The
revelation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is rooted
in the prophecy of Isaiah about the coming Messiah: "But
a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and
from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom
and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of
strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the
Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord" (Is
11:1-3). While the prophecy of Isaiah pertains specifically
to the Messiah, the Tradition of the Church is that
these gifts are extended to all of the faithful through
the sacraments of Baptism and especially Confirmation
(Catechism, No. 1303). St. Paul taught, "For
those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son ..." (Rom
8:29), indicating that through the grace of these
sacraments a person takes on an identity with Christ
and shares those gifts proper to His role as the
Messiah. Confirming this belief, St. Ambrose in De
mysteriis taught, "Recall then that you
have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and
courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the
spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what
you have received. God the Father has marked you
with His sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you
and has placed His pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts" (7,
42).
Traditionally there are Seven Gifts of the Holy
Spirit and they are listed as fear of the
Lord, piety, knowledge, understanding, counsel,
wisdom and fortitude. The term "gift" needs
to be clarified. They are properly termed "gifts
of the Holy Spirit" because the Holy Spirit
bestows them. Therefore, they are supernatural
gifts operating in a supernatural mode or manner.
These are not gifts one simply invokes in times
of emergency; rather, these gifts are present to
the person as long as he remains in a state of
sanctifying grace. As such, these gifts help a
person attain sanctification and bring to perfection
virtues, both the theological virtues (faith, hope
and charity) and the infused virtues (prudence,
justice, fortitude, and temperance). The idea here
is that these gifts help a person to share in the
very life and nature of God, now in this life and
for eternal life. In this sense, as St. Thomas
Aquinas asserted, they are in the fullest sense "habits," from
the Latin habitus, signifying their indwelling
presence and operation. The Catechism underscores
this point: "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....
They complete and perfect the virtues of those
who receive them. They make the faithful docile
in readily obeying divine inspirations" (No.
1830-31).
The Gift of Fear brings to perfection
primarily the virtue of hope: a person respects
God as God, trusting in His will and anchoring
his life on Him. Moreover, he wants to be joined
with God forever in Heaven. This gift is also the
launch pad for the other gifts: As Sacred Scripture
attests, "Happy the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in His commands" (Psalm
112:1) and "The beginning of wisdom is fear
of the Lord" (Sirach 1:12). Secondly,
this gift also perfects the virtue of temperance,
which seeks to use all things wisely, and in moderation,
not to the excess, especially those sensible pleasures.
With reason enlightened by faith, temperance controls
the passions. Temperance is related to the Gift
of Fear because one's awareness and respect for
the sanctity of God motivates a person as a creature
to give glory to God by being temperate in actions
and desires. For example, chastity is a virtue
of temperance which respects the goodness of one's
own sexuality, the sanctity of marriage, and the
sanctity of marital love; a person moved by the
Gift of Fear strives to live a chaste life because
God is the creator of those goods and such a life
gives glory and praise to Him.
With the Gift of Fear, the person rises to the Gift
of Piety: "to give filial worship
to God precisely as our Father and to relate
with all people as children of the same Father." Here
a person shows reverence for God as a loving
Father, and respects others as children of God
precisely because that is what they are. As such,
the Gift of Piety perfects the virtue of justice,
enabling the individual to fulfill his obligations
to God and neighbor; the person is not only motivated
by the requirements of strict justice but also
by the loving relationship he shares with his
neighbor. For example, we fulfill the commandments
not simply because they are commandments but
because of our love for the Heavenly Father and
for our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Knowledge is the gift that enables
a person "to judge rightly concerning the
truths of faith in accordance with their proper
causes and the principles of revealed truth." Under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the human intellect
makes correct judgments regarding earthly things
and how they are related to eternal life and Christian
perfection. As such, this gift is a special illumination,
which enables the person to realize the emptiness
of created things in themselves so that they do
not become roadblocks to union with God. At the
same time, it enables the person to see through
created things to the God who created them. Therefore,
instead of seeing created things as obstacles to
union with God, the soul views them as instruments
for union with God. As such, a person sees how
to use created things rightly and even in a holy
way. Moreover, the gift gives to the person a sense
of faith, sensus fidei, meaning that the
person has a divine instinct about whether or not
something, like a devotion, is in accord with the
faith even though he may never have had a formal
theological education. This gift produces several
effects which have great value for sanctification
of the soul: introspection, enabling the person
to see the state of his soul; detachment from material
things; and repentance for the misuse of material
things or when they have been allowed to become
obstacles to God. St. Thomas taught that the Gift
of Knowledge brings to perfection the virtue of
faith, but is linked also to the perfection of
prudence, justice and temperance.
