The Year of Paul, 29 June 2008-2009

Godzdogz celebrated the Year of Saint Paul in a number of ways. There was a post to introduce the year and reflections for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in 2008 and for the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul in 2009.

Our first series was an 'A-Z of Paul', a dictionary of key terms from Paul's letters (from 'A for Apostleship' to 'Z for Zeal') with an explanation of the meaning of each term. Not surprisingly, there were 26 posts in this series.

The annual 'province day' of the English Dominicans held in December 2008 was devoted to Saint Paul and we published a report on the events of that day.

After Christmas we offered a series of 13 reflections called 'On the Areopagus', in which we tried to imitate Paul by bringing the preaching of the gospel to bear on aspects of contemporary society and culture.

Our final contribution was a series of 23 posts on ministries, charisms and fruits as another way of bringing out the rich spiritual and theological content of Paul's letters. These considered first the texts in which Paul lists the ministries required by the Church, then the texts in which he speaks about charismatic gifts of the Spirit, and finally the text of Galatians 5 in which he contrasts the fruits of the Spirit with the works of the flesh.

All told Godzdogz published 68 posts in honour of the year of Paul - 69 if you count this one! You will find them by clicking on either 'pauline year' or 'areopagus' in the list of labels on the right hand side of the blog. We hope our readers will visit them from time to time and, please God, continue to benefit from the compendium of Pauline theology that we have put together through the course of the year.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 22 Self-control

People can often be put off Christianity by a perception that it makes moral demands on its followers which it is impossible to live up to: “there’s no way I could manage that,” they might say, “so why bother trying?”

When St Paul teaches us in Galatians 5: 22 that self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, he reminds us that things don’t quite work like that. You don’t have to be perfect before you even think about becoming a Christian: rather, it is the participation as a Christian in the life of God which enables you to grow in the way of perfection. Yes, the moral life is a struggle (but then that’s true even if you’re not a Christian – there are always things you know you ought to do even if you don’t particularly feel like it); however, it is by allowing God to work in us through the Holy Spirit, given at baptism that we acquire the strength we need to engage in that struggle. Now, that doesn’t mean that, the moment you’re baptised, you’ll immediately be perfectly self-controlled: after all, the Christian life is about a process of growth in the love of God and neighbour which lies at the heart of choosing to do the right thing. What it does mean, though, is that, in a sense, the person who said “there’s no way I could manage that” was right – we can’t make ourselves perfect through our own effort, we need the grace of God.

This is a useful reminder, too, for those of us who are already Christians, and who find ourselves from time to time, perhaps often, subject to all kinds of temptations and feel too weak to resist. If self-control is a gift of the Holy Spirit, then resisting temptation is not just a question of gritting our teeth and not giving in through sheer effort on our part: rather, we should seek to draw close to God in prayer, and especially in the Sacraments, in which he shares his life with us. In doing so, we allow the Holy Spirit we received at our baptism to work more fully in our lives, and thus our self-control grows as the fruit of his operation in us.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits -21-Gentleness

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

Gentleness is not often associated with strength. An alternative translation of praotes, the Greek word used by Paul, is meekness. Neither of these translations suggests strength. Far too often the opposite is assumed: to be gentle is to be delicate, weak and even feeble. The concept of gentleness does not seem to fit into the dog-eat-dog world we live in. However, gentleness, properly understood, is far from these negative connotations. To be gentle is to be in control of oneself. It is to have a balanced and tranquil spirit. It is to be even-tempered, and to have hold over the passions. The gentle person is the master of their strength and power. The Latin Vulgate expresses this by using the compound mansuetudo - being accustomed to taming the hand. Gentleness is being appropriately restrained in our actions and words, especially in our interactions with other people. We all recognize how hard it is to practise this virtue. Sartre said “hell is other people” and all too often we might feel that he is right. But because it is difficult we need the Holy Spirit to aid us in being gentle.

Gentleness, however, does not turn us into punching-bags for the world. Whilst we must always be willing to pardon offences; we must also be able fraternally to correct faults gently and with love. Gentleness helps our actions to have a positive effect. To use an old saying, 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegar'. It is a sign of real and true strength to be able to act with restraint and gentleness, and the Holy Spirit allows us to overcome all obstacles to this practice. Like the message to Elijah the Gospel will not be proclaimed by great winds, earthquakes, or fire but by the whistling of gentle air.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 20 Faithfulness

The seventh fruit of the Holy Spirit that St Paul identifies is faithfulness. Faithfulness is at the very heart of the Christian vocation, of what it means to be a Christian. When we speak of faithfulness we often cite the qualities of trustworthiness, fidelity or reliability of an individual. However, as we are aware, all too often we fall short of these ideals, and as we are reminded in Proverbs 20:6, “most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?” We must therefore look not so much to others but to God as the true example of faithfulness.

