Listen, said Gabriel, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

The Holy Spirit is a real person. He is the Most High God and spiritual gifts are charisms given by him to his people.

The fact is, we are Easter people; we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he is God. We are the Penticostalists who enjoy the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

He is a gift giver and he gives us his charisms. Saint Paul states that there are a variety of these and they are supernatural graces. Graces given to us which result in miracles, prophesy, healing, interpreting scripture, tongues, interpretation of tongues, discernment of spirits. preaching and many more. These gifts are for mutual spiritual upbuilding.

Many people assume that the Holy Spirit would speak to God in English or their native tongue. He may very well do this but the Spirit is master of all languages and dialects - past, present and future and He uses our voice and our tongues. 

We are His works of art. We are the living temples of the Holy Spirit. 

We can be sure that we know the truth about tongues (praying in the Spirit) because St. Paul speaks of the gift in Romans: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

It is clear then, that praying in the Spirit is an intercessory gift.

Paul goes on to clarify the nature of the charisms by saying "there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but the same God, who works all things in all people. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is beneficial to all. For to one is given a word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another a word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another  distinguishing of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But in all these things one and the same Spirit is at work, distributing to each one individually just as he wishes.

We lay hands on the sick and pray for the sick to get well and when we pray in tongue it is the Holy Spirit praying within us and this is vocalised.

2 Samual states that "The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue."

We are his living temple and he prays to God using our voice and our tongues because we are His people. We don't pray out loud in tongues during mass as this is not the place but those of us who have the gift of tongues can pray silently. However, we usually choose to use tongues in our own time or at prayer meetings.

One of the gifts I would bring to your attention is the gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Before them a fire devours,

and behind them a flame scorches.

He is truly beautiful and he only ever speaks the truth. It's him who brings us into a deeper relationship with God. John the Baptist speaks of Him when he talks of Jesus. John states that although he baptises with water for repentance that after him "comes one who is more powerful". Someone who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Make no mistake, this promise is for you. Jesus wants to baptise you with His Holy Spirit. He wants to give you that deep infilling and set your heart alight. The baptism of the Spirit is alive in the Catholic church.

He has anointed us, placed His seal on us, and put His spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come

( 2 Corinthians 1:22)

The supernatural charisms get a lot of press because they are supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Although these gifts are important expressions of the power of the Spirit we must always consider other equally important gifts such as hospitality, service, teaching, leadership, administration and celibacy. And it's worth bearing in mind that Jesus possessed all of the aforementioned characteristics - and more. We also know that gifts such as tongues are "the least of the gifts" and care must be taken not to over-emphasise the charisms and build them into something more important than they are. After all, St Paul says that if one doesn't have love then one has nothing. Love is the greatest charism. And the most costly.

It's far more important to have good dinners made with love and an orderly house managed with respect for God and to have everything running smoothly than it is to have people wandering around with hands uplifted praying in tongues.

Those who have the gift of tongues are not members of an exclusive club. It's not a gift for sinless and holy people. It's not for the deserving and it's a gift which all can claim. The Spirit lives in everyone and is generous and wants all to pray and sing in tongues - from the least to the greatest.

"Even on my menservants and maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit"

It's crucial to take literally what John says about the Holy Spirit and fire. We know that baptising with water entails submersion or pouring. We are at least touched by water to signify the washing away of original sin, purity and repentance. It's the same with the baptism of the spirit. John says we are to be baptised with fire. And he means it. Jesus is the baptiser and it's him who touches us with the fire of the Holy Spirit - literally. The Holy Spirit is the cleansing flame of love and he is a person. He is the breath of God. Make no mistake though, he is not least among the Holy Trinity. Although appearing in the form of a dove he also came like a roaring wind on the day of Pentecost. His coming was as loud as thundering chariots and he appeared as flames, the heat of which then filled the apostles. They were set on fire by God and went out to preach the Gospel which means good news

This is the promise made by Jesus being accomplished and it is for you. God is a roaring fire and he can consume you - but he is also very gentle. Some people have been baptised in the Spirit and the lick of the flames have been so tender that they barely recognised their baptism. Every baptism is different.

