I began my relationship with Jesus when I had to go through Confirmation in high school. At my parish, the confirmation program is tied to a Life Teen youth group. Life Teen is a youth ministry that arose from the charismatic movement of the 70s. After that youth group, my practice of Catholic tradition will forever be colored by a charismatic lens.
The charismatic movement is essentially a culture of worship and prayer that emerged post-Vatican II emphasizing charisms (gifts) of the Holy Spirit. As Paul states in 1 Corinthians 12, the Holy Spirit can manifest wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and understanding tongues. During prayer, usually during songs, one would invite the Holy Spirit to work these gifts within them.
In a way, the charismatics are the weird younger siblings within Catholicism, always up to crazy antics that don’t seem to make sense, but you love them because they are family. But there is a multitude of benefits from this exercise of spirituality that brought me into the Catholic faith.
Through charismatic prayer, I learned about the Third Person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit, who can seem so mysterious and ambiguous. Yet, Life Teen taught me to always ask God to be present within me by simply saying, “Come Holy Spirit.” By focusing my prayers on the Holy Spirit, I learned so much about “the Lord, the Giver of Life.” I learned through experience and feeling that God is truly present within me.
Prayer is a communal experience. I learned this through Life Teen’s emphasis on laying hands or extending an arm over someone. Our hands are not necessary for bringing the Holy Spirit into their lives, like some magic gesture. However, it is fitting to express the love of God and our embodied spirituality by involving these acts of human compassion.
Life Teen also taught me a great love for the Eucharist. Adoration is a staple of charismatic worship. One sings and prays before God in the Eucharist, displayed for all to behold. It was in this context that God gave me a small insight that what I receive at Mass is actually Jesus. I have heard some say the Eucharist is only meant to be eaten. However, we are called to “behold the Lamb of God” whenever the Eucharist is consecrated. Adoring the Eucharist only furthers devotion to God in the Blessed Sacrament. It promotes a fuller reception of communion and stronger faith.
This is not to say Life Teen and the charismatic movement are without flaws. St. Theresa of Avila warns of communities of “excessive love,” meaning there is a greater emphasis on interpersonal relationships than on God. At times, communities like Life Teen can fall into this trap. Cliques can form, gossip can spread, but the worst of all is comparison. Comparison is the cancer of charismatic prayer. Gifts of the Holy Spirit could be seen as a sign of worth, and people could compare their worship experience to others. I never received any flashy charism like speaking tongues, and at times, I felt distraught. From this emphasis on gifts, it is easy for people to fall into pride or envy. There is a danger of getting carried away, swept in a wave of emotion and forgetting who God really is.
My freshman year at BC prompted a wrestling of spiritual practices. In one corner, I had my charismatic background. In the other were the more intellectual, individual, and traditional methods of prayer I was learning in class and from other Catholics. I became concerned that I was worshipping the wrong way. I thought my high school spiritual life was an overemotional, inauthentic charade of how God really wants us to pray. However, after a couple years at BC, I feel like I have learned more about how to live spiritually.
As Aristotle says, virtue lies between the mean of two extremes. I prefer to go to a Mass with traditional hymns, but I will still pray, “Come Holy Spirit” with my arms open to heaven. I learned that my changing spiritual practices don’t invalidate my previous ways of connecting to God. I was brought to God through guitars at Mass, and from there God willed for me to discover a rich intellectual tradition that has helped me grow. Tradition provides the structure for charismatic practice. For me, a life with Christ is the life of a charismatic traditionalist, employing the deep contemplative truth in an active, embodied way guided by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Featured image courtesy of Olivia Colombo
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