It is what happened on Pentecost to the apostles: a radical change from cowering behind locked doors to fierce, fearless zeal in proclaiming the Gospel. It is Fire. Ferocity. Fortitude. Interior Peace. Urgency. Mystical Intimacy. Power from on high.
After Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit was normative for biblical Christianity. In Acts, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the Gentiles and Peter realized he must baptize them. The Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Spirit and so they prayed for it. Previously, John the Baptist, preaching the baptism of repentance, promised that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. So the Pentecostal Anointing is usually called "baptism in the Holy Spirit" because of this solid scriptural foundation. But to the Catholic ear it is troubling in relation to our sacrament of baptism: is this an alternative baptism? A secondary one? An actualization of the sacrament?
From the Catholic perspective, a better expression is "release of the Holy Spirit" as that suggests a release or manifestation of the Holy Spirit that had been previously given sacramentally in baptism/confirmation.
I prefer the expression Pentecostal Anointing as that identifies it clearly with the original Pentecost without confusion regarding the sacraments.
Charismatic Catholic theologians Killian McDonald and George Montague have documented in detail that this very specific, identifiable event was foundational for entrance into the Church for the first three centuries. Subsequent to that, with the normalization of Christianity after Constantine, the event seemed to have disappeared from our rituals of incorporation into the Church. However, something equivalent is obvious in the lives of all saints and holy ones.
What is the Pentecostal Anointing?
Evident in Scripture, the early Church and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements it is: Reception, in expectant faith, of the Pentecostal presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It is what happened on Pentecost. It includes or assumes understanding of God's love, repentance from sin, acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior. It most often happens in a communal, ecclesial context with the prayer support and encouragement of others; but it also happens to some in solitude as the Spirit moves freely, unrestrained by human protocols. It is an experience...conscious, intellectual, volitional, social, psychological, behavioral...of God's overwhelming love for yourself, and also others. It often brings a startling liberation from fear, anxiety and negative restrains. It is intimacy with God who dwells in ones own heart. It is an urgency and a power to mission, to share this love with others. It is communion, in prayer, with others, even ecumenically across institutional borders. It deepens one's own Catholic faith. It is normally a faith of expectancy, based on prior catechesis, that God desires to empower oneself with the Pentecostal Holy Spirit. It is a "once only" encounter, similar to sacraments baptism, confirmation and ordination.
It is at once personal and communal. For most of us it is highly mimetic as we imitate, for example in praying in tongues, the behavior of others. But there are many reports of prayer of solitude breaking into tongues or other manifestations (tears, etc.) free of mimetic influence. But even here there is usually a communal connection. Ralph Martin describes that at the end of his Cursillo, previous to the outbreak of the Renewal, he was overwhelmed by the love of God and those around him. As he prayed in solitude he started to voice strange sounds. He quickly discontinued this "aberrant" behavior. Not long after that he learned of the Pentecostal outbreak at Duquesne University. Note: the behavior occurred originally in private but was preceded and succeeded by immersion in communal love and worship.
It is at once a personal intimacy with God and also an explosion of zeal to share this love in mission. At the end of his Cursillo, Ralph Martin simply said: "I want to spend the rest of my life serving and loving God and helping others to do the same."
This Pentecostal event is not primarily emotional. For many it is entirely sober and calm. The heart of it is not volatile emotionality or enthusiasm, but a profound interior transformation: freedom from fear, reticence, loneliness and isolation. It is fundamentally mystical or spiritual. But it does get expressed in signs and behavior. As it includes a liberation from social pressures and norms, it often expresses in behavior that is socially transgressive, like King David dancing ecstatically before the Ark of the Covenant to the horror of his wife. So, we commonly see tongues, tears, holy laughter, resting in the spirit, and unusual exuberance. Of its nature it is contra-bourgeois. Ralph Martin recalls an early prayer meeting when a huge, powerful football player fell on the floor, moving all over the room screaming about the love of Jesus. Ralph was delighted by the sight; others were horrified, jumped out the window (it was on the first floor), ran to the head of ministry and got Ralph fired from his job. This exemplifies a common reaction to the phenomenon by classic Catholicism in a restrain, inhibition, and control that derives from Northern European Jansenism and bourgeois normalcy.
The many extraordinary signs, displays, and manifestations of Pentecostalism are important but none essential. These include tongues, demonstrative praise, distinctive worship music, tears, laughter, healings, dancing, collapsing, deliverance from demons, prophesies, direct guidance from the Holy Spirit, and other. None of these are essential or indispensable. What is essential? Intimacy with the Risen Christ; ongoing repentance from sin; freedom from fear and anxiety; zeal to share the love of Christ. Zeal to share the love of Christ. Zeal to share the love of Christ.
In this Pentecostalism resembles Catholicism. The essence of our faith: engagement with the Risen Christ in ecclesial life around Eucharist, reception of the Word, sacramental life, and charity. Out of this flaming core there explode many universes of practices: devotions, pilgrimages, retreats, relics, litanies, and other. Both are like plants that overflow with flowers and fruit. Interiorly, however, they belong to each other: institutional and pneumatic, Catholic and charismatic, the second and third persons of the Trinity.
Is this Anointing Normative for Catholicism?
It is certainly not normal, statistically, for contemporary Catholicism. But sociology is irreverent here: Catholics abort, divorce, contracept, cohabitate, refrain from Sunday Eucharist and deny the Real Eucharistic Presence in very heavy majorities in the USA today. One study estimated that 16% of Catholics globally self-identify as charismatic. This may mean different things to different people. It is improbable that that many are living the vigorous apostolic life that should flow from the anointing.
