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Index > Interconfessional Dialogues > M-RC > Paris (Singapore) Rep. 1991 | CONT. > Part Two
 
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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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