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Question: Why don't Catholics speak in tongues after their
confirmation, like people did in the book of Acts? Jesus is the same
yesterday, now, and forever. |
Answer: Some Catholics do, as the Catechism of the Catholic
Church makes clear in paragraph 2003:
Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies
and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit
grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate
in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ,
the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the
different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces,
also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and
meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit." Whatever their
character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of
miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying
grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at
the service of charity which builds up the Church.
However, as St. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30: "Are all
apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do
all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all
interpret?" The answer to this question for Paul, as for today is, "No."
In the Church today, as in Paul's day, " there are varieties of gifts,
but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same
Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who
inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of
the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the
utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according
to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another
gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles,
to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between
spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues. All these are inspired by one and the same
Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1
Corinthians 12:4-11).
It is a tradition of men, invented quite recently in Pentecostal
circles, that absolutely every believer has to speak in tongues. The New
Testament does not teach this. Tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit
which may be given in Confirmation, and sometimes is. It is not a
gift that must be given.
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