religious meetings, and forgive my Lord, for my little faith!.
I had also asked many what did they feel while Resting in the Spirit, and often they tell me what St. Therese describes in her Life, when they had never read anything of St. Therese: They tell me they were like in a paradise, flying in he air, full of joy and peace, living like a thousand years in a minute, conscious in their mind, but always a glorious unforgettable experience… other start to cry deeply, because they are like living the horrible experience of their sins… others felt like someone pulled their hurt leg for 20 years, and end up without any pain at all, or their asthma disappeared, or their chest pain, or their bleeding stopped suddenly, and it never returned after having had this problem of bleeding for years…
I also had it!: The first time, on the feast day of the Transfiguration at Mount Tabor: And the one who prayed for me was a humble woman who was attending a Charismatic meeting for her first time… and I fall on my face: My first thought was, my glasses!… but the inexplicable joy and a sense of weightlessness made me forget the glasses immediately… however, when my Resting was finished, the first thing I did was to look at my glasses, and they were all right, praise the Lord!.
This Resting in the Spirit occurs in the Bible: Daniel had it often, almost in each one of his revelations, laying like death even for days… and the champion of it in the Bible is Prophet Ezekiel, who was falling again and again whenever he saw the glory of God. In the Book of Songs of Songs of Solomon, the loved one, you soul and mine, faints with love, and she has to be sustained with the raisins of love and refreshed with the joy and care of apples of the loved one (Song 2:5).
The Charismatics often praise the Lord or ask forgiveness raising their hands, as it is often done in the Bible to pray (1Tim.2:8, Is.1:15, Psalm 28:2, 47:2, 63:5, 77:3, 134:2, Lam.3:41).
I believe this is another gift. And it was a problem for me!. Thirty years ago, when I started to work with the Charismatics, most of the time I was giving talks. All the leaders were my friends, priests and laymen, and dozens of times they urged me to praise the Lord with my hands up… I couldn't!… I praised the Lord very gladly and often, but without raising my arms, I felt kind of silly!… or just to proud?… about a year passed, and suddenly, at Mass the priest said: "Let us pray", and raised his arms… I had seen that done hundreds of times, every time I go to Mass. But all of a sudden, I realized it: The priest is telling me to pray with him, and to pray the way he prays… and immediately I raised my hands with him and prayed with him, praise the Lord!.
Since then, 30 years ago!, every time the priest raises his hands, I do it too. Most of the Charismatics do not do it at Mass, but many of my friends are doing it now, specially in the prayer of the Our Father… it is biblical, and if the priest does it, and he is asking to do it with him, why not?… and another thing: If you want to call attention to you, you don't have to ware rich clothes, nor expensive jewelry at Mass, just raise your hands with the priest!, everybody will look at you!… at the beginning I used to feel a little ashamed, but I feel it is the right thing to do, and the priests of my parish never told me not to do it, nor the priests of any other parish. In fact, never anybody told me anything about it, and, honestly, I feel more devote, and more in synchrony with the celebrating priest.
If you pay attention, every time the priest prays to the Father, he raises his hands. When he prays to Jesus, he bows his head. And to the Spirit, he joints his hands in front of the chest, like many paintings of Virgin Mary, and since all the Mass is with the power of the Spirit, the priest, and you and I, should always have our hands on our chest, participating actively in the Mass, and not just hanging them down like watching a show.
Every Catholic is aware of the apparitions at Fatima, Lourdes… it is another charism of the Spirit. This is not usually a normal event in the Charismatic Movement, but it is in the Church!, specially now a days: Since 1900 to 1960 there were 25 reports of Apparitions to the Vatican. Since 1960 there had been more than 3000 reports of Apparitions to the Vatican in practically all the nations of all the Continents, an avalanche!, praise the Lord!.
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