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princessleah
Member
| Joined: | Tue Mar 27th, 2007 |
| Location: | Adelaide, Australia |
| Posts: | 19 |
| First Name: | Leah | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Adelaide to Rome, I'd say I'm at about Naples!! |
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Posted: Wed May 2nd, 2007 10:20 pm |
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I was reading a book the other day that mentioned that you cannot 'feel' something spiritual with five senses. It was actually referring to Sanctifying Grace. My question would be, does this extend beyond Sanctifying Grace? Can you not ever, whilst on Earth, 'feel' God's presence?
(Perhaps yet another protestant teaching instilled in my brain from Birth that I must relearn!!) 
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Wed May 2nd, 2007 11:39 pm |
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princessleah wrote: I was reading a book the other day that mentioned that you cannot 'feel' something spiritual with five senses. It was actually referring to Sanctifying Grace. My question would be, does this extend beyond Sanctifying Grace? Can you not ever, whilst on Earth, 'feel' God's presence?
Can you feel love? Can you feel air? Can you feel sunlight? No.
You can feel the tenderness of being loved, the motion of the air, the heat of the sun. But you can't feel what is not physical.
Can you "feel" grace? No. But you can know with absolute certainty that it is there. But you can't feel it with your five senses. You feel it with your emotions. You "feel" it with your "heart".
Can you "feel" God's presence? No. But you can know God is there. I am more certain that God exists than I am that the sun will rise tomorrow. God's existence is a certainty; sunrise is only a probability.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1794 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Wed May 2nd, 2007 11:47 pm |
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Leah, the book’s assertion that one cannot feel anything spiritual with the bodily senses is scientifically correct. However, it is not the whole story.
Yes, you can by analogy “feel” God and even more. You can “taste and see” him, as the Psalm says (34:8). There is a whole tradition of Catholic spiritual doctrine (not dogmatic doctrine, which one “must believe” to be Catholic, but a tradition of a more informal nature) that speaks of the “spiritual senses.” I have books that explain these things, enumerating the “senses” as spiritual sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. They are described as an “overflow” from the spiritual part of the soul as it is filled with the Holy Spirit, invading the corporeal part as a flood inundates the land on either side of a river. It is by a similar mechanism that certain mystics experience ecstasies and raptures when they are “caught up” in prayer to commune intimately with the Most High.
This state of “infusion,” or experiencing God as “poured into” the soul, is usually reserved for very holy souls, but it sometimes happens to ordinary people as well. By contrast, we read in scripture about godless men who worship idols: “They (the idols) have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them (the godless) are like them; so are all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:5–8). Their spiritual senses have been atrophied by sin.
In heaven, scripture says, we will “see God” (cf. 1 John 3:2), for the blessed experience God in plenitude. This is traditionally known as the Beatific Vision. Some holy human beings come close to this even on earth. For this reason, further on in Psalm 115 we read: “The dead (the godless) do not praise the LORD, nor do any that go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore” (vv. 17–18).
To answer your question succinctly: Sanctifying grace plays a major role in every experience of God, beause God does not approach the unrepentant. But the experience is of God, not of grace per se. Yes, it is possible to “feel” God; also to sense him by the other spiritual faculties which correspond analogously to the bodily senses.
I took a look at what is available on the internet on the topic of spiritual senses, and there is a lot of gobbledegook from New Agers and Evangelicals. I found only one reference I thought worthwhile. The text of primary interest is about halfway down, near the picture, but you will find the rest of the article essential to understanding the author’s point and how the spiritual senses fit into his theme.
David
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