‘Having gifts differing according to the grace give to us’. Gifts are acts of grace. In Greek, they are nearly the same word grace is χάρις and gift is χάρισμα. Gifts are not grace, but they are a parable of it, a sign that it is at work. A wedding ring is not a marriage, but it is a sign that a marriage has taken place. A book is not a brain, but it is a sign that a brain has been at work. In the same way, the gifts God gives his people are a sign of the divine life which inspires his Church. It is important to be clear about this. One can imagine a woman with a beautiful and very valuable wedding ring, which she prized highly and kept clean and sparkling, who also so failed to maintain proper relations with her husband that the marriage came to pieces on the rocks. In the same way, sometimes the Church is so busy with gifts, and so proud of them, that it neglects the relationship of grace and faith by which it is bound to God. This happens when we are so pleased with our religious experience, or our sound and accurate theology, or our rich and beautiful liturgy that we forget to be humble before God.”
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