I Just Don’t Get Charismatics…

Reading through the comments only confirms my fervent distaste for this type of worship. There are those who justify it on the grounds that "at least people are showing joy and love and strong emotion at Mass instead of sitting idly by." There are those who have said things like, "Speaking in tongues is a way of praising God where words fail." There are those who have suggested that the ones who are close-minded are the ones who dare to criticize this manner of worship.

But the thing is, there's nothing at all inherently more joyous, or respectful, or praiseworthy about shakin' your stuff for the Lord than there is about piously resting on one's knees in quiet adoration, and in many cases it is demonstrably LESS reverent, let me tell you… I've been to enough of these types of gatherings to know that the attentions of people in my generation are often more on each other than on God, and that sort of temptation is altogether removed by not worshipping in this way.

I also have a problem with the assumption that seeking out "gifts of the Spirit" is just a different, or even a higher, way of worshipping. Like I pointed out, someone once mentioned that "tongues" make up for those things where "words fail". Our whole faith is based on the transformative power of words. God created the world by speaking. "In the beginning was the Word" John tells us. The ancient word for "blessed", Latin "benedictus" as well as its Greek equivalent "eulogomene", both mean "to be well-spoken of (by God)". Jesus taught "the Good News" through parable and prayer. The Mass itself is accomplished through words. I refuse to acknowledge that words ever fail. Humans may fail to find the words they should use, but that is human failure and not a gift of the Spirit.

But even if we assume that these gifts of the Spirit really do come from God and not simply from psychological projection, I think it's spiritually dangerous to want them. Those who open themselves up to influence from the spiritual world open themselves equally up to demonic influence. The Church has always taught this, and reading any of the mystics will show that there is a great danger that accompanies the great rewards of life lived in the Spirit. I, for one, take it with humble submission that I am not called to spiritual influence, and many who engage in this kind of worship seem to wear it as a badge of pride that they "have been so called".

And it's simply crude and cruel I think that charismatic types make themselves sound so victimized by "traddies". They insist that those who prefer traditional worship are stifling and judgmental, failing to acknowledge the fact that for decades it is actual the ancient forms of worship that have been furiously suppressed, and not these charismatic aberrations that have been allowed to run rampant. It wasn't until 2007 that a priest could even decide of his own free will to offer the traditional Latin mass publicly; he had to receive the permission of his bishop, and permission was rarely granted anywhere in the world.

Traditional worship is the only expression of worship that has been systematically oppressed for about 40 years, and so I take a little umbrage at the fact that people who have been allowed the liturgical freedom to do "whatever feels good" for decades play the victim card when their approach to worship is even minimally criticized.

I was invited to a Charismatic prayer meeting at the Mission San Luis Rey Parish in Oceanside, CA. I went, and was frankly unimpressed. I came away believing there was a lot of self deception involved, and not on my part, either.