The Shining Face: Texts and Commentary from Gregory Palamas

There are three themes linked together in the Lectionary for the Last Sunday of Epiphany; the Shining Face of Moses, the Transfiguration of Christ, and the Shining Face of the Christian.

In Exodus we see the heartfelt desire of Moses who asks the Lord to accompany both him, and accompany Israel on their journey to the Promised Land.  The first step in transformation is desire.

Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.'  Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.[i] 

The assurance that the Lord gives to Moses is the same assurance that He gives to his people through Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, who says to us “Lo, I am with you always.”[ii]  Moses response, and ours, reveals the central concern of God’s children.  What point is there in Christian life if the Lord does not go with us?

And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."  And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.  For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"[iii] 

Long ago the Lord said to his people, “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.  I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.” [iv]  The Lord knows you personally by name!

[v]And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."  Moses said, "Please show me your glory."  And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 

The Psalmist prayed “Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!  You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."[vi]  And again he says, “Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!”[vii]  Other editions say, “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually!”[viii]  Hebrew has few abstractions and tends to be very concrete; in seeking the Presence of God one seeks His Face.  The Christian cries out, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”

But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live."  And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.  Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.[ix]

Palamas makes a distinction between essence and energy.  One does not see the essence of God, the Face of God with direct sight; one sees the Face of God revealed in Jesus Christ.  One beholds the outraying of His glory.  In Hebrews we are told, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”[x]  And again St. Paul says, “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”[xi]  And again, Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”[xii]  This is why the Creed of St. Athanasius says of the humanity of Christ that he is “Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood.”[xiii]  That is, in Christ Jesus Incarnate we behold not the Essence, but the energy of God visible in the Christ.

In the Transfiguration we see the radiance of the Father reflected in the humanity of His Incarnate Son.

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.  And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.  And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.  And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"- not knowing what he said.  As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.  And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!"  And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.[xiv]

What is apparent is the dullness of the disciples who are “heavy with sleep.”  The meaning of this event is lost on them and only comes into focus after the Resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost.  Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the Papal household of Pope John Paul II points out that a personal appropriation of the anointing of the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity for a growth in transformation.[xv]  It only after Pentecost that Peter is able to say with understanding,

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,"  we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.  And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,  knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.[xvi] 

Here is a major point of Hesychast theology.  When you behold the face of God, you yourself become radiant.

[xvii]When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

The Psalmist David states the principle clearly, “Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.”[xviii]   St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “We receive into ourselves a likeness of whatever we gaze upon.”[xix]

To be aglow with the Spirit is not always comfortable for those who behold a Christian radiant with the light of Christ and living in joy, peace, and grace in the midst of this world.  God grant us grace that as we begin to glow with the light of Christ that we do so unawares. Sometimes Christians are repugnant to others because their attitudes make them repugnant. 

Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.  But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.  Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.  And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.  Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,  the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him. [xx]

The shining face of the Christian is prefigured in the shining face of Moses and in the shining face of Christ in the Transfiguration.  Until we are endued with the Spirit a veil lies over our faces.  Paul instructs us, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”[xxi] 

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,  who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,  will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?  For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.  Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.  For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.  Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,  not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.  But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains uplifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.  Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.[xxii]

Here is the secret to deification.  It is very simply beholding the glory of the Lord in prayer, worship, meditation on Holy Scripture, and in fellowship with the saints.  When we behold the glory of the Lord we enter into a process of transformation.  The phrase, “are being transformed” translates the Greek word for metamorphosis which indicates a gradual process.  That process transforms us into the image of the Lord, into the image of Christ, and it goes on from one degree of glory to another.  This metamorphosis is a work of the Spirit.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.[xxiii]

We do have to be clear that this takes place not in idealized human nature, but in us as we actually are, warts and all.  We whose lives began in darkness are illumined by the Light of Christ shining in our hearts, even though we are jars of clay.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.[xxiv]