Throughout the Old Testament we are constantly reminded of God’s promises to us, despite all our sinful folly, and He is shown to be faithful always, as we read for example in Deuteronomy 7:9, “therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments”.

The most striking example of this faithfulness was in God fulfilling his promises in the person of Jesus Christ. In the life of Christ and in His death for the sake of our redemption we can see clearly the true meaning of faithfulness. God does not falter. He will not break his covenant with us. He will not abandon us no matter how severe our failings. But for this faithfulness to be of real benefit we need to show our faithfulness to Him. God cannot break His word but we can and we need to cultivate carefully and with commitment our faithfulness to His teachings. We must grow in the virtues and not neglect our duties and responsibilities to our neighbour and ultimately to Him. So often these acts of faithfulness can be played out in the smallest ways and we cannot hope to grow in Christ unless we observe his law in small matters as well as great.

Most obviously our faithfulness can be shown in our commitment to the Church and in the ways in which we fulfil our duties to family and friends but we must also not neglect what it is to be faithful to ourselves. In being honest and true to ourselves we will be true to God and be able to look forward with hope to the coming of his Kingdom. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 19 Goodness

St. Paul puts goodness, or, as some translations have it, generosity, fifth in his lists of the fruits of the Spirit. That there should be such a close correspondence between Paul’s understanding of goodness and his understanding of generosity, such that it could be translated either way, is interesting because it demonstrates the importance of generosity for the Jewish view of God.

So many of the psalms extol the Lord as worthy of praise because of his generosity, praising him at length for all the great gifts that he gives to man and beast. Psalm 104 in particular, the psalm which is used in one of the prayers used as grace before meals, praises God as good because he is the giver of all that sustains every living thing. This overwhelming generosity of God is shown most profoundly in the saving death of his Son, Our Lord, on the cross, what is for St. Paul the most important moment in history, the most generous self-giving of the Son to the Father in love. 

Thus for Christians, to be good is to give of ourselves so as to help others, not only when it suits us and is convenient, and not only to those who are good to us in return, but to all those who are in need. To do this we need the gift of the Spirit, for we cannot live such an extraordinary life, as the bearer of God’s life and love to others, through our own effort alone. 

To be good does take effort, we must co-operate with the grace that God so freely bestows upon us and renews in us through prayer and the sacraments, but in our pursuit of the life of virtue we are not left to fend for ourselves, for we have an advocate, a lawyer for our defence, the Spirit, to fight our corner. The Spirit as our advocate pleads insistently on our behalf for the heavenly judge to declare our goodness against the merciless cross-examination of Satan, the great accuser, who seeks to make us despair on account of our sins, and so to flee from God’s mercy.

Let us always remember that to be good is to be humble, for the greatest sin is that of pride, pride that hardens our hearts and stops us from asking for forgiveness and mercy.  The good person is the person who, by the light of the Holy Spirit, recognises their sinfulness and asks the Lord for forgiveness, confident in the mercy of the Lord who is love.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 18 Kindness

Sometimes you’ll hear things said like “I don’t need to be a Christian to be a kind and decent person.” It has to be recognised that there are many kind and decent people in the world who never go near a church. On the other hand, in the letter to the Galatians we hear St Paul speak of kindness as being a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). This implies that kindness is deeply bound up with being a Christian.

Aristotle describes kindness as helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped. Of course, we have to be careful with such a definition. Just because we help someone without regard for any personal advantage, it doesn’t mean we have to be miserable as we help. It is more virtuous to delight in being helpful rather than finding it a burden, but it is essential that kindness springs from a love of others.

Careful consideration also has to be given to what it means to be helpful. Aquinas talks of kindness as something that helps to cure evils. In any kind of evil situation, there is something that is lacking, and so some form of help is needed to restore what is missing. In situations such as rivalry, hatred, jealousy and discord, our response should be kindness, an act of helping those in need. But the kind of help we provide is informed by our Christian faith. Christ died on the cross for our sins and He is conqueror over all evil. Therefore whenever we are confronted with evil, we need to bring Christ into the situation.

