Gift of Knowledge

WORDS OF WARNING!

Before we go any further, a WORD OF WARNING needs to be said! The Gifts of the Holy Ghost might sound like human virtues―fear, piety, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, understanding and wisdom―but they are not human virtues. They are divine actions by the Holy Ghost that make us think and act in a supra-human way and much more perfectly than if we were merely using our human virtues of the same name. Therefore, mere human knowledge is far inferior to the Holy Ghost’s Gift of Knowledge, whereby the Holy Ghost directly informs our mind without any need on our part for research, study, analysis, reasoning, consultation, etc. A simple stupid analogy would be along the lines of not having to work out math problems because you are given the answer key. Or not having to walk to work because someone takes you to work in their car. Or not having to swim across a lake because someone loans you their boat. Some of the early Fathers of the Church compare the Gifts of the Holy Ghost to the invisible wind that blows into the sails of a ship and pushes it along in the direction the wind is blowing―but, before that can happen, we have to have sails on the mast and those sails must be unfurled. If we play our part, the Holy Ghost will play His part! This applies to all the Gifts of the Holy Ghost―even though they sound like everyday human actions, they are not human actions but divine interventions and actions by the Holy Ghost.

ANOTHER WARNING is the fact that, even though you received the dormant seeds of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost together with sanctifying grace in your Baptism; and even though those dormant seeds were activated when you received the Sacrament of Confirmation; this DOES NOT MEAN that they will always and automatically work for you! The Seven Gifts―even though you have them in your soul―will usually only be activated by the Holy Ghost if He sees that you are serious about your spiritual life and are making progress in the acquisition and practice of the virtues: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! ... He who sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly! … For he that sows in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that sows in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8; 2 Corinthians 9:6). God is not going to reward a stubborn sinner, or a lukewarm person, or a spiritually negligent person by giving them some of His choicest Gifts! On the contrary, God says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Which boss is going to reward an employee who is lazy, negligent, offensive and a thief? Rather than reward such an employee, he is more likely to fire him!

So let us proudly presume and expect the Holy Ghost to reward our abuse of the spiritual life through indifference, neglect, laziness, worldliness or lukewarmness―for then the Holy Ghost will leave us to ourselves and our own puny human power! As you sow, so shall you reap!

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
3. THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE

Mistaken Identity!
When we think or speak of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost―Fear, Piety, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom―we usually and unsuspectingly make the mistake of identifying or relating them with HUMAN fear, piety, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, understanding and wisdom. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost have nothing to do with these human capacities―they come directly from God and are far above their human counterparts. The Gift of Knowledge is a prime candidate for mistaken identity! In this modern technological world―with its gigantic mountains of information available at the tip of our fingers on the internet―you can most definitely say that we are living in the Age of Knowledge. Today, knowledge has become an addictive drug―everyone wants to know everything they can about everything! We spend our whole life in the process of getting to know things—yet the Holy Ghost’s Gift of Knowledge is not mere human knowledge. The Gift of Knowledge is knowledge that comes from God―not from man or any other natural source. As said before—Grace perfects nature—and the Gift of Knowledge perfects our human knowledge. Through the Gift of Knowledge, the Holy Ghost opens our minds to greater, broader, deeper and more important knowledge―in a way that human reason alone could never attain.

Knowing the Wrong Things
Sometimes—maybe often—we seek to know things that are vain, empty, pointless and of little use for attaining our salvation. Holy Scripture speaks of such earthly human knowledge as foolishness and vanity: “Every man is become a fool for knowledge! … Every man is become foolish by his knowledge!” (Jeremias 10:14; 51:17). “Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity ... The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing … I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit. The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite …. I have spoken in my heart, saying: ‘Behold I am become great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom of those that were before me in Jerusalem―and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned!’ And I have given my heart to know prudence and learning, and errors, and folly … I said in my heart: ‘I will go and abound with delights, and enjoy good things.’ And I saw that this also was vanity.

“Laughter I counted error; and to mirth I said: ‘Why are you vainly deceived?’ I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, so that I might turn my mind to wisdom and might avoid folly! … I made great works for myself, I built myself houses, and planted vineyards, I made gardens and orchards! … I got myself menservants and maidservants, and had a great family, and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep! … I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings … and I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem! My wisdom also remained with me! And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not! And I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared! … And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labors wherein I had labored in vain―I saw in all things vanity and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun! … For what profit shall a man have of all his labor, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun? All his days are full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he does not rest in his mind―and is not this vanity?” (Ecclesiastes, chapters 1 & 2).

