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Zosan
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| Joined: | Mon Dec 10th, 2007 |
| Location: | Biloxi, Mississippi USA |
| Posts: | 48 |
| First Name: | Norm | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Roman Catholic - Worldwide Church of God - Assemblies of ... |
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Posted: Wed Feb 27th, 2008 09:12 pm |
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HELP! A close spiritual friend told me recently that I need to look into "inner locution" in response to a question I raised recently. Let this be my first stop in my research of this topic. Any help is deeply appreciated.
Norm Cyr
aka Zosan
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JillD
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Visalia, California USA |
| Posts: | 600 |
| First Name: | Jill | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | heathen, EvFree, Messianic, LC-MS, Catholic 2007 |
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Posted: Wed Feb 27th, 2008 11:13 pm |
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Doing a google search of "inner locution" gave me an article about apparitions of Mary. Sort of interesting... This is from that site:
Here are the methods of delivery of the apparitions:- The Inner Locution: messages given in very clear words which are not formed in the mind of the person, but the heart, while the mind of the person is at rest.
- The Exterior Locution: Like an inner locution, except the person hears an audible voice through the ear.
- The Imaginative Locution: God somehow manages to suspend reality and, using images that make sense to that person, infuses wisdom into the soul. This type of vision is more like a "wide awake dream" while the real world disappears.
- The Intellecutal Vision: This would be more accurately described as the feeling of having a new found purpose after a supernatural encounter. it has more to do with advancing a goal than actually seeing anything.
http://www.geocities.com/rebornempowered/ApparitionsofMary.htm
____________________
"The alternative to obedience is to turn the conversation into a cacophony of Christians making it up as they go along." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus
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David W. Emery
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
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| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Feb 28th, 2008 01:36 am |
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May I ask what was the question you raised? This might give us a clue as to the relevance of locutions in the first place. And it might also give us a clue as to which category your question here belongs in, so we could have a chance to be informative.
David
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Zosan
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| Joined: | Mon Dec 10th, 2007 |
| Location: | Biloxi, Mississippi USA |
| Posts: | 48 |
| First Name: | Norm | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Roman Catholic - Worldwide Church of God - Assemblies of ... |
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Posted: Thu Feb 28th, 2008 05:13 am |
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Jill,
Thank you for the research. This is a good first step for me.
David,
I related this story to my friend before she advised me to look into inner locution.
I have a computer client, Ethel, who called me about a simple problem a few weeks ago. I resolved the problem quickly and decided to stop by an adoration chapel on my way home. Part of my prayers during adoration concerned God's will for my life. When I left adoration I discoved my client had called me back and left a message on my cell phone. I was close by her office so I returned after speaking to her about her computer problems. While driving I asked the question "so you want me to be a computer specialist?" The answer I received was "I want you to tell Ethel she needs to draw closer to me." All of a sudden I felt like Moses being asked to return to Egypt! I was to say what? I always knew Ethel to be Christian, but I was not comfortable with this idea. She and I have not discussed our faith before. I had no idea how she would respond and the anxiety of telling her she needs to draw closer to the Lord caught me totally off guard.
After a few mintues with her I told her of my experience at adoration. I told her she needed to draw closer to our Lord. She told me she wondered why I would be visiting with her that day. She had a feeling that I would share something important with her, but she did not have any idea what that might be. She confirmed with me her recent desire to strenghten her relationship with the Lord and her pastor had recently told his congregation that everyone needed to draw closer as well. She thanked me for sharing with her and I sighed a big sigh of relief. It was very difficult for me, but I realized it indeed was the Lord's will that I share his statement with her.
A few days later my anxiety started to peak a bit when I thought of being in line at a Burger King at 12:00 p.m. with customers in front of me. When my turn to order came up I felt myself being urged to tell the total stranger behind the counter that they needed to draw closer to the Lord. I could see the puzzled look on the young ladies face as she replied "do you want fries with that?"
This is what has lead me to inquire about inner locutions.
Please post this inquiry on the correct forum. I will attempted to get it right the next time.
Norm
aka Zosan
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David W. Emery
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Posted: Thu Feb 28th, 2008 02:09 pm |
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OK, now we have a clearer picture of what you are speaking of here, Norm. I have moved the thread to the Charisms area because what you are speaking of here is what is technically referred to as a private revelation. Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, in his famous manual The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology, refers to “extraordinary divine phenomena” and states: “There are two kinds of such phenomena: those of the intellectual, and those of the psycho-physiological order. Then of the “divine intellectual phenomena” he further classifies: “These may be reduced to two main ones: private revelations and the charisms.” Hence my choice of category. (Emphasis is in the original text, as also below.)
