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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
What is	Linda	Sunday, September 26, 2004
Question: Dear Brother; Years ago I attended an all-night vigil (1st Friday Mass to Mass after midnight for 1st Sat.) First a Padre Pio prayer group orginized it but then the priest that said the masses started doing praying over people during the break between masses and when the Eucharist was exposed. Then the priest when he held his hands over people's heads, the person would sway back and forth and finally fall backwards. Someone always stood behind them to catch and lay them on the floor where they would remain for 5 to 20 min. resting as if asleep. This was called being "slain in the spirit" or "resting in the spirit". I too, came up for this "blessing" and I don't remember if he prayed or not but suddenly I felt the cold floor of the church beneath my hands as a person standing behind me caught me and laid me on the floor. I don't remember swaying or falling. I thought that I wouldn't be conscience of noises or cold when in this state so when I did hear noises in the church and felt the cold floor I felt that I was faking it or something and got up but was shaky on my feet. Later I was told that this was called "resting in the spirit" and is the lowest form of escasty. My question is what really did happen to me? I really wonder if my own desires to have this happen to me as it was happening to others is what made me fall. Was this of God or the devil? (Because of the great amount of people coming not for adoration but to see people "resting in the spirit", the Padre Pio group complained and the pastor (not the priest that said mass) stopped the all-night vigil. He was right and the Padra Pio group was right as it was becoming a circus.)
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+ Dear Linda: The phenomenon of "resting in the spirit", also called "slain in the spirit" is most likely a psychological event fueled by the desire to experience something and the group dynamics of expectation. It is part and parcel of the improper and almost idolization of emotion and subjective experience typically found among many charistmatics. From what I can gather, this "resting in the Spirit" is rare outside of an audience. If this is the case, then that is powerful evidence of the psychological group dynamics. If this were truly a genuine phenomenon from God, then it should just as easily happen in private, with only the priest and pilgrim present, and not only in group settings where the emotions and expectation of the group play upon our psychology. I have been blessed by priests at such meetings and know a lot of other people who have to without "resting in the spirit". Of course I was not looking for or expecting that experience, I was only looking to be blessed and prayed over. It appears that the experience is mostly a psychological one. This does not preclude the possibility that the "resting in the Spirit" is not real too in some cases. Indeed I can see the possibility of having the Holy Spirit come upon a person in such a way that they are overwhelmed and may fall "resting" in the experience. Your experience may have been a result of the psychological dynamics or it could have been because you were overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. The instanteous nature that you describe however leads me to believe that the psychological aspect was most likely the cause. Even when the experience is genuinely from God, there is a great danger of this being a circus as you observed, which is an atmosphere not appreciated by God. The most extreme manifestation of this experience is the profoundly stupid and silly nonsense called the Toronto Blessing. This so-called "blessing" is an insult to human dignity and an affront to God I would imagine with its drunken behavior of hysterical laughing, crying, leaping around, dancing, and even roaring or barking like a dog as a result of what these people call "a move of the Holy Spirit". These people even use the term "drunk in the Spirit". God does not desire us to be intoxicated with anything, even the Spirit, but rather to be Filled with the Spirit. Drunken behavior as in the Toronto Blessing, or the circus atmosphere that you witnessed, is beneath the dignity of God. We need to stop "seeking" fantastic experiences and instead with sober devotion be seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to fan into flame the gift of the Spirit within us so as to love God, love our neighbor, and to do the work of sanctifying the temporal world -- which is the primary mission of the laity. St. Teresa of Avlia, a great mystic, once said that she would rather have one regular experience than a 1000 mystical ones. Here is an article that gives a good analysis that we should take to heart about things like "resting in the Spirit". The article deals with phenomena like that but especially mentions the Toronto Blessing. The principles of evaluation of the Toronto Blessing, however, apply to how we should evaluate all similar phenomena. The article is called, TORONTO BLESSING (a little treatise) a.k.a. The Anointing, Revival, Father's Blessing, written by Colin B. Donovan, STL God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

What is

Linda

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Question:

Dear Brother;

Years ago I attended an all-night vigil (1st Friday Mass to Mass after midnight for 1st Sat.) First a Padre Pio prayer group orginized it but then the priest that said the masses started doing praying over people during the break between masses and when the Eucharist was exposed. Then the priest when he held his hands over people's heads, the person would sway back and forth and finally fall backwards. Someone always stood behind them to catch and lay them on the floor where they would remain for 5 to 20 min. resting as if asleep. This was called being "slain in the spirit" or "resting in the spirit".

