Writing as a charism empowers individuals to express beauty, truth, and goodness through the written word. It is a special grace that allows readers to encounter these transcendentals, drawing them closer to God. Today, we will explore the importance of this charism, its applicability, and its role in building the Church.
The Power of Writing
Throughout history, writers with the charism of writing have been instrumental in impacting lives and leading individuals to encounter truth. One such example is the renowned authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, who both possessed a strong charism for writing. Their works have connected with people from various backgrounds and have led them to deeper understanding and faith. For instance, Lewis’ book, “Mere Christianity,” has been instrumental in many conversion stories, demonstrating how the Holy Spirit can use writing to reach and transform lives.
Writing Beyond the Religious Realm
It is essential to note that the charism of writing does not have to be limited to religious texts. Whether it is personal letters, social media posts, blog entries, or even journals, any form of written expression can be a possible outlet for this charism. The intention behind writing is to allow the Holy Spirit to work through individuals, conveying messages of beauty, truth, and goodness to the reader.
Embracing Your Charism
It is crucial to understand that possessing the charism of writing does not require being the most technically gifted writer. The effectiveness of your writing lies not in its perfection but in its capacity to serve as a conduit for the Holy Spirit. If you feel a strong inclination towards this charism, it is incumbent upon you to embrace it and use it to fulfill your role within the Body of Christ.
Writing for the Church
Writing is not solely for personal reflection or self-gratification; it is a call to serve the larger Church. While journaling or personal writing can be a valuable part of your writing process, it is important to prioritize sharing your writing with others to build the larger Church. Whether your writing reaches one person or a hundred thousand, each reader has the potential to be impacted and transformed by the truths you express.
The charism of writing is a powerful gift from the Holy Spirit that enables individuals to express and share beauty, truth, and goodness through the written word. As Catholic believers, we recognize and celebrate the charisms of our Protestant brothers and sisters as part of the larger work of the Holy Spirit. If you have a strong pull towards the charism of writing, it is important to heed the call and use your talent to build the Church. Remember, not using your charisms is a missed opportunity to fulfill your purpose and contribute to the mission of God. So, embrace the charism of writing and let the Holy Spirit work through you to bring about transformation in the lives of others.
Jill Simons:
Hello, and welcome to Charisms for Catholics. My name is Jill Simons, and I’m the executive director at Many Parts Ministries, where we equip the Body of Christ by helping people learn about and discern their charisms, which is really another word for spiritual gifts. When you discern your charisms, you’re able to see how the Holy Spirit is already active in your life and where he is inviting you to further build the Church. Let’s dive in.
Jill Simons:
We are finally here, the last 24th Charism. Thank you for sticking with me through all of these. It has been a wild ride through all 24, but, hopefully, this has been helpful. A good series to really get clarity about each of the individual charisms is are most asked for resources, really, more information about each of the individual charisms. So we’re wrapping it all up today with this episode on the Charism of Writing, which is our final charism. Next week, we’re gonna get into a couple of the charisms that we don’t evaluate on the assessment and why that is, but this is the last of the 24 that you’re gonna get as a possible result when you take the assessment. So Writing as a charism is really going to be a special grace that empowers people to express beauty, truth, goodness, through the written word in a way that the reader then encounters that truth, that goodness. We go to those transcendentals, which are beauty, truth, and goodness, those markers of God, really. And so even if someone is not writing specifically religious texts, you can still encounter beauty, truth, and goodness through that. Great examples of this that most people are familiar with are CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, early 20th century writers. Both of them were actually peers and friends of each other, both of them with an incredibly strong charism for Writing And to judge that, all you have to do is look at how many people have come to faith through their writing and how many people have encountered truth through their writing, how this has connected with people across the lines of religion and culture and time to be able to draw people into something that is true and eternal in their writing. I cannot even count the number of times someone has pointed to “Mere Christianity” as being instrumental in their conversion story. That is showing us that this gift that CS Lewis received and responded to was being used by the Holy Spirit to reach people, to bring people in, who help people encounter not just Christ, but the Church as a whole and to draw them into that. And CS Lewis, as many of you know, was not Catholic, and that’s a great example of the fact that our Protestant brothers and sisters have charisms just the same. That if they are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is there at their baptism to empower them with special graces to build the Church. And obviously, there’s more that the Holy