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[i] Exodus 33:12 

[ii] Matthew 28:20

[iii] Exodus 33:14

[iv] Isaiah 45:4-6  

[v] Exodus 33:17

[vi] Psalm 27:7-8  

[vii] 105:4

[viii] RSV, ESV

[ix] Exodus 33:20

[x] Hebrews 1:3  

[xi] 2 Corinthians 4:6

[xii] John 14:9

[xiii] BCP, p. 865

[xiv] Luke 9:28-43  

[xv] Raniero Cantalamessa, Sober Intoxication of the Spirit, (Cincinnati: Servant Books, 2005), p. 153-154

[xvi] 2 Peter 1:16 - 21  

[xvii] Exodus 34:29

[xviii] Psalm 34:5

[xix] “A person who welcomes passion by his taking a look gives an opening for the disease harmful to himself.” Gregory Nyssa, Life of Moses, (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), p. 132

[xx] Exodus 33: 30

[xxi] Romans 12:1-2

[xxii] 2 Corinthians 3:4

[xxiii] 2 Corinthians 3:16

[xxiv] 2 Corinthians 4: 6

The Wandering Mind: Insights on Prayer in the Rule of St. Benedict

            One of the great difficulties in the life of prayer is the problem of the wandering mind.  The opposite side of the coin is the practice of the Presence of God.  St. Benedict however does not approach prayer from contemplative heights, but rather from a practical and humble assessment of the experience of the average person.  One reason why he tells us to keep our prayers “short and pure” is because most people have the more immediate problem of maintaining their focus for the brief time of one prayer office.  In the quotes from the Rule below (Ch. 19, 20, 43) and in order to clarify the quotes below, I have included texts from the English Standard Version, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Septuagint [LXX] in blue, along with the texts from the Rule.  Where the context is important I have included the context. 

Chapter 19: On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office

We believe that the divine presence is everywhere and that "the eyes of the Lord are looking on the good and the evil in every place" (Proverbs 15:3).  [“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. [ESV]   But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God. To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words, "Serve the Lord in fear" (Psalm 2:11-12).  [Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. [ESV] and again "Sing praises wisely" (Psalm 47: BCP).  [For God is King of all the earth; * sing praises with all your skill.] and "In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to You" (Ps. 137:1) [kai. evnanti,on avgge,lwn yalw/ soi. LXX, trans. in the sight of the angels].  Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in sight of the Godhead and of His Angels, and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.

St. Benedict’s understanding of the nature of prayer is founded on the reality the Presence of God is everywhere.  Where Brother Lawrence would Practice the Presence of God, St. Benedict would rather have us practice the awareness of the perpetual Presence of God.  God is always with us, even when we are not consciously with him.  This for St. Benedict is a matter of faith and understanding, before it is a matter of experience.  He tells us that the “eyes of the LORD are in every place.”  That is the abiding reality of not only spiritual life, but of all life.

Psalm 139: TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID

1   O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 

2   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar. 

3   You search out my path and my lying down        

and are acquainted with all my ways. 

4   Even before a word is on my tongue, behold,

O LORD, you know it altogether. 

5   You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me. 

6   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it. 

7   Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence? 

8   If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 

9   If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me. 

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night," 

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

We should understand and believe this when we are assisting at the Work of God, the Opus Dei, and in all the times of praying, whether corporately or individually.  In all of these we are not the primary officiant, we are merely assisting at the Work of God; the primary officiant is the Holy Spirit, and following the Holy Spirit, the Community of the faithful, at work or at prayer.  When praying we are never alone but are surrounded by a whole host of witnesses.

We are to serve God in and with our prayers with holy awe, recognizing to Whom our prayers are directed.  Not only that we are called to, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”  In prayer we are to “rejoice with trembling.”  The text also brings to the fore our love relationship with the Son of God, “Kiss the Son!”  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27).  Prayer, love, and adoration, are inseparable.  Prayer is meant to engage the whole person. 

We are instructed to, "Sing praises wisely" or perhaps better translated to “sing praises with all your skill.”  When praying exercise your mind, your body, and your voice.  One way of doing this is to pray, or sing a prayer office aloud, deliberately, with all the skill you can manage.  For this purpose it is very helpful to learn some of the Benedictine chants that are available to you. Even though some are assigned to specific Psalms in our Offices, if you learn three of four of the chants you can use them with almost any Psalm.  The benefit of doing this is that you have to work harder at prayer and it increases your concentration.