Elsewhere, Holy Scripture also warns against vain, empty, pointless, self-inflating knowledge and speech: “Let no man deceive you with vain words” (Ephesians 5:6), who merely “multiply words without knowledge” (Job 35:16) … “The knowledge of the unwise is like words without sense!” (Ecclesiasticus 21:21) … “that makes their knowledge foolish!” (Isaias 44:25) … “Avoid the profane novelties of words and of knowledge falsely so called!” (1 Timothy 6:20). “We know that we all have knowledge, but knowledge puffs up! If any man think that he knows anything, then he has not yet known as he ought to know!” (1 Corinthians 8:1-2). “Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ!” (Colossians 2:8). “Some have not the knowledge of God, I speak it to your shame!” (1 Corinthians 15:34), “who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). “They liked not to have God in their knowledge” (Romans 1:28). “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us! We desire not the knowledge of thy ways!’” (Job 21:14). “The Lord shall enter into judgment with them―for there is no knowledge of God in the land! … Because thou hast rejected knowledge [of God], I will reject thee!” (Osee 4:1, 6). “Woe to you! For you have taken away the key of knowledge!” (Luke 11:52). “They have hated instruction, nor consented to My counsel―therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and shall be filled with their own devices, which shall destroy them!” (Proverbs 1:29-32). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wisdom 13:1). “Walk worthy of God, in all things increasing in the knowledge of God!” (Colossians 1:10). “If I should know all mysteries and all have knowledge, but have not charity [a love of God]―then I am nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:2). “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). “I count all things to be but loss and count them but as dung, compared to the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord!” (Philippians 3:8). Just as Our Lord said: “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) ― you could also say: “What does it profit a man if he knows everything about the whole world, but does not know how to get to Heaven?”

Knowing the Right Things
Since the advent of the internet, avenues of knowledge have opened up that would astound the minds of old! Yet of what good is this knowledge if it leads not to God, Heaven and salvation? The Imitation of Christ says:

“Let our chief effort, therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ. The teaching of Christ is more excellent than all the advice of the saints, and he who has His spirit will find in it a hidden manna. Now, there are many who hear the Gospel often, but care little for it, because they have not the spirit of Christ. Yet whoever wishes to understand fully the words of Christ must try to pattern his whole life on that of Christ. What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed, it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it! For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart, and the principles of all the philosophers―if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.

“This is the greatest wisdom — to seek the Kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish! It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride! It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come! It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life! It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come! It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides! Often recall the proverb: ‘The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.’ Try, moreover, to turn your heart from the love of things visible and bring yourself to things invisible. For they who follow their own evil passions stain their consciences and lose the grace of God” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 1).

What is the Gift of Knowledge?
In the clear and precise language of Theology, the Gift of Knowledge is “a supernatural habit, infused by God with sanctifying grace, through which the human intellect, under the illuminating action of the Holy Ghost, judges rightly concerning created things as ordained to the supernatural end. Let us now put that into the layman’s language.”

The Gift of Knowledge gives us a true idea of the created world in relation to God. The created world is a stepping-stone to God and manifests the invisible God. Without that direction and orientation, the created world is sheer vanity or illusion, which leads to Hell and not to God. Since we are created beings, then we are basically prone to illusion, and our way of looking at life is not the only way and certainly not the most accurate—however devout or pious we may be. Most folk tend to mold God into what they would like Him to be and fail to see Him as He really is.

God is extremely down to Earth and has a certain humor and playfulness—qualities that Jesus manifests in the Gospels, especially in the parables. Yet God can also be deadly serious, strict and just—as also manifested by Jesus in the Gospels. Our imperfect human knowledge is in need of a crutch or assistance in order to know correctly. This assistance comes from the Gift of Knowledge.

The Gift of Knowledge is not a question of human or philosophical knowledge, nor is it a theological knowledge that makes use of natural reasoning. The Gift of Knowledge is a certain supernatural knowledge that proceeds from a special illumination of the Holy Ghost, Who reveals to us and enables us to appreciate rightly the connection between created things and the supernatural ultimate end or goal for our lives―which is God. More briefly, it is the correct estimation of the present temporal life in relation to eternal life.

