Now that you are confirmed, you might be asking the question, “What now? What does the Church expect of me?” You are ready to go out and be witnesses to Christ in the world, to help build up the Kingdom of God on earth, and to help Jesus prepare the New Creation for all mankind. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
a. The Holy Spirit provides us with a number of very powerful tools to do the work of witnessing. These are supernaturally-empowered gifts, and they are called charisms after the Greek word for “love” (charis) (newadvent.org).
b. There are gifts that we are given to give away and gifts that we are given to keep.
i. The gifts we are given to keep are the traditional sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit:
1. Wisdom: The greatest of the gifts. A gift which perfects the virtue of charity by enabling us to discern God and divine things in their ultimate principles, and by giving us a relish for them. Wisdom embodies all the other gifts; it is different from understanding in that we see the ultimate causes of things, and not just insight. Wisdom is also love of truth.
2. Understanding: A gift which, under the enlightening action of the Holy Ghost, gives us a deep insight into revealed truths, without however giving a comprehension of the mysteries themselves.
3. Counsel: Perfects the virtue of prudence by making us judge promptly and rightly, as by a sort of supernatural intuition, what must be done, especially in difficult cases.
4. Fortitude: Perfects the virtue of Fortitude, by imparting to the will an impulse and an energy which enable it to do great things joyfully and fearlessly despite all obstacles.
5. Knowledge: A gift which, by illuminating action of the Holy Ghost, perfects the virtue of faith, and thereby gives us a knowledge of created things in their relations to God. The object of this gift is created things insofar as they lead us to God. Understanding is about revealed truths; knowledge about creatures (example of dogs in Barrow).
6. Piety: Perfects the virtue of religion by begetting in our hearts a filial affection for God and a tender devotion towards those persons and things consecrated to Him, in order to make us fulfill our religious duties with a holy joy.
7. Fear of the Lord: a gift which inclines our will to a filial respect for God, removes us from sin, displeasing to Him, and gives us hope in the power of His help.
ii. These gifts are for the sake of our relationship with God, our growth in Christ-likeness, and our development into eternal glory.
c. The gifts we are given to give away are what are traditionally termed the “charisms of the Holy Spirit.” St. Paul enumerates a number of them in the famous passage 1 Corinthians 12:4-12. St. Paul lists the expression of wisdom, the expression of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, mighty deeds (miracles), prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues.
d. The difference, for example, between the charism of wisdom and the gift of the Holy Spirit of wisdom is that the charism is wisdom for the sake of others, e.g., somebody comes to you with his problem and you help solve it, while the gift of the Holy Spirit is for your own illumination in understanding the ways of God.
i. For the rest of the talk, when I use the word “charism,” I mean the gifts we are given to give away.
ii. CCC 799: “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.”
iii. Charisms are for the sake of the building up of the Church, for the spread of the Gospel and for her internal life and health.
iv. Charisms are different from natural talents. “Charisms are not ‘in-born’ or inherited from our parents, but are given to us by the Holy Spirit, whom we received through the sacraments of initiation-through Baptism and Confirmation. Charisms are also supernaturally empowered. They are focused outward and enable Christians to bear results for the Kingdom of God above and beyond our normal human abilities.” (Sherry Weddell, The Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory)
v. So charisms are gifts that are “focused outward” and that “enable [us] to bear results for the Kingdom of God above and beyond our normal human abilities.”
vi. There are many charisms, nobody knows how many, and not all of them are obviously spiritual. Administration can be a charism, as is service, craftsmanship, and giving.
e. Examples. One of the charisms is writing, and it is believed that J.R.R. Tolkien possessed this gift. If you’ve read the Lord of the Rings, you know that the word “God” is not mentioned once. Yet people have been converted to the Catholic faith by reading his books. How is this possible? The beauty that Tolkien conveys, and the hope-he was writing during the Depression and World War II, dark times-have moved people so deeply that they wanted to investigate Tolkien’s life. People would find out that he was Catholic, and want what he had.
i) In other words, it’s not something that Tolkien did or did not put in his books himself; it’s the action of the Holy Spirit through Tolkien’s writing that makes it a powerful charism.