We are to pray with an awareness of the extended unseen fellowship of the angels.  In your prayers,

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:22-24).

Focus in prayer is a matter of practice and deliberate focus.  St. Benedict says, “let us take part in the psalmody in such a way that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.”  It doesn’t happen accidently, one has to desire to keep heart, mind and voice in harmony, and persist; and as often as we wander we are to recall ourselves to a conscious active practice of prayer.  Sometimes this cannot be done praying silently; one often has to literally give voice to our prayers in order to maintain that focus.

Chapter 20 exhorts us to be aware of to Whom we are praying.  The focus is on the identity and majesty of God.  Praying with focus requires a conscious awareness of Who God is, and who we are.  Such awareness brings with it humility.

Chapter 20: On Reverence in Prayer

When we wish to suggest our wants to persons of high station, we do not presume to do so except with humility and reverence. How much the more, then, are complete humility and pure devotion necessary in supplication of the Lord who is God of the universe! And let us be assured that it is not in saying a great deal that we shall be heard (Matt 6:7). [“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” ESV], but in purity of heart and in tears of compunction. Our prayer, therefore, ought to be short and pure, unless it happens to be prolonged by an inspiration of divine grace. In community, however, let prayer be very short, and when the Superior gives the signal let all rise together.

            The analogy is phrased in formal language; but what if you, in our more egalitarian age, were to ask for raise from your boss?  You would know, unless you are a fool, that attitude is everything, and if you are asking for a raise you ought to make your request with respect for the fact that your boss is the boss.  How much more if you are asking for daily bread from the King of the Universe? Prayer also calls for simplicity rather than complexity.  The more complex our prayers, the greater the difficulty in maintaining focus.  Often at prayer our minds wander to other tasks that may beckon for attention.  Keep an index card handy and write down one word only when a task comes to mind to remind you of the task later, rather than getting trapped into dwelling on the task instead of your prayers.  Having done that put the index card aside and return immediately to your prayers.

Chapter 43: On Those Who Come Late to the Work of God or to Table

At the hour for the Divine Office, as soon as the signal is heard, let them abandon whatever they may have in hand and hasten with the greatest speed, yet with seriousness, so that there is no excuse for levity.

Benedict establishes a simple precedent.  Establish your own regular time of prayer and having done that, when your internal bell rings, do not delay but go immediately to prayer rather than dilly dallying, or puttering around.  Prayer is serious work, and it is work that you do in companionship with the Holy Spirit.  Your commitment to pray is not a commitment to yourself, nor just in a general sort of way to God, but rather a commitment to the Holy Spirit Who waits for you to assist in the work of prayer with Him as you present yourself to the Father and the Son.

The Shepherds on the Hill

High on a bluff, opposite the City of Bethlehem sits the traditional site of the Shepherd’s fields.  Set well back from the edge of the bluff are some shallow low ceilinged caves, such as those commonly used by shepherds watching over their flocks by night.  Each cave is large enough to hold a fair sized flock of sheep.  At night the shepherds built their campfire and lay down in mouth of the caves.  The shepherds were the door of the sheep.  Walking to the edge of the bluff one looks down on the fields of Boaz.  Boaz was the father of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David the King, who was the direct line ancestor of Jesus on both Joseph’s side and on Mary’s side.  Joseph’s genealogy is given in the Gospel of Matthew, and Mary’s in the Gospel of Luke.

           

         The flock they guarded was large enough for several shepherds to tend.  Shepherds were usually single men too young to marry, or landless bachelors.  It was rough work, dirty work, tending sometimes recalcitrant, wayward, and often stupid sheep.  It could be dangerous protecting the sheep from thieves, wolves, and as David tells us from marauding lions or bears.

        There were no city lights, no ambient light; the only illumination starlight and the waning or waxing moon.  Looking across the fields of Boaz, Bethlehem would be silhouetted blackly on the horizon.