Thus we can see the importance of the Gift of Knowledge in helping us avoid the pitfalls of worldliness that surround us on all sides. Human reason and rationalization will try to make peace with worldliness and marry it to religion. Yet the mind enlightened by the Holy Ghost’s Gift of Knowledge, truly and fully appreciates that “the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

The Strengthening and Perfection of Faith
The Gift of Knowledge is absolutely necessary if the virtue of Faith is to reach its full expansion and development. The Gift of Knowledge performs invaluable services for the virtue of Faith, especially in the practical order. Through this Gift, under the movement and illumination of the Holy Ghost, we are able to judge rightly, according to the guiding principles of Faith, concerning the right use of creatures, their value to us, and their usefulness or danger as regards eternal life and salvation. Without this supernatural assistance of the Gift of Knowledge, Faith itself would be in danger, because attracted and seduced by the allurement of created things; being ignorant of the method or manner of relating or evaluating them with the supernatural order and salvation, we could easily fall into error, and, at least in the practical order, we could lose the light of Faith.

Daily experience confirms this all too well to make it necessary to insist upon it. For as was said before, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost will only begin to really work effectively once we have passed through the apprenticeship of accumulating and practicing virtues for a decent length of time. The Gifts will perfect and strengthen the virtues. Yet, if there are no virtues present, then there is nothing to strengthen. God will not spoil us or give us anything that we either do not deserve or for which we have no real interest.

Effects of the Gift of Knowledge
The effects produced in the soul by the action of the Gift of Knowledge are admirable and varied, and all of them have a great sanctifying value. The following are the principal effects:

(1) It teaches us how to judge rightly concerning created things in relation to God.
This is proper to the Gift of Knowledge: “Under this impulsion, a twofold movement takes place in the soul: it understands the nothingness, the emptiness of the creature, and at the same time, in beholding creation, it sees the footprints of God. Thus, the Gift of Knowledge drew tears from St. Dominic at the thought of the lot of poor sinners and inspired St. Francis of Assisi to compose his famous Canticle to the Sun at the sight of the pageant of nature” (Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P., The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, pp. 174-175, chap. 8, n. 6).

The first aspect caused St. Ignatius of Loyola to exclaim, when contemplating the spectacle of a starry night: “Oh, how vile the Earth appears to me when I contemplate Heaven!”; the second aspect caused St. John of the Cross to fall to his knees before the beauty of a little fountain, of a mountain, of a landscape, of the setting sun, or on hearing “the whistling of the memorial airs.” The Gift of Knowledge gives us an understanding of creatures after the divine manner, so that we may be able to lift ourselves from them to God. Creatures, considered thus, in their intimate relationship with God, have two distinct characteristics: their own nothingness, and the stamp of divinity upon them.

The nothingness of created things, when contemplated through the Gift of Knowledge, made St. Paul esteem all things as dung, so that he might gain Christ: “I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, so that I may gain Christ!” (Philippians 3:8). The beauty of God reflected in the beauty and fragrance of the flowers obliged St. Paul of the Cross to speak to them in an outburst of love: “Be silent, little flowers, be silent!” And this same sentiment is what gave St. Francis of Assisi that sublime sense of the universal brotherhood of all things that come forth from the hand of God: “brother sun, brother wolf, sister flower...” It was likewise the Gift of Knowledge that gave St. Teresa of Avila that extraordinary facility for explaining the things of God by making use of comparisons and examples taken from created things.

(2) It guides us with certitude concerning what we must believe or not believe.
The souls in whom the Gift of Knowledge operates intensely, instinctively possess the sense of Faith (sensus fidei). Without having studied theology, or without having had any education, they perceive immediately whether or not a devotion, a doctrine, a counsel, or any kind of maxim is in accord with Faith or is opposed to Faith. Do not ask them for the reasons, because they know it without reasoning. They experience it with an irresistible power and with an unflinching assurance. It is admirable how St. Teresa of Avila, in spite of her humility and her complete submission to her confessors, could never accept the erroneous doctrine which held that in certain elevated states of prayer it was advisable to detach oneself from the consideration of the humanity of Christ.

St. Teresa of Avila writes: “Although I have been contradicted about it and told that I do not understand it, because these are paths along which Our Lord leads us, and that, when we have got over the first stages, we shall do better to occupy ourselves with matters concerning the Godhead and to flee from corporeal things, they will certainly not make me admit that this is a good way!” (Interior Castle, Sixth Mansions, chap. 7).

