The Charism of a Diocesan Priest

A charism is a talent one has.  It's something one finds easy to do.  Some call it a gift.  People join religious
orders because they feel called to work with that order's charism.  Franciscans work with the poor.  Carmelites pray contemplatively.  Dominicans preach.  Jesuits teach.  Get the idea?

What charism does a priest who works for a diocese have?  This was a question that Father Wally said he once had.  One day, as he looked over his congregation he saw:

• the family whose husband wasn't Catholic but came to Mass anyway
• a man who had cancer and only months to live
• a young lady who was struggling with alcoholism
• a teen who thought he had a vocation

Looking over his parishioners, he realized his charism.  He was to minister, or serve, the many different people, with their unique and different problems.  

The charism of a diocesan priest is to serve the people.

Love of the Word

The members in my book club, the Argonauta, love to read. We all read, but the Argonauta are different from other readers. We read everything and use it to gain knowledge. We're all teachers, or former teachers, maybe that's why. Very few of our books are fiction. We aren't impressed with the New York Times top ten. We definitely don't read any Oprah books, that we know of. Our criteria is that one of us has to recommend the book because they've read it and want us to read it. This works for us.

I've also noticed that I'm different from the other Argonauta in that I love the Word. I love to read the Bible and everything written about it. I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge about the Bible. I'd love to discuss it but most of the time, their eyes glaze over.

Thank God for my Dominican Study Group. I can read and talk about the Word all I want. I'm among kindred spirits.

I like to think of it as Saint Dominic's charism. It's a gift.

Called and Gifted

Where to begin? I've had such a busy weekend. Fri. and Sat. I went to a Called and Gifted Workshop.

This workshop talks about each of our "callings" to do God's work. Jesus calls us all to do particular work in the Divine Plan. We all have a unique life and work of love that will transform us and the world about us. To do this work, the Holy Spirit endows us with specific charisms.

We have to find out what our charisms are--"discern." This workshop gave us an inventory questionnaire. That was one day. The next day, the charisms were explained. How to discern our charisms will be discerned over the following six months.

It was interesting and entertaining. My charisms seem to be pastoral: encouragement, faith, hospitality, knowledge, and writing. Over the next six months, I will pray and experiment to see if these are truly my charisms and figure out how God wants me to use them.

Would you pray for me?