(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 11.20.2024).- On the morning of Wednesday, November 20, the Pope presided over the traditional General Audience in St. Peter’s Square. The catechesis associated with this particular audience focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the common good. This was the 14th catechesis in the series dedicated to the Holy Spirit and the Church. Below is the English translation of the catechesis:
***
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In the last three catecheses, we talked about the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit which is implemented in the sacraments, in prayer and by following the example of the Mother of God. But let us listen to what a famous text from Vatican II says: “It is not only through the sacraments and the ministries of the Church that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, ‘allotting his gifts to everyone according as He wills’” (cf. 1 Cor 12:11) (Lumen gentium, 12). We too have personal gifts that the Spirit gives to each one of us.
Therefore, the moment has arrived to talk also about this second way the Holy Spirit works, which is charismatic action. Two elements contribute to defining what charism is. A somewhat difficult word, I will explain it. First, the charism is the gift given “for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7), to be useful to everyone. It is not, in other words, destined principally and ordinarily for the sanctification of the person, but for the “service” of the community (cf. 1 Pt 4:10). This is the first aspect. Secondly, the charism is the gift given “to one”, or “to some” in particular, not to everyone in the same way, and this is what distinguishes it from sanctifying grace, from the theological virtues and from the sacraments, which instead are the same and common to all. The charism is given to a specific person or community. It is a gift that God gives you.
The Council explains this too. The Holy Spirit, it says, “distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the words of the Apostle: ‘The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit’” (1 Cor 12:7).
The charisms are the “jewels” or the ornaments that the Holy Spirit distributes to make the Bride of Christ more beautiful. One can thus understand why the Conciliar text ends with the following exhortation: “These 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” (LG 12).
Pope Benedict XVI affirmed: “Anyone who considers the history of the post-conciliar era can recognize the process of true renewal, which often took unexpected forms in living movements and made almost tangible the inexhaustible vitality of the holy Church”. And this is the charism given to a group, through a person.
We must rediscover the charisms, because this ensures that the promotion of the laity, and of women in particular, is understood not only as an institutional and sociological fact, but also in its biblical and spiritual dimension. Indeed, the laity are not the least, no, they laity are not a form of external collaborator or auxiliary troops of the clergy, no! They have their own charisms and gifts with which to contribute to the mission of the Church.
Let us add another thing: when we talk about the charisms, we must immediately dispel a misunderstanding: that of identifying them with spectacular or extraordinary gifts and capabilities; instead, they are ordinary gifts – each one of us has his or her own charism – that assume extraordinary value if inspired by the Holy Spirit and embodied with love in situations of life. Such an interpretation of the charism is important, because many Christians, when they hear talk of charisms, experience sadness or disappointment, as they are convinced that they do not possess any, and feel they are excluded or second-class Christians. No, they are not second-class Christians, no, each person has his or her own personal, and also community charism. Saint Augustine responded to these in his time with a very eloquent comparison: ‘If you love,’ he told his people, “If you love, it is not nothing that you have: if you love unity, whoever has anything in that unity has it also for you. In the body, the eye alone sees; but is it for itself alone that the eye sees? It sees both for the hand and the foot, and for all the other members” [St. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 32,8.]
This reveals the secret of why charity is defined by the Apostle as “a still more excellent way” (1 Cor 12, 31): it makes me love the Church, or the community in which I live and, in unity, all charisms, not just some, are “mine”, just as “my” charisms, little though they may seem, belong to all and are for the good of all. Charity multiplies charisms; it makes the charism of one, of one individual person, the charism of all. Thank you!
Thank you for reading our content. If you would like to receive ZENIT’s daily e-mail news, you can subscribe for free through this link.
