What Are Your Spiritual Gifts?

Also, Take a Spiritual Gifts Inventory to Find Your Spiritual Gifts!

Weather 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. - Catholic Catechism #799

Recently, I've been hearing a lot about Spiritual Gifts, or charisms. These gifts we've been given by God when we become Christian, to be used in his name to benefit His church. There are at least 23 charisms, and maybe more that God has given to his people to use to bring others closer to Him.

Knowing and understanding these gifts, as well as figuring out which ones God has given to you are key to leading a fulfilling Christian life and being a key part of the church community. We, as parishioners, make up the body of the church. But as different as the ear is from the stomach, we are all different too.

Taking the time to figure out what gifts God gave you is worth the effort. You may already have an idea of what some of them are.

How do You Know it's a Charism, Not a Talent?

One way to know it's really a gift versus just something you generally enjoy or can do is if you truly love something and are passionate about it. If you can't imagine your life without it in it, then it's a charism, not a talent. I know a lady who loves to play the piano. She'll probably play until her fingers fall off. Every Sunday, she's there to play for every mass service.

The other way to know, is if others recognize your ability in the gift. If people are always complementing your ability, then you can feel confident that's a charism.

Charisms differ from a talent because we do not inherit these gifts from our parents, but from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they are also unable to be used for selfish purposes. Basically, they are talents but leveled up by God so we can better serve the Church and the community.

Why is This Important?

Learning our spiritual gifts is helpful in knowing which church ministries or charities would be good for us to become involved with. People are more likely to stick with a ministry if it matches their gifts. That's because a person is more likely to continue with something they actually enjoy doing, especially if they also happen to be good at it.

Knowing your charisms also empowers you to say 'no' too. Volunteering at church can become a bit of a snowball situation. You offer to do one thing, and before you know it, you've been signed up to help with 8 other things. It's ok to say 'no' where you would hate helping, or worse, you would actually mess up what they are attempting to accomplish. Leave that work to others who have gifts in those areas. Helping out in a pinch, though, would be an all together different situation, and that's not what's being referred to.

Take the Spiritual Gifts Inventory

Take the Spiritual Gifts quiz and find out what your charisms are!

The San Pedro Roman Catholic Church as both an online and printable inventory.

Click the button below for the link to their site page with instructions and the quiz.

Click Me

In the next few weeks we'll go over, in a bit more depth, the charisms on the inventory.

Leave us a comment and let us know what your top 3 gifts are!

Mine are Wisdom, Trust & Faith.