Today is the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day we commemorate the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Apostles and Mary. It is sometimes called the birthday of the Church, but I am not sure that is really accurate. Rather, I think of Pentecost as the Church's "Epiphany", or manifestation to the world. Christ was born on Christmas, but was not made manifest to the world until Epiphany. Likewise, the Church was born from the wounded side of Christ on Good Friday, but was not made manifest to the world until Pentecost. When the Spirit came, the apostles were given the strength to be instruments through which Christ's work of salvation would continue in the world. The existence and mission of the Church was now manifest.
Because it is the day of the liturgical year when we tend to have the highest focus on the Holy Spirit (though we should speak of it a LOT more than just one day of the year), you may have heard a lot about the Holy Spirit in a homily today or last evening. You may or may not have heard that there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. I would imagine, though, in your average homily, if those gifts were mentioned, an explanation of what those seven gifts are was not. I will try to do that here in case anyone heard that phrase today or yesterday and wondered what those gifts are.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of these seven gifts in Paragraph 1830. The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Here are the seven.
1) Wisdom Wisdom is the gift that allow us to value the truths of the Faith, and see the world through the eyes of that faith. We see creation as God's gift to us, we see our place in relation to God, and our need of a Savior, the reality that Jesus Christ is that Savior, and that He founded One Church for the salvation of all men.
2) Understanding Understanding is indeed similar to wisdom, but slightly different. Understanding goes beyond just accepting and valuing the truths of the Faith, but it allows us, as it implies, to "understand" them a little bit, although that will be impossible to do 100% this side of eternity.
3) Counsel Counsel is the gift that allows us to judge what we should do in a particular instance, almost by instinct. It is like, as it implies, that we have a "counselor" inside us, giving us very good advice.
4) Fortitude Fortitude is connected to counsel, because it gives us the grace to follow through on the counsel we receive. It gives us the strength to do what needs to be done, even if it involves possible suffering.
5) Knowledge The gift of knowledge is a result of the gift of wisdom. Whereas wisdom allows us to desire the things of God, and therefore see the world and our life in it accordingly, knowledge is our actual seeing of those aforementioned things.
6) Piety Piety is the gift of desire to please God by worshiping and serving Him, this God whom we have come to know and understand a little via the other aforementioned gifts of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. It gives us the grace to practice true religion.
7) Fear of the Lord This gift gives us the desire not to offend God, and the certainty He will give us the grace not to. This is analogous to our relationship with our parents. We do not want to hurt them, not because we are afraid of them per se, but rather, because we respect them because of how much they mean to us.
Those are the seven gifts in a nutshell. More could be said about each of them. They are similar, connected, and yet, distinct, from each other. Only in the Catholic Church, among all the different Christian denominations, is there such deep theological and spiritual insight that can produce such a nuanced list.
I hope this sheds a little light on what these gifts are. I can speak more perhaps about one or more in a later post, as well as the twelve "fruits" of the Holy Spirit that these gifts produce. In the meantime, let's pray to receive all these gifts of the Holy Spirit, so our lives can be lived according to God's Will, and we receive peace and joy in this life, and eternal happiness in the next.
Joseph, protector of Holy Church, pray for us.
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