The Luminous Mysteries Show Us How to Live Our Charisms

I just completed a workshop called "Called and Gifted".  Each of us is called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and if you are called, you are gifted.

Charisms are gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us solely for the benefit of others. Think Healing or Intercessory Prayer. We don't earn them. We don't choose them. They can't be used for evil or selfish purposes. With the workshop fresh on my mind while I was saying my Rosary, I noticed how the Luminous Mysteries show us how to live out those charisms.

Baptism of Jesus - We received our gifts when we entered God's family through Baptism. Jesus' Baptism, combined with prayer and fasting, clarified His earthly mission. We should follow His example and speak to him regularly through prayer to discern what is our individual mission for Him. And if you want to upgrade to Prayer 5.0, then you should add fasting.









Wedding at Cana - We must test our gifts to make sure they are really charisms and not just natural talents. Jesus performed His first recorded miracle at Cana. He received His mission through prayer, and now He was testing his gifts. Feedback from others helps to confirm if our gift is real. The feedback from the Wedding at Cana is that it's still being talked about over 2,000 years later. :)

Preaching of the Gospel - "Repent and believe in the Gospel (good news)!"  Those are Jesus' first recorded words (translated, of course.)   We must keep ourselves in communion with Him through regular confession, which repairs our relationship when we break it through sin, and we must have Faith in the Gospel.  We don't make our charisms "work", but if you don't turn from sin and believe, how often do you think you will exercise them?





Transfiguration - We use our charisms to help people get to know Jesus Christ.  He is revealed to them, transfigured from a "nice guy and teacher" to the Lord of all. That is what our charisms are for.











Institution of the Eucharist - Jesus gave us His Body and Blood to help nourish us so that we can do our part for Him to carry out His mission. He's not sending us out unarmed.










It was an exciting workshop because it also helped define those charisms we do NOT have. So, if you're doing volunteer work that is frustrating you, you may not have the charism for it. It also helped to see how people with different charisms may react to situations in ways I don't understand, so I shouldn't judge them or get frustrated with them (which happens all too frequently!)

It's just another way that praying the Rosary helps bring me closer to Jesus.