From time to time, we see people who are non-Christian, but yet still appear to be full of the Holy Spirit. We have to be prepared to recognise good whereever we see it, to recognise that the Holy Spirit can act in all kinds of different people. But as Christians we are at an advantage because we have the sacraments readily available, whereby the bond of union with Christ is continually strengthened. With this bond of union, we become capable of performing the greatest act of kindness possible, of helping people towards what they need most, that is life in the Holy Trinity.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 17 Patience

Listed among the fruits of the Holy Spirit by St Paul in the letter to the Galatians is patience. Reflecting on what it means to be patient, I think that it is not often much in evidence today. We live a world that has been taught the value of the instantaneous. Information is now delivered from one part of the globe to another within seconds, travel gets ever faster as do, more and more. the types of food we eat. I heard a comedian once joke that the protest slogan of today’s generation would be: “What do we want? We don’t know! When do we want it? Now!”. Instant gratification without too much analysis can be all too tempting.

Yet St Paul speaks often of patience as being an important part of the Christian life. It is a sign of the life of the Holy Spirit within us. In Ephesians 4:1-3 he says: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” and in 1 Corinthians 13:4 he says that love is always patient. God is ever patient with us. His patience is based in his total love for us and its purpose is our salvation. Made in the image and likeness of God, we are called to become like God in patience. It is a virtue that calls us to hesitate before making judgements of others.

We look at how patient Jesus was with the multiple mess ups of Peter and the other disciples. How often they just did not understand him. Patience is such an important virtue in so many situations. Patience in discussions and heated debate is important because it is a simple recognition of the fact that elements of truth may be found on all sides. Patience with the mistakes and gaffs of others is also a simple recognition that we are not perfect either and appreciate patience and forgiveness when we make mistakes. Patience in suffering comes from an understanding that God will ultimately work for our good and that the horizon of time for the Christian is not this life but eternity.

Patience also builds character, allowing us to stand back from situations, to see things more clearly from other angles and to take the longer view into account. St Thomas Aquinas sees patience as part of the sustaining side of the infused moral virtue of fortitude. It is patience that keeps an unconquered spirit in times of trial and can be expanded into perseverance. Ultimately patience is a fruit of the Spirit that is an act of love for our brothers and sisters because it gives others the loving space to change, to grow and to find understanding. And in the busy and noisy world of today, a little more patience makes life so much easier for everyone.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 16 Peace

"Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit" (John 15:5), and one of those fruits, which we receive from Jesus if we dwell in him and draw our strength from him, is peace. In St Paul's Letter to the Galatians 'peace' translates the Greek, eirene. Peace is a result of a life animated by the Holy Spirit, but it comes from Christ who has brought peace and reconciliation to the world by his passion, death and resurrection. Thus we are reminded in the Mass of the words of the Risen Lord: "Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you" (see John 14:27; 20:19-23).

These words of the Lord teach us that the life which is conformed to the Cross of the Lord, which becomes more Christ-like, receives Christ's peace. And what is the peace Paul has in mind? In Philippians 2:2 he asks the Philippians to be "of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind", this being the one mind of Jesus Christ. It is thus that St Paul exhorts the Philippians to put aside their quarrels and pride, and to imitate the Lord's humility who emptied himself of his equality with God and became a slave and was obedient even to the point of accepting death on a Cross (see Philippians 2:1-18). Hence, peace is being ordered to the mind of Christ which "in humility [counts] others better than [ourselves]".

It is in view of this Christ-centred orientation that St Augustine says that "peace is the tranquility of order". Because peace is ordered towards Christ and the eternal Good it is unlike worldly peace which is more like "a break between wars". Christ's peace infinitely surpasses the fragility of our uneasy treaties and efforts at a truce. It is ordered towards lasting joy in heaven. It is true, never deceptive, and as St Thomas Aquinas notes, it assures peace within ourselves, and in our relationships and surroundings. Such peace, of course, is the peace that the saints enjoy in heaven, and which is ultimately the goal of all our human aspirations for peace. It is not mere coincidence that the universal symbol for peace is a dove, which is also a way of depicting the Holy Spirit, the giver of true peace.