Spirit has available to them that a fullness of that is what we have as Catholics, but that does not denigrate at all what they have also as Protestants. I was just doing an interview earlier today and talking about the fact that we don’t slice up the Holy Spirit and this part of the Holy Spirit is Protestant and this part is Catholic. All of the Holy Spirit is active in the Catholic Church, and that’s why we draw in any place where he is active even if it is not a part of the Catholic Church because the the work of God is inherently Catholic. It is in apparently a place that he wants to draw us together. So I that’s part of why I think it’s really important to identify and celebrate the charisms of our Protestant brothers and sisters as well as the charisms of Catholics. Going back to writing, a lot of people will ask me, you know, not only does it have to be religious in nature, but also does it have to be formal in nature for it to a charism? Do you have to have written a book that a publisher has published? And the answer is no. You can use this charism of being even in very simple everyday applications. Personal letters, Facebook posts in this day and age, instagram posts, writing journals, entries on your blog, anything that is going to be written down no matter how formal or professional it’s perceived to be, is the possible outlet for this charism, and it is also a possible outlet the Holy Spirit to move in you in this way. Like we talked about with Music, this is not necessarily about being the most technically gifted writer ever to have lived. You are not necessarily the best writer in the world when you have this charism but you are an effective writer because what you are writing is a conduit of the Holy Spirit in a very powerful and tangible way for people. And so even if you feel like, well, other people are better writers than me, other people write stuff that’s more worth reading, if you have a strong pull towards this charism. If you feel that this is likely one of yours, it is incumbent on you to write. It is important that you do so and not doing that, not using that is tantamount to being that servant in the parable of the talents who goes away and buries that talent because he’s afraid. He’s afraid of what the results are gonna be, if he squanders it, if he loses it, if things go poorly. That’s exactly what we’re doing when we don’t use our charisms. And, of course, this is true of any charism, but I think I encounter that in the Writing charism more than anywhere else. People really having some fear around whether their writing is worth putting forward or whether that’s elevating themselves unduly to say that they have that charism and embrace that in their lives. But in reality, you are doing what you’re asked when you write when you have a Writing charism them. That is your, they say it over and over again. That is your chore in the family, and not doing it is not a humble act. Not doing it is actually a rebellious act. That’s kinda strong language, but it’s really true. You are rebelling against what you’re being asked to do. And this is gonna look different at different stages of life. Just because you’re not currently writing a novel does not mean that you are rebelling against what God is asking you to do, but really growing in that awareness of what is the call on my life. What is writing supposed to look like in my life? Is this primarily look like just writing personal things to share with my inner circle. Is this writing a book? Is this writing a blog that people are going to read? And I’m gonna share with them. But but recognize that when writing is a charism, it is for the Body of Christ. It’s not for you. It’s not about you, you know, journaling and things like that, although you very well might be a journaler with this charism, but this charism is about the larger Church and writing only serves the larger larger Church when the larger Church gets to read your writing. And there’s very many channels that that come through. And that might be one person in the larger Church. That might be a hundred thousand people in the larger Church. That scope is variable. But anything that you just say for yourself is not building the larger Church. And so I say that not to tell you not to journal and not to write for yourself, you that likely might be a part of your process and you might enjoy doing that. That’s fine. We just wanna also prioritize writing for the larger Church and sharing what you have written with others because that is a part of the call in your life. And when you cooperate with that, the effects are going to be supernatural above and beyond what you would expect from just being a halfway decent writer and sharing your writing with someone The effects are going to be something that can even be life-changing for the individuals reading what you have written. So having spent a lot of my life as a writer, this is not formally, I wouldn’t say, one of my charisms, but I have done a lot of writing in my life. And I understand very intimately kind of the writer’s process and how very tied up in in your own person that process can be. That is a great place to do some work with the Holy Spirit if you feel that this is your charism, to help untangle that, to help detach yourself from your writing a little bit so that you can be a little bit more brave with what you create and share it in the that you feel the Holy Spirit moving you to share it in order to build the larger Church.
Jill Simons:
Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode of Charisms for Catholics. If you would like to learn more about your charisms or begin your own discernment journey, head to our website at manypartsministries.com where you can download our free PDF guide to all 24 charisms and also begin your own journey by taking our charism assessment.
