Pastor's Corner
May 20, 2018
Spiritual gifts (“charisms” in Greek) are given through the Holy Spirit to us at baptism. They are all supernatural, meaning that we do something (help someone achieve a goal, listen to and encourage someone, write a story, teach someone something) – and God does something morein the person beyond what we could accomplish alone. Some are miraculous, and so when we read of the apostles, saints, and other Catholics (or validly baptized non-Catholic Christians) expelling demons, curing the sick or even raising the dead – we’re hearing accounts of certain charisms in action.
The Second Vatican Council teaches, “charisms, whether they be the more outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation for they are perfectly suited to and useful for the needs of the Church.” (Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 12)
Charisms are not natural talents we inherit them from our parents. They don’t make us holy and are not necessary for salvation. Thus, St. Thomas Aquinas, OP called them “gratuitous graces.” They are given to us for the benefit of others, and in this way Jesus continues his ministry in the world today through us, His Body. Because they have the potential to change people’s lives and open them to God, they are excellent tools for evangelization. They are also the means by which we can discern what God wants us to do with our lives.
So here’s a quick way to identify activities in your life in which God may be working through a charism He’s given you:
1) What do you do that helps others(directly or indirectly) that you enjoy, that energizes you, that may even make you feel closer to God? This is a subjective sign of a charism.
2) What do you do that helps others that also seems to be particularly effective? This is one objective sign of a charism as the Holy Spirit works in those we are helping.
3) What do you do to help others and they seem to give you perhaps unexpectedly positive feedback? We often don’t pay enough attention to this, but it may be a sign that they’ve experienced God at work through what you’ve done.