For perfect peace - conformity with Christ - comes not by our efforts but because of Who has been given to us in baptism. The peace which the Risen Christ leaves us is a Person: it is the Holy Spirit, whose work is peace, for the Spirit orders all things according to the mind of Christ. As the Lord said, "he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16:14). And so, the peace of Christ is ours, who are called to be saints (see Romans 1:7) and who have been given the Holy Spirit. For the Spirit is the fruit of the unity and love of the Father and the Son, and he is the one who makes us Christians of one heart and mind with Christ, who is perfectly ordered to the will of the Father. Thus, St Paul urges us to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3), for peace - with the unity, concord and harmony that it entails - is a sign of the Spirit at work in our lives and in our Christian communities. Therefore, Christ said: "you will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16), and one fruit St Paul desired for his churches, and which we pray for repeatedly, at every Mass, is peace.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 15 Joy

Joy comes second in St Paul’s list of the ninefold fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). And, indeed, joy should be the prevailing mood of Christians. The whole Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of joy, for Christ announced and fulfilled what was promised in the Old Testament, the kingdom of God. In Rom 14:17 St Paul writes that the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. Christians have therefore good reason to be joyful.

But we can ask whether every form of joy is really a fruit of the Spirit. Christ says “you will know them by their fruits”. Is joy therefore an unmistakable sign? The Book of Proverbs (14:13) states that laughter sometimes hides sadness; and we know also from our own experience that not every “joy” – as, for example, malicious joy (cf. Proverbs 24:17) – deserves this name.

For St Thomas Aquinas joy is something only human beings can experience. An animal can have delight but no joy, because “we do not speak of joy except when delight follows reason; and so we do not ascribe joy to irrational animals”. There is no joy in merely sensual matters. The object of joy, however, is an apprehended good. There is so much good around us and we are invited by God, the creator of all that is good, to enjoy it: the beauty of nature, art and music, but also science and our knowledge of it. All this can be grasped and enjoyed by a rational human mind and can impart to us a deep joy.

When St Paul writes about joy he has primarily another, even higher form in mind, namely a spiritual joy which comes from communion with God himself whose redeemed children we are. It brings about not only a delight but also peace in our hearts despite all difficulties and even sufferings in this world. St Paul writes to the Church in Corinth “I am overjoyed in all our affliction” (2 Cor 7:4). This is the kind of peace only God’s Spirit can give in the firm belief that there is another world of which this life is only a foretaste.

But we can assume that St Paul also had a natural human expression of joy in mind when he wrote “my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord” (Phil 3:1). As God’s beloved children we do not have to be afraid, because we know that we are redeemed through Christ’s death and resurrection. Therefore we should not feel gloomy but enjoy what God has given us and share this joy with others.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 14 Discernment

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

In St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, in the course of a list of the gifts given believers by the Holy Spirit, he mentions the gift of the discernment of spirits. It is spoken of in the context of spiritual gifts. What exactly does he mean by discernment of spirits? The ability to discern is a very important ability. Every day we have to discern between various choices we are faced with: should I marry this person, should I support this person, what kind of life am I attracted to or feel called to, etc. There is a multiplicity of things we must discern every day, and as believers we often ask the Holy Spirit, that divine spirit of truth and wisdom, to help us. Indeed we pray that we are able to make wise choices.

But what exactly was St Paul speaking of in this particular passage when he refers to the gift of discernment of spirits? At the time Paul was writing to the Corinthians such charismatic gifts were very common in the church of Corinth, and indeed were seen as proof of God’s activity in the church. In the Hellenistic world at the time forms of ecstasy were highly esteemed. It seems that the faithful of Corinth were seeing such gifts as an end in themselves, rather than using them for the good of the church community, perhaps even regarding the possession of such a gift as something to boast about personally. Paul doesn’t dispute the divine origin of the gifts, but he does want the faithful to recognise that such gifts are supposed to work in harmony for the good of the entire church. The gift of discernment is a gift that enables us to see what is really from God, and for the good of the church, and what is not. As Christians we ought to put our gifts at the service of the church, and to work in harmony with other Christians and their gifts for the building up of the church.

Ministries, Charisms and Fruits - 13 Interpretation

Our last post spoke of the gift of tongues as a charismatic gift, which manifested itself in the early Church at the time of St. Paul, and was seen as an important way in which the Holy Spirit worked in the Church. Indeed, there are signs that this gift is still given in the Church today, especially amongst those who are part of the charismatic movements. It is a gift that is often regarded with much suspicion by onlookers. It expresses itself as people speaking a series of words that to our ears seem to make no sense. What possible use could this be?

This question is one which was very important also in the time of St Paul. The First Letter to the Corinthians, in speaking of the many gifts, names 'the interpretation of tongues' as an important part of the whole range of gifts (1 Cor 12:10). We see how the gift of tongues is of no use unless the words spoken can be interpreted. Words should never be empty and meaningless, because this is a misuse of language. After all, words are only of use as a way of communicating, and, as such, an individual who speaks in a way that cannot be understood is not communicating at all. The tongues must be interpreted, and this is a gift in itself. This is just one of many ways in which we see how firmly Paul believes that the Christian life is not simply about the individual, but individuals united in a common belief in Jesus Christ, and living a life shaped by that belief.