At the outset, I need to advise you that the information Jill provided, while technically accurate, is located in the context of an Evangelical website which features a strong adherence to Dispensationalism and Rapture. The author of the piece has evidently done a lot of research and has represented correctly many individual facts but has his own private twist as to how they should be interpreted.
To proceed: A locution is a verbal message or “word.” Again Tanquerey: “Supernatural words are manifestations of the divine thought conveyed to the exterior or to the interior senses, or directly to the intelligence. They are called auricular when they come to the ear in the form of sound-waves, miraculously produced; imaginative when such manifestations are directed to the imagination; intellectual when addressed to the intellect.”
Fr. Auguste Poulain, SJ, in his book, The Graces of Interior Prayer, amplifies this sparse description:
Imaginative locations [like exterior or auricular locutions] are also composed of words… but they are received without the assistance of the ear. They can be said to be received b the imaginative sense. They, with those that come after them, are included in the term interior locutions.
Intellectual locutions. This is a simple communication of thought without words, and consequently without the use of any definite language. “It is our Lord’s will” (says St. Teresa [of Avila]) “…that the soul should have some knowledge of what passes in Heaven; and I think that, as the blessed there without speech understand one another… so it is here” Life, 27.12).
The human mind itself sometimes dispenses with words. For when we are writing it often happens that we say: I cannot find words that express my thought exactly.
Both good and bad angel can speak to us intellectually, but on condition that God intervenes to give us, momentarily, at any rate, the faculty to understand them. Otherwise they can only, in this world, act upon our bodies or imaginations.
Poulain goes on to describe a specific phenomenon, as described by St. John of the Cross. He says, “He gives the name of intellectual “successive locutions” to speech that would be designated with greater clearness as apparent speech. It is that which is produced by the mind, either by its own activity alone or with a real foundation, defining and arranging certain truths that God has revealed to us or other seeming truths presented to us by the devil. In reality, God says nothing, but this is how the illusion arises: In certain cases the mind “puts words and reasonings together so much to the purpose, and with such facility and clearness discovers by reflection things it knew not before [or that it had forgotten], that it seems to itself as if it was not itself which did so, but some third person which addressed it interiorly, reasoning, answering, and informing.… Thus the mind addresses itself to itself as if to some other person” (Ascent of Mount Carmel, 2.29). This, of course, is a false or illusory locution, which as St. John goes on to point out, is very dangerous.
You say that your encounter went as follows: “I asked the question.… The answer I received was.…” This does not indicate that you heard “words,” but perhaps you did. Either way, it is not a rare phenomenon. I am not here to judge what your particular experience was, whether natural or supernatural, a locution or an inspiration or whatever. That is between you and your confessor or spiritual director.
The only thing I will say is that what you have related so far shows no harm done, although some such encounters can be imprudent. God is never imprudent, so an “urge,” as you call it, can in some instances be not grace-filled but illusory — a deception of the devil following a genuine encounter earlier with the Lord. The devil loves to ape what God does so as to lead people astray.
No further personal details should be treated on the open forum. If you have additional questions you believe I can help you with, you can PM me. You should, in any case, take counsel as mentioned above.
David
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Zosan
Member
| Joined: | Mon Dec 10th, 2007 |
| Location: | Biloxi, Mississippi USA |
| Posts: | 48 |
| First Name: | Norm | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Roman Catholic - Worldwide Church of God - Assemblies of ... |
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Posted: Thu Feb 28th, 2008 02:49 pm |
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BINGO! Thank you very much for this guidance David. This is just what I was looking for, but did not know where to look. This lent is my first lent attending daily mass along with adoration when I am out and about. The experiece was totally new to me and I did not know where to turn or who to ask about it.
I will PM you with questions as they arise as suggested. My dear spiritual friend advised me some time back to look into St. John of the Cross. I have his collected works and found The Ascent To Mount Carmel, The Dark Night Of The Soul and The Dark Night Of The Spirit to be very interesting to say the least. I have St. Teresa of Avila as well, but have not cracked the book yet.
In Christ We Are One
Norm
aka Zosan
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