Page:The Power of the Spirit.djvu/69

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THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

outside herself. She is famous, because she happened to turn the tide of history; but many others had, and have, that charism of the 'workings of powers'.

But, it may be asked, are not such Powers clearly supernormal? If then S. Paul's list forms an ascending scale, why are they not put last of all, instead of between healing and prophecy? I think the answer is that Powers are very common, and in their common form are not far removed from ordinary shrewdness and insight. We have all known people whose gifts of penetration are what we call 'uncanny'; it is not easy, for instance, to deceive a saint. Of this we have ample historic evidence: the power of divining people's thoughts was, for instance, almost constant in the lives —exceptionally well attested—of S. Catharine of Siena and S. Teresa.

The Powers in the Church of Corinth consisted, we may then suppose, partly in exorcism and partly in the extension of human faculties beyond the capacity of mere mental quickness or ability. Such psychic power S. Paul evidently regarded as part of his own ordinary life.

Prophecy is the third of the Normal Psychic Gifts, each of which is reinforced by inclusion also in the Gifts of Office. It does not of course mean foreknowledge, except in so far as intuition into the present may guide a man's natural forecast of the future; nor does it mean preaching—or, shall we