Catholic Publications / Charisms of the Holy Spirit
“There are special graces, called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "gratuitous gift," "benefit." "favor freely given" or "gift of grace".
Catechism of the Catholic Church #2003
Charisms of the Holy Spirit: Tools for the New Evangelization
With Rescript (Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat)
by The Most Reverend Leonard Paul Blair, STD Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn.
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Discover your charisms by completing the "Charism Inventory for Catholics". It's simple. Just respond to statements that best describe your life experiences. It's not a test, it's a survey and after you complete it, you'll be surprised to learn what God reveals to you! After you total your answers you can read about your charisms to learn the following:
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What is it?
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How does Jesus express it?
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Why is it important?
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What could a parish or community do to call it forth and/or support it?
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Scripture & Catechism Passages:
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Caution: The No Sin Zone
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Author’s Notes:
What is a Charism?
CHARISM:
"A spiritual gift or charism is an endowment or extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit. These are the supernatural graces which individual Christians need to fulfill the mission of the Church."
Charisms of The Holy Spirit: Spiritual Gifts For Disciples on Mission
The Catechism of the Catholic Church opens the chapter on the Holy Spirit by telling us, “Life in the Spirit fulfills the vocation of man….It is graciously offered as salvation” It further details the importance of “living in the Spirit” by saying, “Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation.”
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We can conclude two things from these statements. First, none of us can be fulfilled in our vocation unless we “live in the Spirit” and secondly, none of us can be on our journey to our Heavenly Father until we learn about and practice obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit. If indeed "Life in the Spirit" is offered as salvation and the Spirit’s promptings help us on our way to heaven, then every pastoral plan, every pastoral team, every ministry, every minister, and every parishioner, every person, must not only know this but must also live out the truths found only in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. These truths, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, are given to us for two purposes, for our personal holiness and for our God-ordained ‘mission”.
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The Church proclaims that the Holy Spirit enriches the entire Church with different charisms, also called spiritual gifts. As St. Paul tells us that every Christian receives these Charisms of the Holy Spirit when he writes, “to each is given a manifestation of the Spirit for some purpose.” The purpose is to equip us to reveal Jesus to others. These charisms or manifestations of the Spirit are infused into each baptized person’s life. Our charisms are meant to be used intentionally to manifest Jesus to others, yet most Christians are unaware of their charisms. The work of discovering one’s charisms, learning about them, talking about them, and using them intentionally, is exciting and life-changing for many. That is what the Catholic Spiritual Gifts Book titled Charisms of the Holy Spirit: Tools for the New Evangelization is all about. And this is what the Spiritual Gifts Retreat titled “In Search of Buried Treasure” is all about. The retreat is typically a full day experience or can be broken into smaller segments of time.
The book has a Rescript (Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat) by The Most Reverend Leonard Paul Blair, STD Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn. In it you will learn about your God-given Catholic Spiritual Gifts - YOUR CHARISMS. This book will guide you through the steps to discern, learn about, and use your Charisms of the Holy Spirit in your family, your workplace, your community, your ministry, and your parish.
Pastors and pastoral leaders will find this book and other catholic discipleship resources invaluable in helping parishioners discern, learn about and use their charisms of the holy spirit catholic knowledge in parish ministries. It outlines the charism of the holy spirit discernment process and once complete, the book serves as an interactive parish resource to continually guide pastors and pastoral leaders in calling forth their parishioners according to their spiritual gifts.