There are different opinions about the charismatic gifts in today's Church. Nevertheless, there is much that all of us can learn from Paul's writings on the subject. After naming the charismatic gifts, he goes on to show how important it is that, whatever our gifts are, they are used for the building up of the Church. All the members of the Church have a range of gifts, and no two individuals are the same. This reality shows both how important and valued each and every individual is to God and to the Church, yet also how the individual forms part of the whole, and is dependent on the others. As part of the whole which is the body of Christ, the Church, we find both our dignity as individuals and a way of self-transcendence which makes us capable of more than we could ever imagine.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 12 Tongues

The gift of tongues is a supernatural gift that was given for the aid of the further preaching of the Gospel following Ascension and Pentecost. St Luke relates the events of that first Pentecost, telling us that one hundred and twenty disciples of Galilean origin were heard to speak in a variety of diverse tongues according as the Holy Spirit had given them to speak. Approximately three thousand people were brought together at that time, representing two religious classes, Jews and proselytes, from fifteen different nations, seen to be symbolic of every nation under Heaven. Those present were confounded in mind, for each heard the wonderful things of God spoken in his own tongue. Many thought the disciples were grossly inebriated but St Peter justified this anomaly by explaining it in the light of prophecy as a sign of the last times (cf. Acts 2:1-15)

St Paul was a witness to the operation of the same, or a related, gift at Ephesus. He directs the Corinthians to employ nothing but articulate and plain speech in their use of the gift of tongues, and also to refrain from its use in Church unless what is said can be grasped by the unlearned (cf. 1 Cor 14). No tongue is genuine without the voice of interpretation and to use tongues in this way Paul considers to be the act of a barbarian. He considers that the impulse to praise God in one or more strange tongues should come from the Holy Spirit and counts it as an inferior gift, granting it a penultimate place in a list of eight charismata. In effect Paul teaches that it is a mere sign, meant not for believers but only for unbelievers.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 11 Miracles

St Paul’s inclusion of miracle-working among the gifts of the Holy Spirit which he lists in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12: 10) might seem rather strange: it certainly seems rather less common than those of wisdom, knowledge and faith which he mentions in the same chapter of that letter. Indeed, some people find talk of miracles to be one of the factors which puts them off Christianity: it’s all pious mumbo-jumbo, they say, and anyone who takes modern science seriously just can’t believe in that sort of thing.

Of course, as Christians we should not be afraid of scientific progress: the more scientific discoveries can explain, the more we can wonder at the amazing complexities of the natural order which we believe to be established by God the Creator of all that is. To ignore or disregard that (and so to explain everything in terms of immediate divine intervention) is not only to downplay the truly miraculous, but also to reject the glory of the natural order which is no less the work of God. And yet at the same time it seems clear that some occurrences completely defy a natural explanation, and it it is to these that we rightly ascribe the term ‘miracle’, a source of wonder: if we truly believe that God creates and sustains in being all that exists, then it makes sense that He can determine how it all works not only in general, but also in particular cases.

Thus for St Paul, miracles are not a disincentive to belief, but rather a sign of God’s power (cf. Gal 3: 5). But how does wonder-working as a gift of the Holy Spirit fit into all this? Just because God can work wonders, that doesn’t explain why he might allow human beings to exercise this power. In Galatians 3: 5 it is clear that, as with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of working miracles is a sign of a person’s living faith which allows God to work through them. This in turn reminds us of Our Lord’s teaching that faith the size of a mustard seed will move mountains (Matt 17: 20), and that whatever we ask of the Father in his name will be given us (John 16: 23): God wills that his power be exercised through human beings.

People might ask why, if this is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there isn’t much evidence of wonder-working in your average Catholic parish. To this we might respond first of all, as St Paul does, that not all are called to fulfil the same function in the Church (cf. 1 Cor 12: 28). At the same time we might note saints throughout the Church’s history who have borne during their lifetime the name of 'Thaumaturge' (or 'wonder-worker') because of this particular gift of the Holy Spirit which has been given to them. Examples are St Nicholas in the 4^th century, St Andrew Corsini in the 14^th, and, in the last century, St Pius of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio. Still, we should not all expect to be like them. St Paul teaches us in that same first letter to the Corinthians to appreciate the variety of gifts and ministries in the Church, not jealously seeking any of them, but gratefully receiving them as God’s gifts. What we should strive for most of all, as he reminds us, is that greatest gift of the Holy Spirit which surpasses even the gift of working miracles, namely the gift of love (1 Cor 12:31-13:13).