Papal infallibility.

The charism of papal infallibility is another gift of the Spirit and it's a gift on which the catholic church is very dependent. This does not mean that the Holy Father is without sin, or that anything and everything he says is true. It simply means that when the Holy Father speaks ex-cathedra that his word has been guided by God and is without error.  "I am the good shepherd"; "My sheep hear my voice...".

The traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit in comparison to the charisms.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not something which only became apparent in the early church. God spoke of the Holy Spirit in Exodus when he explained to Moses that Bezalel would possess gifts such as the ability to work with precious metals and cut stone. He was also to be imbued with intelligence and capacity to devise artistic designs.

It is written that God will pour out His Spirit on all people. We are therefore the gifted children of God. Well, would you expect anything else?

The gift of teaching and the gift of wisdom are charisms in the same way as the gift of healing or interpretation of tongues is equally a charism. The difference is that healing has an air of the supernatural about it because it's mystical. It's not explainable. Nevertheless, without wisdom, discernment or counsel then the person with the gift of healing may very well make a horrific mistake and pay the price for their foolishness when it comes to laying hands on someone they shouldn't. Notice that Jesus did not lay hands on everyone because he "knew what was in their hearts". It goes without saying that Jesus possessed wisdom. It was this which guided him when dealing with Pharisees and it was this which astounded those who discovered him in the temple when he was only 12 years old. It was wisdom which spoke to those who were unable to hear, speak or walk and it said "Do you want to be healed?", "What do you want me to do for you?", "Do you want to get well?". Not everyone wants to be healed as there are some advantages to being sick or just staying where they are in life. Not every sick person wants Jesus and he's not welcome everywhere.

"There are 6 days on which you can come and be healed so come on one of them, not the Sabbath".

When it comes to the traditional versus the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, what most people often end up doing is separating them into two camps. They'll apportion assets such as wisdom, understanding and counsel etc to one group and in the other they'll mark off gifts such as healing, tongues and miracles (the more "spiritual" ones). This is a mistake.

The problem for us humans is that we like to categorise and this often involves hierarchies. For some, to praise God in tongues and prophesy is seen as being spiritually superior whereas to be fully immersed in the far less subtle but ultimately more rewarding spiritual gift of giving or hospitality can produce for more more desirable results.

Let's imagine for a moment a prayer meeting where a small congregation is speaking and singing in tongues. It's a cacophony of unregulated noise and without leadership it's going nowhere. Without a musician or three then its a one dimensional environment and if the gift of hospitality is not present then new people will not be received as warmly as they might have been. Regular attendees could find themselves short on openness and without good administration the bills may not even get paid. When the gift of helping is absent the pastors can get stressed but hey, everything's fine if we've got people prophesying, right? Wrong, because after the meeting there are no tasty sandwiches, hot coffees or support in other ways. It's important to see that we all complement each other and that the spiritual gifts are there for the service of others and for mutual upbuilding. And if an insufficient depth of wisdom is not present to sort out the politics then infighting and disagreements might triumph.

St Paul says that "There are different kinds of gifts, but always the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."

One might think there's higher status to be had in healing but as this is intrinsically linked to deliverance, which is a filthy business, then there's really no reason for envy. After all, who really wants the equivalent of spiritual dirt under their fingernails?

It's important to consider that we are all temples of the Holy Spirit and he apportions gifts as he sees fit. When one teaches under the auspices of the Holy Spirit then nobody's bad back gets better but when someone's back does make a significant improvement because of the discovery of a gifted chiropractor (give the physician his due because he too is a gift from God) then this is of equal importance and should be recognised as such.

None of the gifts, traditional or otherwise, should be seen as par excellence or indisputable evidence of holiness. What is important though are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. St Paul says that even if he was gifted up to the gunnels and spoke like an angel that it would mean nothing without love. And he is quite right. Kindness, patience or generousity are far more desirable than the charism of tongues.

Gifts versus fruits

It's important to make a distinction though between the fruits of the Holy Spirit and his gifts. Fruits are manifest in attributes such as patience, gentleness and kindness. Whereas a charism such as discernment of spirits is clearly a spiritual gift for upbuilding.