to each person to be used for others and for the good of the Church and the wellbeing of its members. Charism is a gift that is not static, but continuous to grow, therefore, it needs to be nurtured. It can be compared to a mustard seed that is planted and great care must be attached to it so that it continues to grow daily into a big tree that can provide shelter and fruits, (cfr.. Mt. 13:32). It can also be compared to the story of a king who gave his servants talents according to their ability and on return he expected each of them to give account of how they multiplied the talent. The lazy one puts it ‘safe’ away, while others put the money into business and got profit out of it (cf. Mt. 25: 14ff). This implies that the gifts received from the Lord needs to be nurtured so that it can grow and multiply for the wellbeing of the Institute, the Church and the people of God we live with and serve.
Characteristics of Charism
The characteristic (typical) of Charism is graciousness e.g. compassion, humility, humanity and the like. This means that they reflect the truth, goodness and beauty of God. They resonate with the standard of Christ and Gospel values. They are also in consonant with the way of life and constitution of a particular Institute. The Charism of the consecrated life has five dimensions:
1.    Personal charism
2.    Originating charism
3.    The charism of the founder
4.    The Founding Charism
5.    The charism of the Institute
 
1. Personal Charism
Lumen Gentium underlines that all who belong to the people of God are entrusted with Charisms. The Holy spirit entrusts Charisms to them by the virtues of their Baptism. All that we have, come from the fusion of the grace of the Holy Spirit and our genealogy i.e., the cultural and historical contingency we acquire because of the place, time and incident of our birth. However, it should be noted that not everything in our genealogy is gracious. We understand graciousness as those things we possess which reflect God because they are true, good and beautiful in the light of the Gospel. Some of the things we have are false, evil and ugly: For example, tribalism, hatred, anger, envy is far from the gospel values.
An individual can be endowed with a variety or special Gifts which are unique to individual, but most of the charisms we have are ‘ordinary’ for the ordinary daily life.
It is also important to understand charism the way gifts are understood. A gift in most culture is something given to an individual and for that individual, not to be shared. For instance, if someone gives me a dress, it is meant for me to wear. It would be hurtful to the giver if she sees somebody else wearing the dress she has given to me as particular friend.
However, charism which is the gift of God to all the members of the faithful calls each member to accept, discover, nurture and share their gifts with one another for the sake of personal growth, the Institute and of the Church. Some of these gifts are hidden to individual as if they are buried in deep in the soil that needs to be un-earthed. Our brothers and sisters who live with us can help us to un-earth the gifts and make use of them for the good of the community and the Church. Others are buried due to lack of appreciation, self-pity, or envy by others.
Personal Charism is a gift of the Holy Spirit to an individual. This is intended for the enrichment, development and rejuvenation of the life of the Institute, in union with the communities, for the renewal of the members, the Church and the society. (Cfr. Mutuae Reletiones 12). This implies that each member of the Institute comes with a personal charism to enrich self, the Institute, the Church and humanity.

Catch up in the next series…Thank you