            

            The account of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke is plain and unadorned.  A young couple, Joseph and Mary, travel by foot, no donkey; only the wealthy could afford a donkey.  The distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem is approximately 70 miles depending on the route they would have chosen.  On arriving in Bethlehem, the city of their ancestor David, they found that there was no room in the inn.  The customary inn was little more than one room and a courtyard, with a cave for a stable nearby.  They took refuge in the stable which, all things considered, was probably considerably cleaner than the inn would have been and had the advantage of privacy.  The newborn baby is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid on the hay in a stone manger.  The only hint in the passage of things to come is the simple reference affirming that Joseph was of the lineage of David, but so also was Mary.

            The theological weight of this part of the story rests solely on the appearance of the angel to the shepherds on the hill.

Luke 2:8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 

            At first only one angel appears.  The radiant light of the Cloud of the Glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds, and we are told that they were filled with fear.

Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.  11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 

            That is the heart of the matter, all else is trappings.  The baby is the Savior who has come into the world to save his people from their sins.  He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed one who is the Lord.  The title is evocative of Psalm 45.  The one who is born is the Living God in the flesh.

Psalm 45:6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.  7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.  8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

            In the birth of this infant the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled,

  Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

            It is only after the central message is safely and clearly delivered that the multitude of angels appears.  The phrase, “Lord God of Hosts,” actually means “Lord God of Armies.”  The multitude of the heavenly host appearing is the Angelic Army of the Lord. 

Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,  14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"  15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."  16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 

It is significant that it is to simple working class men that the angels appear; not to prelates or scholars, not to rulers or priests, not to Sadducees or Pharisees.  Why?  Because God knew the hearts of these men, and He knew that they would respond with joyful faith.

Luke 2:18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

            Do I need to make the application?  I certainly do.

1 Corinthians 1: 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,  29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

The Grace of Deification and the Charisms of the Spirit

God never does the same thing twice, not even snowflakes, much less the outpouring of His Spirit on human flesh. He cries out “"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”[i]

In order to understand the Charisms, the Gifts of the Spirit, we have to look at the Incarnation and its implication for us and also at the same time view the Charisms in the context of the larger work of the Spirit which is our deification, or sanctification.  When the Spirit of God comes to dwell in us he comes with all that he is, including both the fruit of the Spirit and the Charisms. Let me remind you of Gregory Palamas teaching on deification:

The grace of deification . . . transcends nature, virtue and knowledge, and . . . “all these things are inferior to it.”  Every virtue and imitation of God on our part indeed prepares those who practice them for divine union, but the mysterious union itself is effected by grace.  It is through grace that “the entire Divinity comes to dwell in fullness in those deemed worthy,” and all the saints in their entire being dwell in God, receiving God in His wholeness, and gaining no other reward for their ascent to Him than God Himself.  “He is conjoined to them as a soul is to its body, to its own limbs”; judging it right to dwell with believers by the authentic adoption, according to the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit.[ii]

Reference: 1 Corinthians 3:16   ¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?[iii]

If the Holy Spirit is in you, joined “as a soul to its body, to its own limbs,” the whole of the Spirit dwells within you; you cannot pick and choose what part of the Spirit of God you want to possess. John the baptizer states a principle that applies to the Incarnate Christ and to all who are called by His name: “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.”[iv]  You cannot have half a cup of the Holy Spirit.  However what you experience depends on your receptivity and openness.  That is why the Psalmist says, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart.”[v]  Our hearts are enlarged by sharing in the ministry of God’s love incarnate in our hearts, by loving God with all our hearts, souls and bodies, and by loving our neighbors as ourselves.”  It is the work of responsive love that enlarges our hearts.

On the Charisms

The word “charismatic” is derived from the Greek word “charism,” a New Testament word for a gift of the Holy Spirit. Cardinal Suenens of Belgium once said, “No charisms, no Church.” Both Christ and His Church are charismatic in nature.  All ministry of the Holy Spirit in and through the Church is carried out by the charisms of the Holy Spirit. The shape of the ministry of the Church is determined by the charisms of the Holy Spirit. Where this is no longer true, you have only a dead and lifeless orthodoxy.

