Another trip

Last night I was able to take another trip with my friends from the Catholic Student Association, this time to Steubenville, ohio, for a Festival of Praise. It was definitely a wonderful experience as we praised alongside hundreds of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and one could feel the Holy Spirit moving in the room. That, I might add, is not something that I say with a light heart.

You see I went to a Pentecostal church for a group called Chi Alpha in undergrad. A lot of times I felt something, but I could never definitively say whether or not it was the Holy Spirit. When it comes to all things charismatic, I am at heart a skeptic of great proportions. I take the advice of 1 John to test the spirits at all times as a measure of common sense, as well as testing if it is my own emotion at work instead of something genuine. Some would call it a deliberate hardening of the heart, but I prefer to think of such things as a method of defense against being led astray.

Yet last night, I felt the Holy Spirit, and as I looked around, we all were so joyous and moved. Further, while I did hear tongues once or twice, they ebbed and flowed with the actual message being preached between songs and would become a soft murmur so as not to overpower it, something that I feel leant credence to what occurred.

I did not go forward to be prayed over in the chapel when it was offered for us to do so, even though others in my group did. However as the rest of us sat there in the pews waiting on them, I found myself rising to my feet to go out into the cold. I couldn't sit there and watch, it felt far too voyeuristic, like I was seeing deep into people's faith and vulnerabilities. So instead I spoke in the snow on my phone, and marveled at the beauty of a snow covered creation.

I guess I'll wrap things up for this entry with a small piece of food for thought. We humans thrive upon mystery and at its core, almost every religion has its mystery. My faith is known as a mystery religion by some scholars, and I think it is rather apt; is not the greatest mystery of all to try and understand and love a God who died for your salvation?