With the Gift of Fortitude, a
person is able "to overcome difficulties or
to endure pain and suffering with the strength
and power infused by God." As with the other
gifts, fortitude operates under the impulse of
the Holy Spirit, and gives strength to the person
to resist evil and persevere to everlasting life.
This gift brings the virtue of fortitude to perfection,
charging it with energy, perseverance and promptness.
Moreover, it brings a confidence of success to
the virtue. For example, St. Maximilian Kolbe not
only had great fortitude to offer promptly his
life in exchange for another and to endure a horrible
death, but also had the confidence of success that
he would overcome the powers of evil and gain everlasting
life. Lastly, the Gift of Fortitude enables the
individual to live the other virtues heroically,
to suffer with patience and joy, to overcome all
lukewarmness in the service of God.
The Gift of Counsel is "to
render the individual docile and receptive to the
counsel of God regarding one's actions in view
of sanctification and salvation." Primarily,
this gift enables a person to judge individual
acts as good and ought to be done, or as evil and
ought to be avoided. The counsel is made in view
of one's own personal sanctification and one's
ultimate supernatural end. Therefore, this gift
prompts the person to ask himself, "Will this
act lead to holiness? Will this act lead to Heaven?" Clearly,
this gift is linked with the virtue of prudence;
however, while the virtue of prudence operates
in accord with reason as enlightened by faith,
the Gift of Counsel operates under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the counsel given
may be that which reason would not be able to give
an explanation. For example, using the example
of St. Maximilian Kolbe, such an act of self-sacrifice
for another is the right thing to do but does not
necessarily follow the normal, reasonable course
of self-preservation. Also, counsel can deal with
the immediacy of the situation. For example, through
the Gift of Counsel, the Holy Spirit helps a person
in a dilemma reconcile the necessity of guarding
a secret with the obligation of speaking the truth.
Counsel aids the virtue of prudence, and brings
it to perfection. This gift also has great effects:
preserving a good conscience, providing solutions
to difficult and unexpected situations, and helping
to give counsel to others, especially in matters
of personal sanctification and salvation.
Understanding is a gift "to
give a deeper insight and penetration of divine
truths held by faith, not as a transitory enlightenment
but as a permanent intuition." Illuminating
the mind to truth, The Holy Spirit aids a person
to grasp truths of faith easily and intimately,
and to penetrate the depths of those truths. This
gift not only assists in penetrating revealed truths,
but also natural truths in so far as they are related
to the supernatural end. The essential quality
of this gift is a "penetrating intuition" -
in a sense, the moving beyond the surface. This
gift, penetrating the truths of faith, operates
in several ways: disclosing the hidden meaning
of Sacred Scripture; revealing the significance
of symbols and figures (like St. Paul seeing Christ
as fulfillment of the rock of the Exodus account
that poured forth water to quench the thirst of
the Israelites (1 Cor 10:4); showing the hand of
God at work in a person's life, even in the most
mysterious or troublesome events (like suffering);
and revealing the spiritual realities that underlie
sensible appearances (like penetrating the mystery
of the Lord's sacrifice in the ritual of the Mass).
This gift brings the virtue of faith to perfection.
Accordingly, St. Thomas said, "In this very
life, when the eye of the spirit is purified by
the gift of understanding, one can in a certain
way see God" (Summa theologiae II-II,
q. 69, a. 2, ad. 3).
The last of the seven gifts is that of
Wisdom: "to judge and order all
things in accordance with divine norms and with
a connaturality that flows from loving union
with God." The Holy Spirit aids the contemplation
of divine things, enabling the person to grow
in union with God. With this gift, even an "uneducated
soul" can possess the most profound knowledge
of the divine. For example, St. Therese of Lisieux
had no formal education in theology, and yet
was wise to the ways of the Lord; for this reason,
she has been declared a Doctor of the Church.
While this gift contemplates the divine, it is
also a practical wisdom. It applies God's ideas
to judge both created and divine matter. Consequently,
it also directs human acts according to the divine.
This gift has great effects: With this gift a
person will see and evaluate all things - both
joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, success or
failure - from God's point of view, and accept
them with equanimity. With Wisdom, all things,
even the worst, are seen as having a supernatural
value. For example, the Gift of Wisdom gives
value to martyrdom. Here a person arises above
the wisdom of this world, and lives in the love
of God. For this reason, the Gift of Wisdom brings
to perfection charity.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are without question
great gifts essential for our sanctification and
salvation. Each baptized and confirmed Christian
should implore the Holy Spirit to inflame in his
soul these gifts. Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul
II said, "With gifts and qualities such as
these, we are equal to any task and capable of
overcoming any difficulties."
