Novena for Pentecost: Baptism in the Spirit - charisms and prayer for healing

I think it is the case that every Catholic should be comfortable with the idea that the Holy Spirit can show his power in particular interventions, from what most might recognise as the working of providence, through the occurence of miracles, and then on to more extraordinary gifts such as praying in tongues or the gifts of healing in prayer. In the vast majority of cases, such specific interventions are given for a particular case or a particular moment, and while they might form the content of an individual testimony they do not possess a universal interest for the Church. Whilst being comfortable with the idea that such interventions occur, no Catholic is obliged to believe in the veracity of each and every such intervention (with, perhaps, the exception of the very few recognised publicly by the Church in processes of beatification and canonisation).

Within the Charismatic Renewal, the occurrence of extraordinary charisms is readily accepted. The best known such charism is that of prayer in tongues; but equally there is the existence of a charism of healing. The life of the Renewal is characterised by prayer for healing (understood in a wide sense as referring to physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual healing), though in many cases this occurs in the ordinary prayer of a prayer group rather than in the context of a specific healing ministry. The extraordinary healing ministries - that of Sr Briege McKenna comes to mind as I write - form only a small part of this aspect of the life of the Renewal, and a care is taken that it is not seen as a substitute for the Sacrament of the Sick.

Linked to prayer for healing is a strong awareness of the need for spiritual battle against the powers of evil. There is an experience of both temptation by Satan and the power of the Holy Spirit to resist that temptation. The experience of spiritual battle is lived anew, giving rise to recognition of the need for prayers and ministries of deliverance to free people from various forms of spiritual oppression. However, it should be said that this experience is a mature experience for those in the Renewal and not one pursued in an irresponsible way. In particular, the Renewal has provided many of the priests who exercise the ministry of exorcism in the Church, with all the precautions that accompany that ministry.