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The primary grace of the Charismatic Renewal is
the Pentecostal grace known as "The Baptism in the Spirit",
which brings about a deeper conversion to Christ and releases the Holy
Spirit to work in an individual's life in a more powerful way. This
is often accompanied by the charisms mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles
and the letters of St Paul.
The Baptism in the Spirit is not a sacrament but revitalises and makes real the graces received in the sacraments of initiation, namely baptism and confirmation. At the beginning of the Church, baptism was such a powerful event in the individual's life, that there was no need for a new effusion of the spirit as we need today. In fact, baptism was only conferred on adults after a lengthy catechesis and only then if there were clear signs of conversion working in the person's life. Recent research by scholars Fr Kilian McDonnell OSB and Fr George Montague SM, has shown that what are considered today extraordinary charisms were a normal part of church life until the 8th century, and the experience known in the Charismatic Renewal as ‘the baptism in the spirit' was the normative Christian experience. The findings of these scholars have been summarised in a small booklet called 'Fanning the Flame' produced by the National Service Committee for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the United States. They state in their introduction "We believe that this gift of baptism in the Holy Spirit belongs to the Christian inheritance of all those sacramentally initiated into the church" and "This life in the Holy Spirit is not, therefore, one spirituality among others in the Church. It is the spirituality of the Church." Thus although not everybody would be called upon to take on the same prayer style and songs that characterise the Charismatic Renewal, and which is in part a result of its roots in the American pop/folk culture of the 60's, everyone in the Church is called to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of a life in Christ that this brings, including an openness to the charisms. First published in Goodnews Magazine
Baptism
in the Spirit in the early church
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