Tongues

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

What is speaking in tongues? Do people still do it? Is it normal? I know Pentecostals say they speak in tongues but it doesn't seem legit since they can't understand each other.

[cappie]

Both ordinary (Isaiah 11:1-3) and extraordinary gifts (1 Cor. 12-14) of the Holy Spirit are active in the Church today. They are gifts to the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 799, 800) says, “Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world...They are a wonderfully rich grace for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ, provided they really are genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit and are used in full conformity with authentic promptings of this same Spirit, that is, in keeping with charity, the true measure of all charisms.”

However, “Extraordinary gifts are not to be sought after, nor are the fruits of apostolic labor to be presumptuously expected from their use; but judgment as to their genuinity and proper use belongs to those who are appointed leaders in the Church, to whose special competence it belongs, not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to that which is good.“Lumen gentium (12)

Concerning the discernment of these gifts, the Catechism goes on to say “that discernment of charisms is always necessary. No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church’s shepherds. “Their office [is] not indeed to extinguish the Sprit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good,” so that all the diverse and complementary charisms work together “for the common good.”

For further reading on this subject, I recommend the following:

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/GIFTS.TXT"]http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/GIFTS.TXT[/url]

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/charismatic_renewal.htm"]http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/c...ic_renewal.htm[/url]