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits -10 Serving

Service is central to the Christian life. We are called to follow our Lord in a life of service to God and our fellow man. The gift of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Romans 12:7 is a specific type of service, which may not be obvious from the English translation. St. Paul uses the Greek work diakonia. This word refers to administration within the Church. In the context of the early Church this would concern the distribution of alms and material aid. As the Church grew, the application of this gift grew and diversified. Today the Roman Curia, the central governing body of the Roman Catholic Church, coordinates and provides the necessary central organization for the correct functioning of the Church and the achievement of its goals. But it is only the tip of an administrative colossus which consists of the curiae of the individual dioceses and orders, the episcopal conferences, parish councils, group coordinators and many more sub-divisions. Of course the original need for administrators - the distribution of aid, material, educational and spiritual - still exists and has grown. The Catholic Church is the oldest and largest provider of aid in the world. Every branch of the Church has need of administration to ensure an effective and successful mission.

Administrators and bureaucrats do not have the best reputation. They are often caricatured as faceless, legalistic bean-counters or at worst scheming, calculating, powers-behind-the-throne. It is a sad fact but all too often these stereotypes are realised in individuals, such as wily cardinals and corrupt parish treasurers. Bureaucrats are necessary for the organisation of a community. They are not however a necessary evil we must tolerate. They should benefit the society that they serve and promote the common good. The Christian administrator does not only serve a human community but the Body of Christ. The Christian administrator, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, must follow Christ’s example of humble and selfless service. The Holy Spirit bestows not only the talent for organising, maintaining and administrating but also a sense of duty to the people of God.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 9 Administration

Administration is an inescapable part of most of our lives and one that is often likely to raise a grimace at the mere mention of the word. The phone calls that have to be returned, the emails that have to be sent, the meetings we have to attend, rotas to organise and budgets to complete are all part of everyday life for many of us. This, of course, all takes time, patience and organisation. It is easy for us to lose sight of the ‘bigger picture’ and feel overwhelmed by administrative affairs and forget the true purpose behind it all. We may even hark back to a time when everything seemed so much simpler …

In religious life there is a particular temptation is to see these day-to-day affairs not as simply taxing but as an actual impediment to the spiritual dimension of our lives. In 1 Corinthians 12:28, however, we learn that this is far from the view we should hold and that the spiritual gift of administration is indeed vital in building, strengthening and maintaining the Church on earth:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

It is clear from this passage that it is the Spirit that furnishes us with the ability to build up the Kingdom and that administration has been a vital component of the Church since its very inception. We must also recognise that there are those especially granted with the gift of being able to administer effectively. Whilst it is vital that we all play our part we must recognise those among us with special talents in this area, and ensure that they are encouraged and productively employed and supported, for without them the task of building the Body of Christ would suffer immeasurably. It is important, therefore, that we remember our duty to use our spiritual gifts to carry out Christ’s plans on earth.

Prudence, as a cardinal virtue, is essential for an effective administrator. As St Thomas makes clear in the Summa this virtue of the practical intellect is required to make the assessments that take us from the end desired through possible means of choice and thence to command or precept. In other words deliberation, judgement and command are vital in effective administration. If we can cultivate this virtue in particular we shall find, with God’s grace that we are ever more able to labour productively as Christ’s co-workers in helping to build the reality of his kingdom on earth.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 8 Healing

Of all the charismatic gifts that St. Paul describes, the gift of healing is probably the one which might, at first, appear least relevant to our modern world.  Even prophecy seems less obscure, since we can probably think of Christians who seem to have a certain wisdom for discerning what will be the end result of a particular situation.  How many of us can say that we have witnessed someone being healed by another Christian? Well, it depends on what exactly we mean by healing.

While the most obvious form of the gift of healing is the ability to heal physical ailments, this need not be the only form that the gift of healing might take.  There are those within the Church, most of us have met one of them, who have a great gift for healing the psychological and emotional wounds of others.  Just getting one of these people to listen to our problems or hearing their advice can be like a balm to the soul, and we know then and there that the Holy Spirit is working through this graced individual.  However, we should not completely exclude the power to heal physically from our consideration.  Certainly in the Acts of the Apostles we read about an extraordinary outpouring of love personified, the Holy Spirit, where after Pentecost the disciples are able to heal the sick through the laying on of hands, the anointing with oil and perhaps most astonishingly, simply uttering the holy name of Our Lord and Saviour.

