Living in the Season of the Holy Spirit #3: There Are Different Gifts

By Fr. Ron Will, CPPS

All the reflections in this series can be found here: Living in the Season of the Holy Spirit.

Welcome back to Precious Blood Renewal Center. We have been talking about how the Feast of Pentecost propels us into the season of the Holy Spirit. When we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we participate in a new creation. The third key concept of this season that we will explore today is: There Are Different Gifts.

I am standing in front of the bell tower at Precious Blood Renewal Center. These two bells probably look the same to you, but they produce different sounds and it is those differences when they are ringing together is part of their beauty

Different gifts complement one another for the sake of a better world. God offers different gifts to different people. But instead of standing before God with open hands to receive a gift, many of us sit on our hands.

Often we judge another person as different from ourselves, therefore not acceptable. Gifts are not given for our own enjoyment, but for the sake of serving, for making the world a better place.

The Feast of Pentecost reminds us of the spiritual gifts of the Spirit that we received at Baptism and Confirmation. Furthermore the celebration of Pentecost urges us to take the gifts we have received and put them into action.

Every office staff, every assembly line, every family needs all the members doing their jobs, taking on their responsibilities. Or else the atmosphere in the office, the factory or home is dismal and the outcome is second-rate.

And so it is in the church. Every member has a God-given gift that is needed for happiness, enjoyment in the church, and for first-rate outcomes. We must all use our gifts for the church to be dynamic, for the church to be the best version of itself.

One evening I went to a jazz concert by members of the St Joseph Symphony Orchestra. I was struck by how the instruments complemented one another. For a while, one musician-led, then backed off. Another musician stepped forward and led a solo, but always accompanied by other instruments. It was an amazing complementarity of different gifts.

In the same way, our church is made up of amazing numbers of complementary gifts. When they are all used, we are making a difference in the world.

When you have false humility and don’t acknowledge your musical gift then you mess up the orchestra. When you don’t share your gift in the church or when you prevent someone else from sharing their gift, you mess up the mission of the church.

What specific gifts have you been given by the Holy Spirit and how can you use them for others?

As people of faith, we must be open to trusting the Holy Spirit to use us, to fill us and to shape us. This is a challenging thought for some of us, and a scary thought for others.

As we continue in the season of the Holy Spirit, let our prayer be that we are open to the Holy Spirit’s filling us and using us to transform our communities, our churches and our world.

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This article is being republished. It first appeared on July 7, 2020.