Seeking the supernatural, and finding it in our Catholic faith

If I may be so bold, I would like to share the following....

Several years ago I had an interesting discussion with a group of Catholic teenagers. I became aware that some of them were dabbling in things that were "not of God". In trying to understand why they were doing that, I came to realize that they were simply looking for an experience of the supernatural. I started to share about the supernatural as it relates to all the wonders and miracles of God and asked them why they didn't seek those things out instead of things that were clearly against their faith. I was astounded to hear that they knew little or nothing about all the miracles experienced in the Catholic Church, including the miracle that happens on the altar every Sunday in the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The bottom line was that they didn't know about so many supernatural experiences that are part of our Catholic history because the adults in their lives, including Catholic parents, relatives, priests, sisters, youth ministers, etc...didn't share that with them.

As a result of this discussion, I held a special night for the teens. I brought together adults from the parish who were willing to share about some of the special things that happened in their lives, and we also talked about the lives of the saints. We covered topics such as Eucharistic miracles, miraculous healings, the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, saints levitating, visions, inner locutions,etc... Once the teens heard this they were, to be honest, a bit angry with the adults. Why would Catholic adults, whom they loved and respected, hold back sharing such wonderful things with them?

Well, we all know as Catholic adults, that we shouldn't look for signs and wonders, but the reality is, that our God uses the ORDINARY and the EXTRAORDINARY to share His love with us. We should not be closed, or afraid, of the extraordinary blessings and experiences that God gives to us. We should use discernment and wisdom and knowledge in assessing these experiences. As Catholics, we can get a wealth of church sanctioned information on how God uses the extraordinary by reading the lives of the Saints.

We, as adult Catholics, can downplay these supernatural experiences and talk about them as something that happened long ago in the times of the Bible, or centeries ago in the lives of St. Francis ( Jesus on the crucifix talked to him) and St. Joan of Arc (she heard the voice of St. Catherine of Siena and St. Michael the Archangel). We have to realize that God continues to touch people in special ways "just because" that is what He wants to do!! Who are we to say He can't give someone a vision or speak to someone with inner locutions?

We can be so "modern" and so scientific and psychological about all of this in the 21st century. As a result, some of our young people, who have a natural desire for the supernatural, given to them by our God, are seeking out supernatural experiences elsewhere because they have no clue that all they could ever want is found right here in our Catholic faith and in Jesus Christ. I think many adults in our church are hiding their light under a bushel basket and are not sharing special experiences becasue they are afraid that others will think they are off balance or a "Jesus freak".

As long as we, as Catholic adults, keep our faith secret, or make it so private that we aren't even comfortable sharing how God is working in our own lives, then we can expect kids to go off the path of righteousness onto a very dark path in search of supernatural experiences. They will seek until they find what they are looking for and some of them will be seriously damaged by what they encounter because it won't be of God. Some day I believe Jesus will ask us what we have done to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ (all of it, not just some of it) to those we encounter, espeically our young people who need our leadership in today's world.

My challenge to all who read this today is to share your faith - all of it, not just the ordinary parts of it, with people you encounter. Let our young people know how vast and wonderful and extraordinary our faith is. Get excited about the Eucharist and how Jesus makes Himself present to us at every Mass! Get excited not only about the ordinary ways God works, but the extraordinary ways as well! I'm not saying that you should share without prayerful discernment, but be open to how the Holy Spirit is calling you to share, and with whom. Young people, and all people really, listen more deeply first to priests and sisters and bishops, and take their words more seriously and more quickly as facts because of the special roles they have in the church, so we have to pray that they have the courage to speak out and boldly proclaim the extraordinary blessings God gives us every day.

...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!