These miracles are recounted with a frequency that gives the impression that they became almost routine, an expected part of the life of the Church.  This certainly seems to be the case in St. Paul, since he includes the gift of healing in his list of the gifts given by the Spirit.  St. Paul had himself experienced the gift of healing when he was cured of his blindness by Ananias (Acts 9:12) when he laid his hands on him.  Furthermore, those who have been given the gift of healing, while they may be rare, are not unknown in our time.  There are many who claim to have been cured of various physical ailments through the prayers of healers at Catholic charismatic events, for example.

Thus while the reason why the gift of healing seems to occur much less frequently in our own day than in the time of the apostolic age may remain a mystery to us whilst we remain on this earth, we do know that prayer is an incredibly powerful force for good in this world.  It is therefore our job as Christians to intercede to our heavenly Father, who never neglects to answer our prayers, on behalf of those who suffer in body and soul.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 7 Love

In the book of Deuteronomy we hear the great commandment "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deut 6:4-7), and this is a commandment that Jesus himself repeats in all three Synoptic Gospels. Love is central to the Christian life, and St Paul is keen to emphasise this: "if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned - if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever" (1 Cor 13:2).

This could be a source of worry for some of us - are we supposed to always act with a strong sense of affection and oneness with God. No doubt there are some Christians who do have these feelings, and it is surely a good thing if people have the sorts of emotions that make them delight in doing good works. But the kind of love St Paul describes sounds more like an attitude or outlook, than an emotion: love is always patient and kind; love is trusting, hopeful and enduring. If we can have a loving attitude like this, then it will provide the firm ground in which other spiritual gifts can take root.

Yet there are attitudes and emotions that prevent us from loving properly - boastfulness, jealousy, conceit, rudeness and delight in wrongdoing, are all incompatible with love. These negative emotions and attitudes need to be done away with, but how do we get rid of them? St Paul says ‘All who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified self with all its passions and desires’ (Gal 5:24). By turning to Christ crucified, we can be freed from all those selfish passions and desires that prevent us from truly loving God.

But true love isn’t just about getting rid of negative passions. St Paul also says love 'finds its joy in the truth' (1 Cor 13:6). Thus true love is located in the highest part of the human soul, the intellect. In our mental appreciation and in our voluntary resolve, God should stand above everything else. From this appreciation and resolve all other love flows. When we love goodness and truth in God then we can love all of His creation through Him.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 6 Faith

One of the constant themes in the writings of St Paul is the central role of faith. In 1 Cor 12:9, he speaks of faith as one of the manifestations of the Spirit given for the common good. In his letter to the Romans, Paul insists that righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ from first to last. No one will be saved by works or by following the requirements of the law. In Romans, Paul certainly says that there is a value in the law. They are the very words of God. But what God truly wants is not merely outward or physical signs and actions but the total obedience of the heart. Faith is not just faith in God but about believing and trusting that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead and glorified him at his right hand, will raise us also to enjoy a glorious inheritance. Paul puts forward Abraham as the model of faith because he trusted that God would be utterly faithful to his promise to make him the father of many nations.

This faith, which is the free and loving gift of God’s grace, is the total obedience to God and not just intellectual assent. Thus this faith calls us to imitate Christ more closely who “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). It is by the obedience of faith that we become truly free. Sin, which has its root in disobedience to God, makes us slaves and burdens us. Faith is our liberation: “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Faith must involve the total transformation of a person's life. It must transform what we do and say each day. We are to put on “the new self, created to be like God in holiness and righteousness”. (Eph 4:24).

But how are people to believe if others do not answer the call to go out and preach the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ? “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom 10:14). What greater joy can someone share with another than the good news about their faith in Christ? “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (Rom 10:15).

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 5 Knowledge

The "word of knowledge" (logos gnoseos) is only mentioned once in St Paul's letters, in 1 Corinthians 12:8. Its context in this letter is important, for the Corinthian church was noted for being "enriched in [Christ] with all speech and all knowledge" (1 Cor 1:5). And yet, Corinth was a Christian community marked by quarrels, dissent and manifest disunity during the Eucharist. Clearly, the Corinthians' gifts of prophecy and knowledge were not enough to unite them in Christ. For knowledge, although a gift of the Spirit, is "imperfect" (1 Cor 13:9) because we do not, in this life, ever possess perfect knowledge. More importantly, we do not always possess those virtues that help us to use this knowledge well.

