Catholic Healing Mass

[Engadget]

Anyone ever gone to one of these? I was raised Catholic and was very sick at the time, and a priest from Ireland was in town conducting one.

 

I am no longer religious, and haven't been for years. However my experience at the healing mass was something I still can't explain to this day.

 

Everyone stood in a line near the altar as the priest walked to each person with a tiny vial of clear liquid, presumably holy water. He would make the sign of the cross while reciting something, then touch the person's forehead.

 

When he got to me I had my eyes closed, when he touched me all of a sudden I lost all control of my body. There was this strange tingling sensation through my body, and I had the sensation of falling, then nothing.

 

I woke to my mother running down the aisle freaked out after seeing me fall, and a couple people catch me. To this day I wonder what actually made that happen. Power of suggestion? Did something in the vial cause me to pass out?

 

Frankly I don't know, but it was strange. I didn't have the illness I had afterward either, which also could have been the power of suggestion.

[quankanne]

according to Father Bob Hogan, a Brother of the Beloved Disciple who recently spoke at a clergy day gathering in our diocese, what you felt was the Holy Spirit moving through you. (one of the priests was curious about people who claimed to be "slain in the Spirit," and this was Padre's response.)

 

nothing woo-woo or freaky, just the Spirit working in your physical being to heal you however needed. Physiologically speaking, your body was relaxed to a point where you started to bobble, maybe even fall out. Pretty cool stuff, the way he explained it. He did point out that some people obviously fall to the power of suggestion or even self-suggest that they're going to "fall out," but others are genuinely hit with the power of the Spirit, so to speak.

 

mostly, I think different people are affect in different ways: Someone could have that experience you had, with a visible physical response, while another would have an inner response, like an opening of heart and conscience, so to speak, that they are moved to do what is in their power to allow healing to take place.

 

just my two cents!

[Enema]

It happens for a lot of reasons:

 

- Peer pressure

- Indoctrination / expectation

- You were very sick

- Power of suggestion / hypnotism / nlp

 

and probably many more.... ever see the holy spirit regrow a limb?

 

In the cases where no charlatans are involved, the things that are "cured" are either entirely mental, could have fixed themselves anyway, or at the least - the sick persons perception of their own level of sickness could be altered.

 

I think it can have positive results, the mind is a powerful thing, though there's certainly no reason to believe anything mystical is happening.

[quankanne]

ever see the holy spirit regrow a limb?

 

physical illness is very closely tied into psychological well-being – remember the saying of several decades ago, about laughter being the best medicine? A positive outlook goes a long way in how someone deals with healing. While it might not cure cancer, it helps a person "heal" in a much different manner because he focuses on whatever is positive.

 

and some of us call it the Holy Spirit, others say it's mysticism and yet others say it's something you can do yourself, but either which way, it's a jumpstart to psychological healing that's tied into that illness.

[pureinheart]

according to Father Bob Hogan, a Brother of the Beloved Disciple who recently spoke at a clergy day gathering in our diocese, what you felt was the Holy Spirit moving through you. (one of the priests was curious about people who claimed to be "slain in the Spirit," and this was Padre's response.)

 

nothing woo-woo or freaky, just the Spirit working in your physical being to heal you however needed. Physiologically speaking, your body was relaxed to a point where you started to bobble, maybe even fall out. Pretty cool stuff, the way he explained it. He did point out that some people obviously fall to the power of suggestion or even self-suggest that they're going to "fall out," but others are genuinely hit with the power of the Spirit, so to speak.

 

mostly, I think different people are affect in different ways: Someone could have that experience you had, with a visible physical response, while another would have an inner response, like an opening of heart and conscience, so to speak, that they are moved to do what is in their power to allow healing to take place.

 

just my two cents!

 

Yep, this is what happened ...BTW this is a wonderful explanation...thanks q...for this being the spirituality forum, there is little that is spiritual here...thanks, your reply gave me hope