Beyond Sunday / January 31, 2023

Cultivating a Child’s Charisms

Every child is unique, with a distinct personality, gifts, and charisms. In this episode, Nicole and Rakhi share from their experiences of helping their children discover their own giftedness, without labeling them, and helping them to understand and embrace their core identities as beloved children of God. They also highlight resources and tools that can help parents better understand their chidlrens’ uniqueness.

This episode of Beyond Sunday is sponsored by SaintSprouts. SaintSprouts creates fun, engaging illustrations to inspire children of all ages to encounter Jesus and the beauty of the Catholic faith! Learn more and shop at saintsprouts.com.

Show Notes

(01:08) Rakhi and Nicole welcome listeners back to Beyond Sunday, and chat about the parmesan avalanche snack mix, the featured recipe for this Sunday in 52 Sundays.

(05:29) They move on to discuss the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus calls his disciples the salt of the Earth. They discuss what it means to follow Jesus to bring life to the world, and how they seek to help the members of their families recognize their own gifts and how to use them for the glory of God. They discuss seeing and adapting to the different personalities their children have as unique individuals.

(11:18) Nicole asks how we can help our children uncover their gifts, without forcing those gifts on them as a label. Rakhi highlights the need to emphasize that our only identity is a beloved child of God, while the other things are characteristics.

(13:56) Rakhi mentions the impact of encouraging new experiences for our children, to help them discover for themselves their own giftedness and charisms. She mentions the Called and Gifted workshop and Sherry Weddell’s “Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory.” They share the gifts they see in their own children, and discuss the charisms in general.

(17:44) They discuss the importance of using the charisms and trying them out, to be more in tune with one’s gifts. They also highlight the importance of recognizing and affirming the gifts we see in others.

(19:59) Rakhi mentions the Catherine of Siena Institute as a great resource to use to better understand the charisms and the Temperament That God Gave Your Kids as a book to use to better understand our children’s unique personalities. She also mentions the Love Languages and how those can help us better understand God’s voice and our children.

(25:19) Nicole highlights the family prayer section and the featured saint for this Sunday in 52 Sundays as action items moving into the week, approaching the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time.

This episode of Beyond Sunday is sponsored by SaintSprouts. SaintSprouts creates fun, engaging illustrations to inspire children of all ages to encounter Jesus and the beauty of the Catholic faith! Learn more and shop at saintsprouts.com.