The charisms of the Holy Spirit are so evident in the life and ministry of Jesus that His very title “Christ” refers to the Chrism, or Anointing of the gift giving Spirit of God. We ourselves are called “Christians.” The word was originally an insult referring to “little anointeds.” We are in a deep sense charismatic, precisely because we bear the name Christian. That is why at every confirmation the Bishop prays over the new confirmands saying, “By the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service. Renew in these your servants the covenant you made with them at their baptism. Send them forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.”  Palamas anchors his teaching on charisms in the life of prayer.

            Indeed every man of sense knows well that most of the charisms of the Spirit are granted to those worthy of them at the time of prayer.  “Ask and it shall be given”, the Lord says.  This applies not only to being ravished “even to the third heaven”, but to all the gifts of the Spirit.  The gift of diversity of tongues and their interpretation, which Paul recommends us to acquire by prayer, shows that certain charisms operate through the body…. The same is true of the word of instruction, the gift of healing, the performing of miracles, and Paul’s laying on of hands by which he communicated the Holy Spirit.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 3: ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.[vi]

It is prayer, that dynamic and living connection with God through His Spirit, that releases the Gifts of the Spirit in His people in response to the ministries to which each person is called.  There is an old principle, “God never calls anyone to minister without standing ready to equip that person for ministry.”  Palamas goes on to say:

            In the case of the gifts of instruction and of tongues and their interpretation, even though these are acquired by prayer, yet it is possible that they may operate even when prayer is absent from the soul.  But healings and miracles never take place unless the soul of the one exercising either gift be in a state of intense mental prayer and his body in perfect tune with his soul.

            In short the transmission of the Spirit is effected not only when prayer is present in the soul, a prayer which mystically accomplishes the union with the perpetual source of these benefits; not only when one is practicing mental prayer, since it is not recorded that the apostles uttered any audible words at the moment of laying on their hands.  This communication takes place, then, not only during the mental prayer of the soul, but also at those moments when the body is operating, when for instance the hands through which the Holy Spirit is sent down are touching the man who is being ordained.  How can you say that such charisms involving the body are not just as much gifts of God, given for the good of those who pray to possess them, alleging as your reason that those “ravished to the third heaven” must forget what concerns the body.[vii]

The basic gifts of the Spirit are listed in I Corinthians 12:4-11, but the New Testament in other places lists approximately twenty-six gifts of the Spirit, although the gifts of the Spirit should not be limited to just those actually listed in either Old or New Testaments.[viii]  The Spirit is infinite in nature and in the variety of His works.

^I4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  ⁸ To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.[ix]

God’s exhortation to his people is “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” We cannot relive the past, but we can be open to a future unfolding of the Charisms and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is doing a new thing. It is at once Biblical, Sacramental, and Growing in the Spirit. It is deeply rooted in Scripture, tradition and the theology and history of the Church, and it is a logical continuation of those things that the Church has always believed. It is a new thing in that it is a fresh experience of the Holy Spirit, Who Himself makes all things new. It is not God’s intention that we fondle faded glories, but that we renew His work in this present time by opening our minds and hearts and surrendering to the Lord who breathes new life into His people.

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[i] Isaiah 43:18-19

[ii] Gregory Palamas, The Triads, The Classics of Western Spirituality, (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1983), pp. 52-53.

[iii] 1 Corinthians 3:16  

[iv] John 3:34

[v] Psalm 119:32

[vi] 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

[vii] Palamas, p. 83

[viii] In the Old Testament Moses speaks of the Gifts of the Spirit given to Bezalel: Exodus 35:30-31  "See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;  31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship,

[ix] 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.  Note also from the Second Book of Homilies in the sermon “On the Coming Down of the Holy Ghost and the Manifold Gifts Thereof, “The holy Ghost doeth alwayes declare himselfe by his fruitfull and gracious giftes, namely, by the worde of wisedome, by the worde of knowledge, which is the vnderstanding of the Scriptures, by faith, in doing of miracles, by healing them that are diseased, by prophesie, which is the declaration of GODS mysteries, by discerning of spirits, diuersities of tongues, interpretation of tongues, and so foorth. All which giftes, as they proceede from one spirit, and are seuerally giuen to man according to the measurable distribution of the holy Ghost: Euen so doe they bring men, and not without good cause, into a wonderfull admiration of GODS diuine power (1 Corinthians 12.7-11). [1562-1563]