(3) It enables us to see promptly and with certitude the state of our soul.
Everything is clear to the penetrating introspection of the Gift of Knowledge: “our interior acts, the secret movements of our heart, their qualities, their goodness, their malice, their principles, their motives, their ends and their intentions, their effects and their consequences, their merit and demerit” (Louis Lallemant, S.J., Spiritual Teaching, p. 140). Rightly did St. Teresa say that “in a room bathed in sunlight, not a cobweb can remain hidden” (The Life, p. 112).

(4) It inspires us concerning the safest method of conduct with our neighbor as regards eternal life.
In this sense the Gift of Knowledge in its practical aspect influences the virtue of prudence, whose perfection is directly under the Gift of Counsel. Once again, we call on Father Lallemant:

“By this Gift a preacher knows what he ought to say to his hearers, and what he ought to urge upon them. A director knows the state of the souls he has under his guidance, their spiritual needs, the remedies for their faults, the obstacles they put in the way of their perfection, the shortest and the surest road by which to conduct them safely; how he must console or mortify them, what God is working in them, and what they ought to do on their part in order to cooperate with God and fulfill His designs. A superior knows in what way he ought to govern his inferiors.

“They who have the largest share of this Gift are the most enlightened in all knowledge of this kind. Wonderful things are disclosed to them with respect to the practice of virtues. They discover therein degrees of perfection unknown to others. They perceive at a glance whether actions are inspired by God and conformable to His designs; let them deviate ever so little from the ways of God, they discern it at once. They notice imperfections where others cannot see them; they are not liable to be deceived in their opinions, neither are they apt to allow themselves, nor to be surprised by illusions with which the whole world is filled. If a scrupulous soul applies to them, they know what to say to remove its scruples. If they have to make an exhortation, whether to monks or to nuns, thoughts will occur to them suited both to the spiritual needs of the religious themselves, and to the spirit of their order. If difficulties of conscience are proposed to them, they will give an admirable solution. Ask them for the reason of their reply, they cannot tell you, because they know it without reasoning, by a light superior to all reason.

“By this Gift it was that St. Vincent Ferrer preached with that wonderful success that we read of in his life. He abandoned himself to the Holy Spirit as well in preparing his sermons as in delivering them, and everybody went away deeply affected. It was easy to see that the Holy Spirit animated him, and spoke by his mouth. One day that he had to preach before a prince, he thought he must use more study and more human diligence in the preparation of his sermon. He applied himself thereto with extraordinary pains; but neither the prince nor the audience generally were as satisfied with this studied discourse as they were with that of the next day, which he composed in his ordinary way, according to the movement of the Spirit of God. His attention was called to the difference between the two sermons. “Yesterday,” said he, “it was Brother Vincent that preached; today it was the Holy Spirit” (Fr. Lallemant, Spiritual Teaching, pp. 141-142).

(5) It detaches us from the things of Earth.
This is, in reality, nothing more than a logical consequence of the right judgment of things that constitutes the proper characteristic of the Gift of Knowledge. “All things in Heaven and Earth are nothing in comparison with God” (St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. I, chap. 4).

For that reason it is necessary to rise above created things in order to rest in God alone. But only the Gift of Knowledge gives to the saints that profound vision concerning the necessity of the absolute detachment that we admire, for example, in St. John of the Cross. For a soul illuminated by the Gift of Knowledge, creation is an open book where it discovers without effort the nothingness of creatures and the all of the Creator. “The soul must fly [from creatures], must no longer know them; it must consider all things as dross in order to gain Christ. . . . Are all created things put together worth even a look from him who—though it be but once—has felt God?” (Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P., op. cit., p. 175).

The effect produced in St. Teresa of Avila by the jewels shown to her by her friend, Dona Luisa de la Cerda, in Toledo, is of interest. Here is how St. Teresa describes the incident:

“It happened on one occasion while I was staying with that lady whom I have mentioned, and I was troubled with my heart (as I have said, I have suffered with this a great deal, though less so of late), that, being an extremely kind person, she had some very valuable golden trinkets and stones brought out for me, and in particular a set of diamonds, supposed to be of great price, thinking that they would cheer me. But I only laughed to myself, thinking what a pity it is that people esteem such things, remembering what the Lord has laid up for us and reflecting how impossible it would be for me to set any importance upon these things, even if I tried to make myself do so, unless the Lord were to allow me to forget those other things of Heaven.