I too, came up for this "blessing" and I don't remember if he prayed or not but suddenly I felt the cold floor of the church beneath my hands as a person standing behind me caught me and laid me on the floor. I don't remember swaying or falling. I thought that I wouldn't be conscience of noises or cold when in this state so when I did hear noises in the church and felt the cold floor I felt that I was faking it or something and got up but was shaky on my feet. Later I was told that this was called "resting in the spirit" and is the lowest form of escasty.

My question is what really did happen to me? I really wonder if my own desires to have this happen to me as it was happening to others is what made me fall. Was this of God or the devil?

(Because of the great amount of people coming not for adoration but to see people "resting in the spirit", the Padre Pio group complained and the pastor (not the priest that said mass) stopped the all-night vigil. He was right and the Padra Pio group was right as it was becoming a circus.)

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+

Dear Linda:

The phenomenon of "resting in the spirit", also called "slain in the spirit" is most likely a psychological event fueled by the desire to experience something and the group dynamics of expectation. It is part and parcel of the improper and almost idolization of emotion and subjective experience typically found among many charistmatics.

From what I can gather, this "resting in the Spirit" is rare outside of an audience. If this is the case, then that is powerful evidence of the psychological group dynamics. If this were truly a genuine phenomenon from God, then it should just as easily happen in private, with only the priest and pilgrim present, and not only in group settings where the emotions and expectation of the group play upon our psychology.

I have been blessed by priests at such meetings and know a lot of other people who have to without "resting in the spirit". Of course I was not looking for or expecting that experience, I was only looking to be blessed and prayed over.

It appears that the experience is mostly a psychological one. This does not preclude the possibility that the "resting in the Spirit" is not real too in some cases. Indeed I can see the possibility of having the Holy Spirit come upon a person in such a way that they are overwhelmed and may fall "resting" in the experience.

Your experience may have been a result of the psychological dynamics or it could have been because you were overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. The instanteous nature that you describe however leads me to believe that the psychological aspect was most likely the cause.

Even when the experience is genuinely from God, there is a great danger of this being a circus as you observed, which is an atmosphere not appreciated by God.

The most extreme manifestation of this experience is the profoundly stupid and silly nonsense called the Toronto Blessing. This so-called "blessing" is an insult to human dignity and an affront to God I would imagine with its drunken behavior of hysterical laughing, crying, leaping around, dancing, and even roaring or barking like a dog as a result of what these people call "a move of the Holy Spirit". These people even use the term "drunk in the Spirit".

God does not desire us to be intoxicated with anything, even the Spirit, but rather to be Filled with the Spirit.

Drunken behavior as in the Toronto Blessing, or the circus atmosphere that you witnessed, is beneath the dignity of God.

We need to stop "seeking" fantastic experiences and instead with sober devotion be seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to fan into flame the gift of the Spirit within us so as to love God, love our neighbor, and to do the work of sanctifying the temporal world -- which is the primary mission of the laity.

St. Teresa of Avlia, a great mystic, once said that she would rather have one regular experience than a 1000 mystical ones.

Here is an article that gives a good analysis that we should take to heart about things like "resting in the Spirit". The article deals with phenomena like that but especially mentions the Toronto Blessing. The principles of evaluation of the Toronto Blessing, however, apply to how we should evaluate all similar phenomena. The article is called, TORONTO BLESSING (a little treatise) a.k.a. The Anointing, Revival, Father's Blessing, written by Colin B. Donovan, STL

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.