The Pentecostal movement began to attract Catholics in the late 1960s. It developed rapidly, manifesting a number of the charisms and charismatic ministries that Paul was acquainted with in the early Church. The movement became known among Catholics as the Charismatic Renewal. The renewal speaks powerfully to two needs that Catholics experience today with special urgency: the need for prayer, or, more exactly, for the experience of prayer, and the need to feel part of a Christian community Ordinary parish structures are supposed to provide for these basic needs. In recent times however, especially in areas where large congregations are the rule, these aspirations are not adequately fulfilled. The experience of community provided by charismatic prayer groups, with their lively personal concern for one another and spontaneous expressions of affection, has seemed like a breath of fresh air to many Catholics hungering for an integral Christian life. For such as these, the renewal has brought freedom from stereotyped forms of prayer and ritual, the support and encouragement of spiritual friendship, and a new understanding and love of the Christian community as the living manifestation of Christ.

In the numerous prayer groups that have sprung up as a result of the renewal, some manifest a fundamentalist orientation. Wherever the fundamentalist influence has been strong, there has been a tendency to place special emphasis on the charismatic gifts of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul in I Corinthians 12, especially the gift of tongues. In groups that have retained a predominantly Catholic influence, however, the desire for the knowledge and understanding of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit has emerged. These are the gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fortitude, and reverence. In addition, serious efforts have been made to provide a conceptual framework for the renewal based on traditional Catholic theology. These concerns have raised the question of the relationship of the renewal to the various forms of Christian spirituality of the past and, in particular, its relationship to contemplative prayer and the mystical life. To those in search of a sound program for continuing spiritual growth in the context of renewal, the contemplative tradition of the Church has important things to say.

In opening itself to the tradition, however, the renewal should remain true to its primary inspiration, which is listening to the Spirit as she strengthens, consoles, and guides us with her unfailing inspirations. Thanks to the renewal, the spontaneity of the early Christian communities described by Paul and the Acts of the Apostles, is being rediscovered in our time. The first believers in the incarnate Word of God gathered in communities around the risen Christ to listen to his word in Scripture, to celebrate its significance in the liturgy, and to be transformed into the Word made flesh by the Eucharist. The presence of the Spirit was palpably manifested in these assemblies by means of the charismatic gifts. The gift of tongues seems to have been given, along with faith in Jesus and the acceptance of baptism, to encourage the individual believer; hence, its use in public worship was regulated by Paul. Interpretation of tongues, prophecy, miracles, healing, discernment of spirits, words of wisdom, prophecy, inspired teaching, administration, and other gifts provided for the spiritual and material needs of the various Christian communities (see I Cor. 12:8-10). These gifts were normally subject to the discernment of each community either directly or through the ministry of the elders and presbyters.

The continuing work of the Spirit developing the teaching of the Church on contemplative prayer and the mystical life must now be integrated into this scriptural model revived by the Charismatic Renewal. Unfortunately, the presentation of this teaching in the last two or three centuries has not been a faithful representation of the wisdom of the great masters of Christian contemplation. A full-scale renewal of the Church's spiritual tradition has begun in earnest only since the Second Vatican Council. The ascetical teaching that most priests, monks, and nuns received in seminaries and novitiates was influenced in varying degrees by certain heresies that have plagued the Church throughout the centuries. Concurrently, the mystical teaching of the spiritual masters of the Church was almost completely ignored. As a result, the Church has been a spiritual desert for the past several centuries and unable to nourish her children with the solid food of contemplative prayer.

A significant indication of this can be found in the massive movement of Catholics toward Eastern religions during the past three decades in search of the contemplative dimension that was lacking in their own religious training and milieu. A new formulation of the principles of the spiritual journey for Christians is urgently needed today that will be faithful to the tradition but expressed in contemporary language and understanding. Such formulation should assiduously avoid the negative influences of the heresies of the past, especially Manichaeism (which infected the ascetical teaching of Augustine), Jansenism (which exercised a doleful effect in French and Irish seminaries from the seventeenth century into our own time), Cartesianism (the philosophy of Descartes, which exercised a predominant influence in forming the excessively dualistic assumptions of Western culture), and legalism (which retarded the march of the Church into the modern world). A new formulation should take thorough account of contemporary developments in theological and scriptural studies and of the insights of psychology and sociology, especially those that bear directly on human development and consequently on the spiritual life. In developing the method and conceptual background of Centering Prayer, I have attempted to address some of these urgent needs.

The Church has always been faced with the task of integrating the knowledge and experience of each successive age into its inherited body of doctrine and practice. Although this task is becoming more difficult because of the proliferation of new sciences and the information explosion, the Church cannot avoid this responsibility. The ability to respond to the signs of the times in a prompt and inspired manner and the ability to absorb and integrate the genuine human values of every culture are charisms that the Church must cultivate if it is to appeal to the hearts and minds of the emerging global society. The Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15 is a good example of these charisms at work. It should be noted that the Apostles were convinced of the direct inspiration of the Spirit in their decisions.

Let us turn now to the relationship between the spirituality of the Charismatic Renewal and the traditional teaching of the Church on contemplative prayer and the mystical life. The baptism of the Spirit seems to be the formal initiation by the Spirit into the charismatic experience. Some have received this grace without any apparent preparation. They have come in off the street, so to speak, and at the first prayer meeting found themselves confronted and, in many instances, confounded and overwhelmed by the presence of the Spirit or the person of Jesus. Such experiences remind one of the instant conversions related in Acts. Baptism of the Spirit evidently brings about dramatic changes in one's previous relationship to Jesus and the Spirit. While particular conversions differ widely, many reports describe the experience in such terms as these: a strong impression of being loved by God; the assurance of the total forgiveness of one's sins; a new awareness of Jesus as a real person instead of an abstract figure in ancient history; an ease in practicing virtue; a greater love and understanding of the Word of God in Scripture and liturgy; the ardent desire to praise God; an eagerness to bear witness to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. These and similar effects clearly indicate the special action of the Holy Spirit, which, in terms of traditional Christian spirituality, may be a sign of mystical grace.

There are, of course, also gradual ways of coming to these excellent dispositions. Similar effects have been observed in the course of good novitiates in religious communities, after sincere conversions, and during extended periods of intensive religious discipline. The essential sign of conversion, whether it comes instantly through baptism in the Spirit or more gradually through the practice of virtue, is that it provides a profound intuition into the goal to be pursued by Christian practice. It is a thrust in the fundamental direction that one's life should take as a follower of Christ. While baptism in the Spirit does not establish an advanced state of spiritual development, it is a manifest call to contemplative prayer. If the gift of tongues accompanies baptism in the Spirit, a further thrust in the direction of contemplative prayer is added. While those possessing the gift of tongues are able to exercise it at will, they do not understand the meaning of the words they are saying. They are simply aware that they are praying or praising God. Such a simple and loving attention to God is itself a beginning of contemplative prayer.

To Be Continued . . .

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Excerpted from Intimacy with God by Fr. Thomas Keating

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