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Baptism in the Spirit is mentioned in all four gospels and in the acts of the Apostles - Matthew 3;11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:5 and 11:16 |
John the Baptist told his followers that though he baptized with water, the one who was to come after him, “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matt 3:11; Luke 3:16
“Often we do not allow the Spirit we have received (in Baptism and Confirmation) to be as active in us as He wants to be. To use an analogy, He is like chocolate syrup poured into a glass of milk – it goes to the bottom of the glass until stirred up. But when it is stirred up, it permeates the milk and transforms it into something else.”
“We can learn how to “stir up” the Spirit – and how to receive more of Him – from Jesus in the Gospels. The Lord teaches us that first we must thirst for God. We must desire more and more of His Spirit. Then we must believe that Jesus is faithful to His promises and will indeed give us His Holy Spirit. Finally, we must ask God for the Holy Spirit. We must pray with perseverance, asking, seeking, knocking, believing that ‘everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened’ (Luke 11:10). We can follow the example of the early Church by praying for the Spirit in union with Mary and the apostles as they did at the first Pentecost (see Acts 1:12-14).”
“What can we expect when we are ‘baptized with the Holy Spirit’? We can expect an immediate or gradual experience of deeper union with God, our loving Father and with Jesus, our Lord and Friend; a fresh appreciation of Scripture; a greater love for others and a desire for Christian fellowship; the fuller presence in our lives of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, and more (see Galatians 5:22-23); the reception of one or more of the charismatic gifts of the Spirit such as discernment, service, prophecy, praying in tongues, healing (see 1 Corinthians 12-14). This gift of new fullness of the Holy Spirit, I believe, is the grace of our age. ‘Ask and it will be given to you!’ ”
excerpts from the late Fr. Harold Cohen,S.J. (emphasis added)
What is
“Resting in the Spirit” (sometimes called “Slain in the Spirit) ?
Resting in the Spirit or
Slain in the Spirit is an experience of intense awareness of God’s peace
that involves an ecstatic concentration on God’s presence and usually a shut
down of voluntary movements like standing or speech for a short time, with only
a minimal awareness of outside movements and sound. Some people “rest in the
Spirit” by lying down involuntarily, but some people experience this same
ecstatic peaceful encounter of God’s presence while sitting up or standing.
This is a time for fully yielding to the Lord for Him to lovingly heal or call
to us in a special way. Many people having this meditative personal encounter
with the Lord experience healing, joy, peace, and love with manifestations of
serenity, tears of healing, tears of joy, light laughter in the joy of the Lord,
peace and confidence, and a desire to share this experience with others.
History of CCR Supporting Statements What is Baptism in the Spirit? Life in the Spirit Seminars “Be Fire!” Articles in Acadiana Catholic
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