What if the Church gave you a spiritual job description, and you’d been living it all along? In this episode, Jim and Meghan sit down with Jill Simons, Catholic author, speaker, podcaster, and Executive Director at Many Parts Ministries, to explore charisms: the personal spiritual gifts every baptized Christian is given for the good of the Church. From family life to parish ministry and everything in between, Jill unpacks how identifying and naming your charisms can transform your parenting, your peace, and your path to holiness.
What’s in this episode:
- What charisms actually are and how they differ from other gifts of the Holy Spirit
- Why discerning your charisms gives clarity to your vocation and everyday decisions
- How Jill’s own journey began in high school and grew into a full-time apostolate
- The reason most Catholics overlook or undervalue their own spiritual gifts
- Why your charisms might feel “ordinary” to you and why that’s a sign they’re real
- How families can use charism language to build unity and reduce burnout
- Encouraging ways to talk to kids about spiritual gifts, even as young as 5 years old
- The surprising impact charism discernment has had on military families
- Why parents must first model charism living before passing it on to their kids
- One resource every Catholic family should know: Souls and Hearts with Dr. Peter Malinoski
- Book she’s reading: The Discernment of Spirits by Fr. Timothy Gallagher
- Favorite book: Discernment of Spirits by Fr. Timothy Gallagher
- Advice to her younger self: Stop limiting where it makes sense to hope
- Final wisdom for listeners: You’re probably right about your kids’ charisms but wrong about your own
Resources Mentioned:
Many Parts Ministries – Tools, resources, and a mobile app to help Catholics discern and live out their charisms
Discount Code: MCF10
Start the Adventure: Charisms for Kids – Jill’s guidebook for parents to discern their own gifts and introduce charisms to their children
Charisms for Catholics - Podcast – Hosted by Jill Simons, covering spiritual gifts and discernment in everyday Catholic life
Charism Assessment – A tool offered by Many Parts to help adults and teens (14 to 20) identify their top spiritual gifts
The Discernment of Spirits by Fr. Timothy Gallagher – A practical guide to understanding how God speaks through our desires and decisions
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