Spiritual Gifts

​A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, June 8th, 2025:
Solemnity of Pentecost

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1 Corinthians
12.3b-7, 12-13

Brothers and sisters: No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

My moment of conversion to Catholicism was a moment full of great spiritual gifts. I received a vision of Jesus and heard Him speak to me. He seemed to guide me physically as I walked boldly down a dangerous slope with my eyes closed. A friend who was with me at the time would later recount that I spoke in tongues. 
 
As a brand-new practising Catholic, this was equal parts exciting and scary. Some of the people I spoke to about it seemed to think it meant that I was destined for something special or unique, which was kindly meant but overwhelming to imagine. I was already dreading my upcoming return to normal life, where I’d have to face many people who knew me only as an atheist. Now, thanks to a miraculous encounter with God, I was … what, some kind of chosen one?
 
On the journey back home, another very wise friend of mine sat next to me, flipped my bible open to 1 Corinthians 12, and encouraged me to pray with it over the coming days. It’s been nearly 20 years now, and this is still a chapter I come back to regularly. I seemed to hear Mark’s voice as I read this passage and prayed about what to write in this reflection:
 
“Every encounter with God is extraordinary in its own way. Your faith is not about the things that happen to you; it’s a relationship with God. He chose to appear to you in this way simply because He loves you and He knew it would capture your heart. Don’t stay focused on the miraculous, just seek Jesus.” 
 
When we talk about spiritual gifts, it’s easy to be drawn to the supernatural – those who can heal physical or mental infirmities with prayer, those who can speak in tongues, those who prophesy. But Saint Paul reminds us that these gifts are not for us alone, and they don’t make us special or different from others. They are simply ways that the Holy Spirit helps us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. They might guide our own conversion or the conversion of others. They may bring comfort or consolation to the suffering. But these gifts are no more special than the more mundane. There are many other gifts – administration, hospitality, and teaching, for example – that often bear more fruit without any of the drama. The gift of celibacy is one that I think deserves particular praise: it is largely practised in private, and yet those who are given this grace are freed to serve the church in countless big and small ways. 
 
So if you’ve had the experience of a dramatic gift, give thanks to God. And if your gifts are not ones that draw attention, give thanks to God all the more. Our church needs the graces God is giving you, and God sees the ways your gifts build His Kingdom.


​Jenna Young

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