Charisma

The Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church concentrates on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul gives a list of charisms in 1 Cor 12. They include ordinary charisms like teaching and administration and extraordinary ones like healing, miracles, and tongues.  The Spirit and its gifts are not that unlike the Grace of God, an unmerited favor from God.  One must receive the Grace of God before he receives the gifts of the Spirit.  The Apostles had the charisms of healing and miracles just as Christ did.  The charisms are gifts of the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity.  The Holy Spirit is the part of God that still resides with us today.  The Son and the Father reside in Heaven.  The Spirit is the medium that transcends both worlds and can enliven your soul.  Do you know that the Holy Spirit is present in every Mass?  How do you think the priest causes bread and wine to change into the body and blood of Christ? Transubstantiation!  It is not by any particular power the Priest possesses. The priest calls upon the aid of the Holy Spirit.  The Priest says “by the power of the Holy Spirit” this ordinary bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ.  The Priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to make the change.  A man does not have the Charism of “miracles” unless the Holy Spirit is involved.  Not even the Pope can cure a boy with downs syndrome.  I am afraid that many Catholics do not receive the body and blood of Christ because many Priests do not have sufficient belief in the Holy Spirit to cause the change to take place.  Remember what Jesus said, that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.  Well I say that if you have the faith of the size of mountains, you can heal the sick and change ordinary bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but only with the aid of the Spirit. A Priest, as a disciple and minister of Christ, can have that power, but only if that power is sought through Christ and delivered by the Spirit through a determined faith in God.