II. Gifts Of The Spirit
58.
The entire Christian community has the responsibility of spreading
the Gospel and witnessing to the Lord's work of salvation until
he comes. This task has "its origins in the mission of the
Son and that of the Holy Spirit according to the purpose of God
the Father" (Vatican II, Ad gentes, 2).
59.
Throughout the ages the Holy Spirit has poured out gifts on those
who have been baptized in the name of Christ. These gifts are for
the building up of the Church, which is charged with proclaiming
the Good News for the salvation of the world, so that all people
may come to faith and share in the worship of the Triune God (cf.
Rom 15:7-16; 2 Cor 4:13-15). Thus, each charism that is given elicits
a response that must be lived out in ministry and in service: "And
his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for
the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ until
we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God" (Eph 4:11-13). The gifts of the Spirit, therefore,
are for communion (koinonia): for the drawing of humanity into communion
with the Father and the Son, and for the building up and strengthening
of communion among those who believe.
60.
Among the gifts bestowed by the Spirit there is the specific charism
received by those who are called to the ordained ministry. This
charism is directed toward the ordering and harmony which must prevail
in the exercise of all the gifts. Properly to understand the relationship
between the ministries of the ordained and the non-ordained it is
vital to see in both of them the activity of the Spirit who enlivens
and unifies the Church through the gifts: "Now there are a
variety of gifts but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of
service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working,
but it is the same God who activates them all in everyone"
(1 Cor 12:4-7). The same Spirit operates among all the baptized
and across all the generations.
61. The New Testament describes the Spirit filled life in the early
Christian communities. The origins of the ordained ministry are
found in the commission that Christ gave to his apostles (Mt 28:18-20).
While there was at the beginning no single pattern, the ordained
ministry was a gift to the Church for leadership in its corporate
and worshiping life, for the maintenance and deepening of its order
and structure, for the organization of its missionary witness and
for discernment in understanding and applying the Gospel. As time
passed, the Church was led by the Spirit to recognize the threefold
ministry of bishop, presbyter and deacon as normative; some other
patterns of ministry that may be discerned in the New Testament
became assimilated to the threefold one. While not all the many
gifts of the Spirit for ministry have figured equally throughout
the history of the Church, all have been bestowed afresh at times
of crisis and opportunity. Yet the testimony of the New Testament
must continue to throw light on the ways in which the ordained ministry
has developed and to challenge the ways it functions in our different
communions.
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