Recognize Your Spiritual Gifts

Quite a variety, is it not? And there are many more. Can you see all these gifts going into action? Are you not a bit curious about rediscovering yours?

METHODS

  Alone or in small groups:

If you are interested to proceed by yourselves in this Quest, inventories (questionaires) and books have been published to help us identifying our spiritual gifts. Charles V. Bryant, from which we used the definitions earlier, has published such an inventory, (Bryant b), and John I. Penn, a workbook based on Bryant's book. Just follow the instructions.

Other books, always based on the Scriptures, are available in the search of the spiritual gifts and can be found in the Reference Section. They present different points of view and approaches to the spiritual gifts.

The spiritual gift search is also facilitated when two or three people (family, friend or acquaintance) join together to follow the workbook, answer individually the Inventory questions and compiled the results. Do not forget to add prayer and meditation in this exercise of discernment. Keep in mind the adjective extraordinary placed before the world ability because spiritual gifts are super abilities God gives for ministries. They will vary in type and in importance not only in each individual, but also in the parish or in the environment, depending on the needs of the Body of Christ at a given time.

Do not get discouraged, discernment takes time, prayer and efforts. The Holy Spirit will be your guide.

  Workshop:

If you prefer to attend a workshop and/or have a workshop in your parish, please contact The Catherine of Siena Institute at: http://www.siena.org/.

CONFIRMATION

How can you confirm that the spiritual gifts recognized through the Inventory are really your's? You have, first, to choose the spiritual gift that you want to put to the test, use it and, after a certain time, evaluate the results of your attempt following the basic rules that Sherry Weddell describes so well in her Catholic Spiritual Gifts (p. 21-22):

There are three basic "signs" of a charism [other name for spiritual gift] that should all be consistently present over time:

1. Effectiveness: a charism will do what it's supposed to do. If you have a charism of teaching, people will learn
   
   
2. Your experience: God does not give us charisms as a form of penance! If you are exercising a spiritual gift, you will generally feel energized, satisfied, and joyful, as though this is where you belong. You will not necessarily feel that way every time you try to use this gift, but that will be the overall experience. (Tip: Some people can have negative "first time" experiences. The key is observing your feelings over an extended period of time.)
   
   
3. Response or affirmation from others: It's wonderful when people give you direct feedback. Lots of positive feedback over time is a real affirmation. But affirmation can also come indirectly, as we observe what people ask of us. Do people you don't know well seem to just "open up" to you and share their feelings and concerns with you? (You might have a charism of encouragement)