Discover your spiritual gifts and share them.

Good morning, happy Monday, and blessings.

Today's Gospel, John 15: 26-16: 4a, is a kind of job description of some of the functions that the Holy Spirit will be doing in our lives. There are, in my understanding, seven (7) incredible functions of the Holy Spirit that we need to know.

The Holy Spirit keeps us in contact with God; The Holy Spirit guides us to the truth; The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin; The Holy Spirit helps us understand deeper the Word of God; The Holy Spirit comforts us; and the last two are the ones I want to explain with more details.

The Holy Spirit allows us to bear righteous fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit possesses a transformative power that enables us to become more like God. If you notice, all the qualities of the fruit of the Holy Spirit are all qualities of God as well. Through the Holy Spirit, we will be able to develop these godly traits and reflect God’s character in our lives. We need to realize that the positive spiritual transformation will not happen without the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it transforms us from being carnally minded individuals to spiritual minded Christians.

The spiritual gifts are very important for the ministry of the church. Through the Holy Spirit, these gifts are given so that we may use it for the will and purpose of God. Having said this, it still remains that these gifts are distributed according to God’s choosing, not our own. If every Corinthian strongly desired a particular gift, such as prophesying, God would not give everyone that gift simply because they strongly desired it. If He did, then who would serve in all of the other functions of the body of Christ? We need to be clear, spiritual gifts are not our talents or skills. They are the grace of God at work within us, empowering us to match our deep passions with the world’s deep need. The gifts are given to individuals, but they are given to build and strengthen community and to meet the needs of those around us.

No matter how much we have been gifted with one gift or another, we are all called upon to develop a number of areas mentioned in the lists of spiritual gifts: to be hospitable, to show acts of mercy, to serve one another, to evangelize, etc. As we seek to serve God out of love for the purpose of building up others for His glory, He will bring glory to His name, grow His church, and reward us.

In other words, the gifts of the spirit help us develop the discipleship of service that Jesus has asked of us. For example: There are leaders who try to maintain control; service leaders know when to "wane." There are leaders who fight for power; service leaders fight to serve. There are leaders who seek recognition and fame; service leaders don't have time for that.

This is your challenge for today: Begin the journey and discover your gifts. Talk about your gifts with others.

Blessings

Fr. Luis+