Lumen Gentium: The Mystery of the Church (12, continued)

Chapter II of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is entitled “On the People of God.” It continues as follows:

“12. . . . It is not only through the sacraments and the ministries of the Church that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, "allotting his gifts to everyone according as He wills,(114) He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the words of the Apostle: "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit".(115) These charisms, whether they be the more outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation for they are perfectly suited to and useful for the needs of the Church. Extraordinary gifts are not to be sought after, nor are the fruits of apostolic labor to be presumptuously expected from their use; but judgment as to their genuinity and proper use belongs to those who are appointed leaders in the Church, to whose special competence it belongs, not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to that which is good.(116)”

(114) 1 Corinthians 12:11.

(115) Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 19-21.

(116) Cf. John 11:52.

 

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Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium