When forty five people gather to speak about charism, there is inevitably a buzz in the air. Such was the case last night at Our Lady of Sion College, Box Hill in Melbourne. As the discussion unfolded, considerable energy was given to the language of charism for our contemporary world. We asked ourselves 'what word best describes what we mean by charism?' Is it a word like 'inspiring' or 'impelling' or 'animating'?