f. Another example: Saint Catherine of Siena possessed extraordinary charisms. In one famous encounter, she was to meet with a wealthy local man who was carrying on many vendettas against other people in town. The Saint arrived late (nobody kept this man waiting), and when she finally met with him, all she did was look him in the eye. The man stammered and said that he guessed he could drop one of the feuds. She kept looking at him until he agreed to drop all of his feuds. This is an example of the charism of evangelization, and it was so powerful in Saint Catherine that she didn’t even have to speak for the Holy Spirit to work through her.
g. A third example: Servant of God Dorothy Day likely possessed a charism of voluntary poverty. For her, working with and living with the poor was a way of life that brought her into solidarity with the people she served. She was given the grace to live a life of Apostolic poverty without unduly suffering the loss of material goods and money. This enabled her, and the Holy Spirit through her, to do more good for the poor. The Dorothy Day House in Moorhead is part of her legacy, where staff live, work, and eat with the homeless men.
h. There are lifestyle charisms like voluntary poverty, giving, faith, and celibacy; there are creative charisms like music, craftsmanship, and writing; there are practical charisms like administration, helps, and service; there are intercessory charisms like healing and intercessory prayer; and there are knowledge charisms like wisdom, knowledge, teaching, and discernment of spirits.
i. All Baptized and Confirmed Catholics are given one or more charisms. CCC 951: “Within the communion of the Church, the Holy Spirit ‘distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank’ for the building up of the Church. Now, ‘to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.’”
i) This means that you have one or more charisms, and now that you are a full-fledged member of the Church, you can begin to discern what it/they may be.
ii) Look first at your loves. What is it that you would spend all your time doing if you had the choice? Singing? Writing? Acting? Building things? Taking care of animals? Teaching? Volunteering?
iii) Look for signs that you achieve more through your actions than you put in. Remember Tolkien, who didn’t mention God yet was instrumental in the conversion of souls. If people tell you that your doing such-and-such really “made a difference,” and you don’t feel like you did anything at all, there may be a charism at work.
iv) Look for the subjective feelings of effortlessness and joy. This doesn’t mean that all charisms come easy; if you have a charism of music you still need to develop it by taking lessons, practicing, etc. But when you’re really “in the groove” it can feel like you’re giving yourself away, and the experience can be very joyful.
v) Look for feedback. A charism is real, and it has real consequences. If you teach a class and many people tell you, “Wow, I never understood that before,” consider that you may have a charism of teaching.
vi) What do people ask you for? Because God knows what your charisms are, even if you don’t yet, he will sometimes send you people who need what you have to offer. Do people come up to you and start telling you their problems? Maybe you have a charism of wisdom. Do people ask you to pray for them (and then tell you how their lives were changed)? You may have a charism of intercessory prayer.
vii)Wait for experience. It may be hard to recognize your charism(s) now because you are just starting life as a disciple of Jesus. But over a few years patterns should begin to emerge. You may also find a new gift emerging now or later in response to a major change in your life, such as the birth of children, a change of job, or (later on) retirement.
j. You have at least one charism, and you may have two or three. If you only have one it’s probably a whopper.
k. My own witness: I believe very strongly that I have a charism of celibacy, one of the lifestyle charisms (the one everybody wants). I am not called to be a priest-though not all priests possess this charism, either-I am called to be a single layman. Celibacy gives me great freedom and the ability to be effortlessly chaste without undue struggle apart from marital intimacy. With celibacy I am able to make a much greater commitment to volunteer church work and to my prayer life than would be possible if I were married, as well as opening doors like trying the monastery (in 1999) and living for three months at the Dorothy Day House (2007). It is a gift that allows me to be of greater service to the Church and a better friend as well as mysteriously reflecting something of the eternal life of the Resurrection, where “they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30).
l. So in answer to the question, “what now?”: A good place to start would be to begin thinking with the Church and looking at how God has already been at work in your life; and asking God to show you the next step. Your one or more charisms are going to be part of the new life that God is calling you to. You should expect them to be called forth and used. You are embarking on a great adventure, one that will change your destiny forever. Be not afraid! Give to God everything he asks you for, and he will repay you a thousand thousand times.
