Charisms--off topic but I had to share

I've been taking a class at my parish named the Called and Gifted workshop. I learned about it in the parish bulletin and I liked the idea of something spiritual during this homestudy period, something to take my mind off of the many practical concerns and stress of adoption. At our parish it's a once-a-week class, lasting a few hours each, for five weeks. We listen to a talk and discuss what we're learning.

Anyway, from what I understand, charisms are spiritual gifts given to us for others. The workshop lists 24 major ones that they focus on. I'm sure many people can come up with a different list but the number isn't the point. The idea is so much bigger.

We ended the first class by taking a written inventory (basically a quiz). The inventory is a series of questions intended to give you a general idea of which charisms are most likely and least likely for you.

Some of the charisms are rare and would be awe-inspiring to witness in real life, like healing (unusually fast or even miraculous physical healing), or discernment of spirits (sensing accurately the presence of demons or the Holy Spirit). Others are so mundane that I wouldn't have seen them as charisms without this workshop, like service (seeing what needs to be done and wanting to do it yourself), or encouragement (listening one-on-one to lift up someone).

The point of charisms is not the work we do or our talents; they are the work of the Holy Spirit through us. The idea is that God gives every baptized Christian charisms. A person's charisms will be fairly consistent throughout their life. You know your charism by three main sources: what energizes you or excites you, what others ask you to do or compliments you on, and, most importantly, where the Holy Spirit bears fruit through you.

For example, one charism is intercessory prayer. Everyone is called to pray for others. However, some people feel called to regularly pray for others, sometimes even people they don't even know. They love to pray and can happily spend hours in prayer if other obligations allow. Others, even total strangers, may ask them to pray for them, even people of another faith or no faith at all! Most importantly, their prayers are answered, sometimes in amazing ways. We all have answered prayers, but someone with this charism tends to receive those answers more often or in unusual ways.

This information has been so empowering for me. For one thing, now that I know my charisms, I know which kinds of ministries and which kinds of positions in a ministry to focus on. Before, anytime someone told me about a ministry, I thought I should check it out. I'd feel some vague guilt that I wasn't doing enough, or that maybe they needed me, like any warm body could fill that role and it might as well be me. I would try and then leave different ministries, or keep doing it despite not being interested. Volunteering would drain me and I would continue out of wanting to be virtuous more than being called. I thought service needed to be difficult to be really useful. Now, though, I know that not only does God want to work in me in a particular way, but that other people have the gifts that I don't have. It doesn't mean I won't struggle, of course, just that the right ministry or position will enable the Holy Spirit to bear more fruit through me than the wrong ministry will. That all seems so obvious but apparently I needed to learn that lesson!

Learning about these charisms also explains some of the more unusual spiritual experiences in my life. Like the time a total stranger came up to me in chapel to pray over me. Or the time, during a healing Mass, that a stranger prayed for healing and that sickness they prayed about went away. Those things brought me peace at the time but weirded me out. Now, though, I can look back on it and understand that the Holy Spirit didn't just work that way in Biblical times. Some rare, special gifts are still here today.

It also helps me to understand my husband and family better. My husband J., for example, has the charism of hospitality. He is just so warm and welcoming to people. We can't leave Mass without him talking to someone, and half of the time it's a stranger that he's welcoming to our parish or inviting to a ministry or event. I used to try to drag him out because I just didn't appreciate that--I would be hungry or shy and wanted to go home. I thought he was just being his typical extrovert self. Now, though, I see that people appreciate that about him, and they approach him as often as he approaches them. So I need to put my discomfort aside and let the Spirit work through him in that way.

While I hate to sound like a commercial, I can't help sharing this information because this workshop has been so interesting and helpful. You can learn more about this workshop at www.siena.org.

As for my charisms, I think I tend towards the administration charism, not to be confused with the leadership charism. Administrators are the people who are good at delegating. Leaders are the people with the good ideas but the administrators are the ones who organize to get it done. I never understood that. I thought that I had to be a leader, which intimidated me and made me very uncomfortable, or that I had to be a follower, which sometimes just frustrated me until I jumped into a leadership role and got intimidated. So now I'm going to look for ministries, and someday a job, where I can delegate without having to be the one with the great ideas. There are some other charisms that I want to explore, too.

Anyway, I just wanted to share:-)