WITH THE CHARISMATICS
Last night I was at a charismatic prayer group I have gratefully attended a few times. Toward the end one of the members had a heavy burden, and we all gathered around to pray for it being removed from the person. I wanted to suggest we say a Hail Mary, which I remembered reading is particularly effective against such problems as the one we were praying against. But the others started praying as in tongues, so I joined in after a fashion, saying the Hail Mary but in a kind of garbled, unrecognizable way, so that it blended in with the other wordless voices satisfactorily. My “prayer” over, the others were still continuing. So I repeated mine, and again, and again. I’m not aware of having the tongues gift, or inclination: the nearest I come is an emotional ‘ooooh’ and ‘ohhhhh” once in a while as the others do it, and maybe a somewhat reserved ‘Yes Lord’ once in a while. It’s not much, but it’s all that I’ve got.
