From the beginning of its arrival into the Catholic Church in the 1960’s, its leadership have always insisted that Charismatic renewal is not new; indeed it is as old as Christianity itself and can be seen at its inception on the first Pentecost day. Nor can anyone dispute their claims, when even such a notable scholar as Monsignor Ronald Knox has studied in particular Charismatic spirituality in the early Church in his book ‘Enthusiasm.’
Monsignor Ronald Knox was an influential English Catholic priest, theologian, and author. Born on February 17, 1888, in Kibworth, Leicestershire, England, he passed away on August 24, 1957, in Mells, Somerset, England. Knox is renowned for his translation of the Bible, known as the Knox Bible, and for his extensive work in religious and literary fields. His contributions to detective fiction and his “Ten Commandments” for detective stories are also notable. Ordained initially as a priest of the Church of England, Knox converted to Catholicism and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1918.
The three thousand or more converts to Christianity on the first Pentecost, and the thousands who would soon follow them who were inspired by and animated by the Holy Spirit, would at least be indistinguishable from contemporary Charismatics after they were baptised in the Spirit. However, there was a difference, although this might not be immediately apparent. It was not just a racial difference because ninety-nine percent of the first converts were Jews, but it was because they were Jews.
It was because they were faithful and devout Jews who had come from all over the Empire to celebrate the anniversary of the day when God had given his law to Moses on Mount Sinai. They would therefore, not only have known their Bible inside out, many would have known it off by heart. Furthermore, they knew the inner meaning of God’s word, his promise first made to Abraham and the further promises made to Prophets, Priests and Kings. They knew, too, and were waiting for the time when all would be brought to completion.
They yearned for the day when their Messiah would come to embody these promises and inaugurate a new world in which their God would rule where other gods and tyrants had ruled before.
There was another difference that sadly and all too often distinguished them from their modern counterparts. The first Charismatics, as we have already seen, had been from birth committed to a daily timetable for prayer that invariably characterized their daily lives, come hell or high water. This commitment did not end with their conversion but was enhanced by it, enabling them to show and show repeatedly their daily commitment to God in prayer. And furthermore they sought and continued to seek him, not because of the special graces that they seemed to experience, but whether they received them or not.
The enthusiasm that inspired them and the psychological buzz was never seen as an end in itself but as a means. It was a means that, when harnessed to a strict daily timetable for prayer, naturally led to mystical prayer and to the union with their Messiah, now their Risen Lord, that even the most insightful of their mentors had never envisaged.
However, they were not only endowed with an extraordinary Biblical knowledge that would enable them to construct the whole spiritual edifice and fabric of the early Church but with a vital and living faith in the Risen Christ in whom they now lived and moved and had their being. It was natural that they all wanted to know more and in detail about the Messiah whom the first Apostles and the first disciples had come to know and love as Joshua bar Joseph. Those who had known their Messiah in person did not disappoint them.
They were not just told story after story about their saviour but they were taught how to meditate daily on his life, death and Resurrection. This meditation was naturally enhanced by their biblical knowledge and the realisation therefore that the man on whose life they meditated was not just the Messiah but the living God himself into whose life and love they were called to participate. They were taught how to use the time they had already been taught to use for vocal prayer, to use for meditation on the life, death and Resurrection of their Saviour. Their commitment to daily vocal prayer then was now extended to their daily meditation and therefore to the contemplation which is its natural consummation. The exciting new enthusiasm for the Good News that they had just heard and the inspired fervour that they experienced was not a passing fad that would soon fade away.
The truth was that the same Holy Spirit who filled them with his presence showed them that this news fulfilled all they had been waiting for and more. The Messiah had not only come but was both man and God. He had already been raised from the dead and was with them now and to the end of time. The giving of the old law to Moses that they had come to celebrate would be superseded by a new law, the love of God. This new law was not written on stone to travel with them through the desert in a tent or a tabernacle, but it would be written on their hearts with the love they had already seen shining out of St Peter and the first Apostles, just as new converts would soon see this love shining out of them.
Once they were baptised this love would raise them up more and more fully into their new risen Lord. Then, to the measure that they were sufficiently purified, they would find their new home in him, wherein, with, and through him, they would come to love the Father who sent him.
In the context of Charismatic Catholicism, ‘Baptism in the Spirit’ refers to an experience of heightened awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. It is not a sacrament like baptism or confirmation but is seen as an awakening to the life and graces already bestowed through these sacraments. This experience can manifest in various ways and is considered a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit, leading to a renewal of faith and spiritual vigor.
They were, of course, blessed because they had to hand many saintly men and women, including the Apostles, who had known Christ personally. They would teach the new converts to come to know and love him as he once was, too, so that his love would draw them up into Christ as he is now. This meant that they would never in the future be alone and at all times have access to the love of God through Christ. The initial burst of fervour that enabled them to come to know and love him in their daily meditation soon led them into contemplation. Here, they had the help of others who had gone before them to help them understand the inner mystical purification that would prepare them for the close and intimate union with their Messiah.
The very essence of the Church, which is not primarily to be seen in buildings made of bricks and mortar but in Christ’s new Mystical body made of men and women filled with his love, was already in place, albeit like a mustard seed. However, as they all began to grow into Christ, they not only shared in his contemplation of his Father but in the fruits of this contemplation that would gradually transform them as it had transformed Christ while he was on earth. In this way, their faith would deepen to flower in love, a quality of love pouring out of them that the world had never seen before.
It was these fruits of contemplation that came through love that would enable them to convert a pagan world that lived in darkness into a new Christian world that lived in light – in the light of the Holy Spirit who would make his home in all who would receive him.