But what does Paul mean by 'knowledge'? He explains that knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us in baptism, and who "searches everything, even the depths of God"(1 Cor 2:10). Thus the Holy Spirit, who alone comprehends the thoughts of God, teaches and makes comprehensible to the human mind the spiritual things of God. However, knowledge, which is only given to some, is meant to be used at the service of the Church, "for the common good" (1 Cor 12:7). Paul uses the analogy of the one body with many members, co-ordinating together and serving the whole. So, no one member can be more important than the other, and thus no spiritual gift ought to be used selfishly. Rather, we are called to work together, with a diversity of spiritual gifts, so as to aim together for love (see 1 Cor 13:14). For Paul warns that "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Cor 8:1) just as knowledge comes to an end, but love does not. As such, without love, knowledge amounts to nothing.

The exercise of knowledge in love means that we need to look out for one another, especially those who are "weak". In 1 Cor 8, he cites the interesting example of someone who knows that "there is no God but one", and so, it is tolerable to eat food offered to idols, since these do not really exist. However, there might be other Christians who do not have this knowledge concerning the one God, and they are thus misled into thinking that it is acceptable to eat food offered to idols, whom he still thinks to be real. In such a case, the weaker are scandalised and misled by the knowledgeable, and all suffer. So Paul argues that it is better for those with knowledge to forego their 'rights' for the sake of the 'weaker'. For "if one member suffers, all suffer together" (1 Cor 12:26).

Therefore, in 1 Cor 14:6, Paul says that knowledge only benefits the Church if it is taught to others and exercised in love to build up the Church, rather than used for self-gratification. One is reminded of the Dominican ideal that study is always at the service of preaching, so that we do not become academics who pursue selfish and arcane interests, but always seek humbly to hand on the fruits of our contemplation. Sometimes theologians and scholars can fail to do this, and they may scorn the less knowledgeable, or behave in a manner that scandalises the faithful. Such knowledge, then, although it is correct, is useless. But if it is taught with the patience and kindness that characterises love, and the humility that comes from realising that all knowledge comes from God, then it will bear fruit and contribute to the good and growth of the Church.

Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 4 Wisdom

St Paul obviously had an ambivalent attitude to “wisdom”. In 1 Cor 3:19 he writes that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”. What Paul means here is a natural or “earthly” human wisdom. This kind of wisdom is indeed seen rather critically. Christ himself confirms in his prayer to the Father that the revelation of God’s kingdom remained hidden from the wise and understanding (cf. Matt 11:25; Luke 10:21).

Nevertheless, in 1 Cor 12:8 Paul praises the “utterance of wisdom which is given through the Spirit”. The wisdom which St Paul preaches is the Cross. He writes earlier in this first letter to the Corinthians (1:23-24) that “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This is the wisdom about which a Christian is called to speak: Christ crucified. St Paul himself does not try to convince his audience with “plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit”. All this might show us that the gift of which he speaks in 1 Cor 12:8 is, of course, not of the earthly, foolish kind of wisdom. It is exactly “a demonstration of the Spirit”.

But we must see that the wisdom in 1 Cor 12:8 is not a gift for everybody in the community. It is a special charisma only for a few. Therefore Paul does not write that through the Spirit is given “wisdom”, but the “utterance of wisdom”. He is here not talking about having or knowing wisdom. He talks about a gift of instruction. But such a gift of instruction is an extraordinary phenomenon. In the preceding verses St Paul makes it quite clear that the gifts he lists in his letter to the Church in Corinth are not for personal sanctification. Those to whom these gifts are granted are, rather, given a high responsibility. They are made instruments of God for the good of the community. These gifts are freely given for the service of others. St Thomas writes in his commentary on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians: “the personal graces enable the Holy Spirit to dwell in us; the ministerial graces do not do this but only enable the Holy Spirit to be made manifest.”

But there is a diversity of ministries and no one has all of them. If these gifts were necessary for personal sanctification, it would be fitting that everybody should have all of them. But they are given “for some benefit”: the building up of the community. And it is not even Paul’s intention to present an exhaustive list of gifts or manifestations of God’s Spirit. He rather demonstrates to the recipients of his letter, the Church in Corinth, which is divided due to sundry quarrels, that there is a great diversity of manifestations of the Spirit. It is one and the same Spirit, as St Paul says, who is the source of all gifts, God’s Spirit. Therefore the gifts must not be a cause for conflicts and separation in the community, since it is God who acts through them.