John Wimber, an early leader of Vineyard Fellowship, used the phrase “naturally supernatural” to popularize his teaching that all Christians can work “signs and wonders,” including healing, and that such exercises of “power” were the way to evangelize. “Power evangelism” became a bedrock tenet of the New Apostolic Reformation. Some Catholics have adopted this teaching and are spreading it. For example, the Encounter School of Ministry says, “Jesus is our standard for what a naturally supernatural lifestyle looks like. Jesus reveals our inheritance and shows us what we have access to through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Other Catholics present the same teaching using the words “living the lifestyle of Jesus.”
This teaching assumes the following: working extraordinary phenomena can and should be part of the life of every Christian. Every believer can be taught to perform signs and wonders to demonstrate the truth of the Gospel. Because Jesus told his apostles to heal the sick (Matt 10:8), this must mean that he has given all Christians the power to do just that.
While some may find this teaching attractive, it’s important to note that it goes against the true message of the Gospel as contained in the Scriptures and conserved within the Catholic Church. The key to seeing the problems with the “naturally supernatural” and “power evangelism” concepts is distinguishing between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and extraordinary spiritual gifts.
When someone is baptized, he or she receives sanctifying grace, removing all sin and bestowing holiness. They also receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord).
Some Christians, but not all, receive extraordinary spiritual gifts, also called charismata or charismatic gifts. Unlike the gifts of the Spirit received at baptism, charismatic gifts are given, not for the benefit of the recipient but for the good of others. St. Paul lists some charismata: the utterance of wisdom, words of knowledge, gifts of healing, working miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, various kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues (see 1 Cor 12:4-11). He emphasizes that different persons receive different spiritual gifts, but that all these gifts have the same origin in God, and the same purpose: service to the whole community.
Paul also speaks of hierarchical gifts given to leaders of the Church. The Second Vatican Council taught about both charismatic and hierarchical gifts when it said, “Extraordinary gifts are not to be sought after, nor are the fruits of apostolic labor to be presumptuously expected from their use; but judgment as to their genuinity and proper use belongs to those who are appointed leaders in the Church, to whose special competence it belongs, not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to that which is good” (Lumen Gentium 12)
Groups that claim the ability to teach Christians how to prophesy and work healings are disobeying the Council’s teaching that extraordinary gifts are not to be sought after. Yet, some Catholics are doing precisely that. In an attempt to legitimize their approach, they appeal to the lives of saints who worked miracles. One Catholic has published a book called Supernatural Saints to promote this approach. What gets lost in this discussion is what it means to be a saint in the first place.
On Nov. 13, Pope Leo spoke about the place of mystical phenomena in the lives of the saints. His teaching also applies to extraordinary spiritual gifts. The Pope observed that experiences such as visions or ecstasies “remain secondary and non-essential with respect to mystical experience and sanctity in themselves, while the true goal of mysticism is and remains communion with God … Consequently, extraordinary phenomena which can connote a mystical experience are not indispensable conditions for recognizing the sanctity of a Christian (di un fedele); if they are present, they strengthen the virtues, not as if they were individual privileges, insofar as they are ordered to the building up of the whole Church, the mystical body of Christ. What is more important, and what must be primarily emphasized in examining candidates for sainthood, is their complete and constant conformity to the will of God, as revealed in Scripture and in the living apostolic Tradition.”
The Pope also noted that discernment is needed to distinguish between authentic spiritual phenomena and deceitful manifestations. He quoted St. Teresa of Avila: “It is clear that the highest perfection does not consist in interior sweetness, great raptures, visions, or the spirit of prophecy, but rather in the perfect conformity of our own will with that of God, in such a way as to will, and will firmly, what we know to be his will, accepting with the same gladness both the sweet and the bitter, as he wills.”
What makes it possible to follow this teaching – in other words, to be a saint – has already been given to every Christian in baptism. What determines sainthood is whether we accept, appreciate and live out these gifts of grace. The call to holiness is universal; extraordinary gifts are not, or are they necessary for sanctity or salvation. In fact, the ability to prophecy or heal is not in itself evidence of true sanctity.
Just as an alcoholic doctor can help a patient by telling him to quit drinking, while not giving up alcohol abuse himself, someone who appears to have charismatic gifts may have serious spiritual problems. This is because the power at work in such healings is God’s omnipotence, not some special quality of the human beings involved.
As a rule, we can avoid misunderstandings about life in the Spirit if we remember that the greatest gift is not power, but charity. Our goal should not be demonstrating power, but union with God, who is love.
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