Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
As Purifier and a Helper for oneself, Holy Spirit gives us freely without our own merit, the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit : wisdom, understanding, good counsel, might (fortitude/courage), knowledge, fear of the Lord (fear to hurt our God), and obeying the Lord out of love (piety). (Isaiah 11:2-3)
The holiness or sanctification (or whether a person is pleasing to God or close to God) depends on these 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit solely, which will be revealed through the person’s words and actions. A person will never be holy, clean from sins, and pleasing to God without Holy Spirit. And without holiness, no one can enter Heaven.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural, thus they are above the ordinary powers of the soul or the human person in general. They are infused by God and no soul could ever acquire them on its own, but rely solely on the mercy and kindness of God.
"And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord." (Isaiah 11:2-3)
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are enumerated in Isaiah 11:2-3. They are present in their fullness in Jesus Christ but are found in all Christians who are in a state of grace. We receive them when we are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God within us—as, for example, when we receive a sacrament worthily. As the current Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, "They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them." Infused with His gifts, we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if by instinct, the way Christ Himself would.
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit :
1. Wisdom. Where faith is a simple knowledge of the articles of Christian belief, wisdom goes on to a certain divine penetration of the truths themselves.
2. Understanding. While wisdom is the desire to contemplate the things of God, understanding allows us to grasp, at least in a limited way, the very essence of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Through understanding, we gain a certitude about our beliefs that moves beyond faith.
3. Counsel is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence (cautiousness). Prudence can be practiced by anyone, but counsel is supernatural. Through this gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able to judge how best to act almost by intuition. Because of the gift of counsel, Christians need not fear to stand up for the truths of the Faith, because the Holy Spirit will guide us in defending those truths.
4. Might / Fortitude gives us the strength to follow through on the actions suggested by the gift of counsel. While fortitude is sometimes called courage, it goes beyond what we normally think of as courage. Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs that allows them to suffer death rather than to renounce the Christian Faith.
5. Knowledge. This allows us to know certain truths about God that may be conveyed to us through creations or everything.
6. Fear of the Lord confirms the theological virtue of hope. This gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the desire not to offend God, as well as the certainty that God will supply us the grace that we need in order to keep from offending Him. Our desire not to offend God is more than simply a sense of duty; the fear of the Lord arises out of love.
7. Piety. While we tend to think of religion today as the external elements of our faith, it really means the willingness to worship and to serve God. Piety takes that willingness beyond a sense of duty, so that we desire to worship God and to serve Him out of love, the way that we desire to honor our parents and do what they wish.
All we need to do is to pray, pray, and pray earnestly and humbly.
Ask Jesus, meek and humble of heart, to grant us the grace of Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
You may find the prayer for Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit here!
The holiness or sanctification (or whether a person is pleasing to God or close to God) depends on these 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit solely, which will be revealed through the person’s words and actions. A person will never be holy, clean from sins, and pleasing to God without Holy Spirit. And without holiness, no one can enter Heaven.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural, thus they are above the ordinary powers of the soul or the human person in general. They are infused by God and no soul could ever acquire them on its own, but rely solely on the mercy and kindness of God.
"And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord." (Isaiah 11:2-3)
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are enumerated in Isaiah 11:2-3. They are present in their fullness in Jesus Christ but are found in all Christians who are in a state of grace. We receive them when we are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God within us—as, for example, when we receive a sacrament worthily. As the current Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, "They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them." Infused with His gifts, we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as if by instinct, the way Christ Himself would.
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit :
1. Wisdom. Where faith is a simple knowledge of the articles of Christian belief, wisdom goes on to a certain divine penetration of the truths themselves.
2. Understanding. While wisdom is the desire to contemplate the things of God, understanding allows us to grasp, at least in a limited way, the very essence of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Through understanding, we gain a certitude about our beliefs that moves beyond faith.
3. Counsel is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence (cautiousness). Prudence can be practiced by anyone, but counsel is supernatural. Through this gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able to judge how best to act almost by intuition. Because of the gift of counsel, Christians need not fear to stand up for the truths of the Faith, because the Holy Spirit will guide us in defending those truths.
4. Might / Fortitude gives us the strength to follow through on the actions suggested by the gift of counsel. While fortitude is sometimes called courage, it goes beyond what we normally think of as courage. Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs that allows them to suffer death rather than to renounce the Christian Faith.
5. Knowledge. This allows us to know certain truths about God that may be conveyed to us through creations or everything.
6. Fear of the Lord confirms the theological virtue of hope. This gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the desire not to offend God, as well as the certainty that God will supply us the grace that we need in order to keep from offending Him. Our desire not to offend God is more than simply a sense of duty; the fear of the Lord arises out of love.
7. Piety. While we tend to think of religion today as the external elements of our faith, it really means the willingness to worship and to serve God. Piety takes that willingness beyond a sense of duty, so that we desire to worship God and to serve Him out of love, the way that we desire to honor our parents and do what they wish.
All we need to do is to pray, pray, and pray earnestly and humbly.
Ask Jesus, meek and humble of heart, to grant us the grace of Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
You may find the prayer for Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit here!