“The soul that feels like this has great power over itself—so great that I do not know if it can be understood by anyone who does not possess it, for it is a real, natural detachment, achieved without labor of our own. It is all effected by God, for, when His Majesty reveals these truths, they are so deeply impressed upon our souls as to show us clearly that we could not in so short a time acquire them ourselves” (St. Teresa of Avila, The Life, chap. 38, n. 4, pp. 268-269).

What is created is vain: “Vanity of vanities.... all things are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) says Solomon. God had endowed him with deep wisdom, and covered him with glory that had no equal in those times. He himself tells us that his heart was denied nothing it desired. And when he had contemplated everything, experienced everything, tasted of all Earth’s fountains of delight, he came to this heartbreaking conclusion: All things are vanity.

In reality this is true, for no creature can satisfy the immense capacity of our heart, its infinite thirst―God made our heart for Himself alone. No matter how much we strive to fill our heart with creatures, this will never be fully satisfying. They are vain (the Latin “vanus” means “empty”)―they are not for us―we were born for greater, higher satisfactions.

But how difficult it is for us to see the vanity of things! Things dazzle and blind us with their brilliance. They attract and ensnare us with their charms. How frequently they take us away from God! Therefore does the psalm ask: “How long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love what is vain and seek after falsehood?” (Psalm 4:3). How many times have creatures seduced us and entice us away from our path, the straight and sure path that leads to Heaven! We look for vanity and we love the lie, the pleasure that debases us, the honor that inebriates us, the material goods that enchain us. It is vanity that makes us prisoners; it is the creature that gets possession of our heart, that attracts our soul, and separates us from God, Who alone can give us peace and happiness.

Vainly are we warned against the vanity of creatures; vainly do we read learned treatises on the same subject. Many times, not even a sad, painful and unfortunate experience is enough to tear the blindfold from our eyes. We let ourselves be carried away by the bewitchment of vanity, as we fasten our heart on some creature―person or thing. Sooner or later we find emptiness and bitterness, and the experience should be sufficient to send us back to God. But no; very shortly the brilliance and the charm of creatures seduces us again, and we fall once more into the old entanglement. How many of these lapses and how much of God’s grace do we need to understand at last the vanity of created things?

A keen sense of that truth has been characteristic of all outstanding conversions. It was St. Francis Borgia who exclaimed when contemplating his dead king: “Never again will I serve a master who can die!” St. Sylvester was also turned from all created things by the sight of a corpse. How often a word or a deed has revealed the truth to men! Then is accomplished in them that complete transformation known in Christian language as “conversion.” That sudden and profound conviction of the vanity of things is the fruit of the Gift of Knowledge.

(6) It teaches us how to use created things in a holy way.
This sentiment, which is complementary to the former, is another natural consequence of the right judgment of created things proper to the Gift of Knowledge. It is certain that the being of the creatures is nothing compared to the being of God, and yet all created things are crumbs that fall from the table of God, and they speak to us of Him and lead us to Him if we know how to use them rightly. This is what is effected by the Gift of Knowledge. There are countless examples of this in the lives of the saints. The contemplation of created things raised their souls to God because they could see the vestige or trace of God in creation. Sometimes the most insignificant detail, which would pass unnoticed by an ordinary person, made a strong impression on these holy souls and led them to God.

(7) It fills us with repentance and sorrow for our past errors.
This is an inevitable consequence of the right judgment concerning created things. In the resplendent light of the Gift of Knowledge, the souls discover the nothingness of creatures, their fragility, their vanity, their short duration, their inability to make us truly happy, the harm that attachment to them can cause to the soul. And then―on recalling other periods of life in which perhaps they were subject to such vanity and misery―holy souls feel deep within their hearts a most profound repentance that is manifested externally by intense acts of contrition and self-disdain. The sorrowful accents of the penitential psalm Miserere (Psalm 50) spontaneously spring to their lips as a psychological necessity to alleviate the weight of sorrow that overwhelms them. For that reason, the beatitude that corresponds to the Gift of Knowledge is the beatitude of those who weep, as we shall see later.

Such are the principal effects of the Gift of Knowledge. Thanks to it―far from seeing creatures as obstacles to union with God―the virtue of Faith, guided by the Gift of Knowledge, uses creatures―even difficult ones―as instruments to be united to God more easily. Perfected by the Gifts of Understanding and Knowledge, the Virtue of Faith reaches a most lively intensity, that gives the soul a premonition of the divine brilliance of the eternal vision of God in Heaven.