A spiritual gift or charism is an extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit. These are believed by followers to be supernatural graces that individual Christians need to fulfill the mission of the Church. In the narrowest sense, it is a theological term for the extraordinary graces given to individual Christians for the good of others and is distinguished from the graces given for personal sanctification, such as the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
The term charism denotes any good gift that flows from God's benevolent love.
Holy Spirit in Christianity
For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third Person of the Trinity, a triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each being God. Nontrinitarian Christians, who reject the doctrine of the Trinity, differ significantly from mainstream Christianity in their beliefs about the Holy Spirit. In Christian theology, pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit. Due to Christianity's historical relationship with Judaism, theologians often identify the Holy Spirit with the concept of the Ruach Hakodesh in Jewish scripture, on the theory that Jesus was expanding upon these Jewish concepts. Similar names, and ideas, include the Ruach Elohim, Ruach YHWH, and the Ruach Hakodesh. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is identified with the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, and the Paraclete (helper).
The Holy Spirit as a dove in the Heavenly Trinity, joined to the Holy Family through the Incarnation of the Son, in The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities by Murillo, c. 1677 [clarification needed]
The Holy Spirit as a dove in The Annunciation, by Philippe de Champaigne, 1644
Stained glass representation of the Holy Spirit as a dove, c. 1660
In the Farewell Discourse Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his departure; depiction from the Maesta by Duccio, 1308–1311.