Clearly, in Scripture and the early centuries of the Church this event was normative. We have to say that for the mission of the Church, sharing the love of Christ with the world, this anointing or its equivalent is necessary and normative. It is only with the zeal, fortitude, determination, and interior peace received in the Anointing that the Church's work can be accomplished.
As we consider the apostles/disciples before and after Pentecost, we might ask: Am I personally pre- or post-Pentecost? Are we as a Church...parish...family...community...pre- or post- ? Since we live after Pentecost, in the time of the Church, awaiting the Return of Christ, the norm is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
If we are basically living pre-Pentecost, bound by weakness and fear, weak on zeal, courage, ferocity, we clearly want to pray for, prepare for and seek the Anointing.
Does this Anointing Make a Person Good and Holy?
Not exactly. Of its nature it should: it draws one into the love of Christ and thrusts one out to share this love. But the drama is more complicated than that. Just as one can receive all the sacraments and still live an evil life; just as one can be "born again" and return to a life of sin; so the Pentecostal anointing does not guarantee holiness. Inversely, many holy ones grow into sanctity organically without this specific anointing.
We know that where sin is, grace abides the stronger. The inverse is also true: where grace is at work, the Enemy (world, flesh, devil) is aroused to counterattack. One who has received this anointing is hardly immune to temptations and attacks of evil! On the contrary, one becomes the focus of Satan, as well as one's own weakness and the pressures of the world.
And so, we have the puzzling and troubling specter of prominent, gifted, anointed Christian leaders succumbing to sexual sin, power plays, abuse of authority, greed, and pride. Jim Baker was among the most popular speakers at the Charismatic conferences of the 1970s. I recall him as a charming, powerful, inspirational preacher. He and wife Tammy became, of course, notorious for scandals occurring even as he moved us so deeply. My personal impression is that often extraordinary giftedness in ministry is accompanied closely by proclivities to sin.
And so, the anointing can become diverted into arrogance and pride, sexual indulgence, greed for power and money. Alternately, received and lived humbly in a community of accountability and support, it is a huge boost toward charity, holiness and fruitfulness in mission.
Consequences of the Pentecostal Anointing
Personal intimacy with Jesus Christ; continuous guidance, correction, comfort, strengthening by the Holy Spirit; fluency and fervor in praise...in song, tongues, private and public; delight in the intuitive reading and reception of Scripture; urgency to share God's love; fellowship with others in prayer, friendship and mission; ecumenical communion with all Christians; intensification and enlightenment in one's Catholic faith and practice; desire to repent, confess and be reconciled with God and others.
Additional signs include: tongues, tears, holy laughter, prophesy, healing, deliverance from evil spirits, gifts of knowledge, wisdom and knowledge in teaching,
This anointing is not a magic bullet. The graces received need to be inflamed, directed, corrected, humbled, purified and strengthened by participation in a strong Church.
Comparison with Ordinary Catholic Life
In normal Catholic life nothing like this happens. It would be viewed, suspiciously, as strange if not aberrant behavior. We expect such from mystics and saints but not from ordinary folk. Abstractly, we understand that confirmation bestows this Pentecostal power for witness, but no one reports this as an experienced reality. Confirmation is widely seen as the final step, "graduation" of the catechetical journey; as an end, rather than a beginning.
Vatican II did emphasize the Holy Spirit as well as the call to holiness for all of us, lay/priest/religious alike. Therefore, the Renewal was almost immediately welcomed officially into the Church, by all the popes (Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XIII, Francis) under the guidance of Cardinal Suenens, one of the presidents of the Council itself. So this is an authentic renewal of Catholicism, reflecting the teaching of the Council, echoing the biblical and early Church, and inflaming the graces given sacramentally.
Charismatic Renewal makes a startling, an unbelievable, a breathtaking Annunciation: that God the Father and Jesus our Lord want to anoint each of us Catholics...every single one of us...with the Pentecostal Anointing in mystical intimacy and mission power. Regardless of our sin, our weakness, our unworthiness. He wants to do this NOW. Not by the end of our life. Not after decades of prayer, effort and good works. He wants to give this as an entirely free, gratuitous, magnanimous gift. Out of sheer love.
Comparison with Other Renewal Movements
Other renewal movements do not announce anything quite like this Pentecostal Anointing. All the movements, along with ordinary Catholic life, involve unbounded works of the Holy Spirit: graces, vocations, charisms, missions, inspirations, revelations, and intercessions. But none retrieve anything like this specific, primordial event.
Neocatechumenal Way is a more intense, profound itinerary of formation in the faith. It is, like Pentecostalism, fiercely evangelical, communal, Scripture-centered, missionary. It is more countercultural. The process takes 20 to 30 years for a community. Weekly routines of scripture sharing, Eucharist, and sharing are punctuated by regular convivences including rigorous spiritual exercises. In the process there is no specific (to my knowledge) invoking of the Pentecostal Anointing. At the conclusion of this elaborate catechetical journey, there is a final step, the Election. It is not clear to me what this is but it would seem to involve some completion and therefore readiness for mission.
But even early in the process teams are prepared to catechize other communities. So the impetus to mission is not delayed to the conclusion.
Communion and Liberation may be considered as an itinerary, under Christ within the Church, in the charism of friendship and openness to the Holy Spirit and all the goodness God sends. Again, there is nothing like this specific anointing.
Opus Dei, Regnum Christi and other groups generally do not manifest a distinctive charism but are classic gestalts of the basics of Catholicism since Trent: holiness through the sacraments, communal prayer, devotions and such. Again, there is no announcement of this anointing.
Conclusion
The claim here is that at the heart of the Charismatic Renewal is the Holy Spirit offering the original Pentecostal Anointing to all of us, Now. As a free gift, not a reward at the end of work and effort.
May we all as one, invoke, with expectancy and confidence:
Come, Holy Spirit!
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