Seven Gifts of Holy Ghost

INTRODUCTION TO THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

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!

Unwrapped Gifts
It was at the great and magnificent feast of Pentecost, that the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost were unfurled and, even though we receive them in a dormant seed form at the Sacrament of Baptism, they do not achieve maturity until the Sacrament of Confirmation. These Gifts are little known and misunderstood by most people. What could be a massive advantage to us in the quest of our salvation, are not even unwrapped and lay dormant. We shall very briefly look at the Gifts as a whole, and then embark upon examining each of the seven Gifts over the remaining seven days before Pentecost.

God’s Gifts of Action
St. Thomas tells us that God may act in us in two ways:
(a) by accommodating Himself to the human mode of action. This is what He does in the case of the Virtues, which are infused into our soul at Baptism (Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, etc). He helps us to reflect, to seek the best means to reach our end. In order to supernaturalize these operations He gives us actual graces, but leaves us free to take the initiative according to the dictates of prudence, or of reason enlightened by Faith. It is therefore WE who act under the impulse of grace.

(b) But, by means of the Gifts, God acts in a supra-human way. He Himself takes the initiative. Before we have had the time to reflect and consult the dictates of prudence, He sends us divine intuitions, lights and inspirations which act in us; without deliberation on our part, but never without our consent. This grace, which sweetly invites and effectively obtains our consent, may be called operating grace. Under its influence, it is God Who primarily acts in us, we are rather passive than active; our activity consists chiefly in freely consenting to ‘the operation of God, in allowing ourselves to be led by the Holy Ghost, and in promptly and generously following His inspirations.

Who will do better a job—you or God? Of course God will! Yet even though the Gifts were infused in a largely dormant way at our Baptism, and made more active at our Confirmation—it is only when we have reached certain spiritual heights that they flourish and bring much and magnificent fruit. They are like seven seeds that have been planted and need cultivating so that they grow to be great trees. If we neglect to play our part and cultivate them, then it is to our loss—perhaps even eternal loss!

The Gifts Are Superior To Virtues
By the light of this fundamental principle, we will better understand the differences existing between the Gifts and the Virtues:

(a) The Virtues incline us to act in accordance with the nature of our faculties: thus, with the help of the grace we receive, we inquire, reason and work as we do in actions of a purely natural order. The Virtues are therefore energies that are primarily and directly active. The Gifts on the contrary impart to us a docility and a receptiveness that enable us to receive and follow the motions of operating grace. This grace moves our faculties to act, without however taking away their liberty, so that the soul, as St. Thomas tells us, is more passive than active, “is not the mover, but the thing moved.”

(b) In the case of the Virtues, we act according to the principles and rules of supernatural prudence. We are obliged to reflect, deliberate, take counsel, make choices, etc. Under the influence of the Gifts, we let ourselves be led by a divine inspiration which suddenly and without any reflection on our part vigorously urges us to do such or such a thing.

(c) Since the share of grace is far greater in the case of the Gifts than in that of the Virtues, the acts performed under the influence of the former are, all other circumstances being the same, more perfect than those performed under the action of the Virtues. It is due to the Gifts that the third degree of the Virtues is practiced and heroic acts performed.

Analogies To Help Understand
Various comparisons are used to give a better understanding of this doctrine:
(a) To practice virtue is to row, to use the Gifts is to sail: in this latter way one advances more rapidly and with less effort,

(b) The child who with his mother’s help takes a few steps forward stands for the Christian who practices the Virtues with the help of grace; whilst the child whom the mother takes in her arms to make him advance more rapidly stands for the Christian who makes use of the Gifts by corresponding to operating grace.

(c) The artist who strikes the strings of a harp to produce harmonious sounds represents the Christian who practices the Virtues; but, when the Holy Ghost comes Himself to touch the strings of the heart, the soul is then under the influence of the Gifts. This is a comparison employed by the Fathers to picture the action of Jesus upon Mary’s soul: “A most melodious harp used by Jesus to delight the Eternal Father.”

How and When Do the Gifts Work?
We receive the Gifts of the Holy Ghost at the same time that we receive the state of grace. They are then merely dormant supernatural faculties. When we come to the age of reason and our heart turns towards God, we begin, under the influence of actual grace, to use our whole supernatural organism, the Gifts of the Holy Ghost included. It is indeed incredible that these Gifts should remain unavailing and unavailable during a long period of our life. However, in order that the Gifts may attain their normal and complete development, we must have previously practiced the Moral Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude and all the others) during a notable period of time, varying according to the providential designs of God for our life and our cooperation with His grace.

The practice of the moral virtues is first required in order to cultivate the gifts. The practice of virtue is like an entrance exam to the Gifts. Such is the teaching of St. Thomas: “The moral and the intellectual virtues precede the gifts, since man, through being well subordinate to his own reason, is disposed to be rightly subordinate to God." It stand to reason that in order to acquire that divine docility which the Gifts confer, one must have previously conquered one's passions and vices and formed habits of prudence, of humility, of obedience, of meekness, of chastity. How can one discern, accept and follow with docility the inspirations of grace, when the soul is troubled by the prudence of the flesh, by pride, wilfulness, anger and lust! Before being led by divine impulses, one must needs have followed, first of all, the rules of Christian prudence; before obeying the motions of grace, one must needs have observed the commandments and triumphed over pride.

It is, in fact, the Moral Virtues that, little by little, make the soul docile and dispose it to enjoy that perfect docility required for the full exercise of the Gifts. In the meantime, the Gifts grow as habits, together with habitual grace, and frequently, unknown to us, join their energies to those of the Virtues to make us perform our supernatural acts.

There are even times when, through His operating grace, the Holy Ghost enkindles temporarily an unwonted fervor of soul which is a kind of passing contemplation. What fervent soul has not at times felt these sudden inspirations of grace, when all it had to do was to receive the divine motion and follow it?—like a shove from behind, or a gust of wind in the sails. It may have been while reading the Gospels, or some devout book; on the occasion of some Communion, or of a visit to the Blessed Sacrament; at the time of some retreat, or when making a choice of a state in life, at the time of ordination or religious profession, that it seemed to us that the grace of God sweetly and strongly carried us along.

So…
From what has so far been said, we can conclude that the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are supernatural habits which impart such docility to our faculties that they promptly comply with the inspirations of grace. However, as we shall soon explain, this docility is at the outset but mere spark which needs to be cultivated to attain its full development. Besides, it is never exercised, except when God bestows that actual grace which we call operating grace. On such occasions, the soul, whilst passive under the action of God, is most active in accomplishing His Will, and so, one may say that the Gifts are at once sources of suppleness and of energy, of docility and of power, which render the soul more passive under the Hand of God, and at the same time more active and more powerful in His service and in the practice of good works.

Fear of the Lord
We find the names and the number of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost in a classic passage of the prophet Isaias: “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness [piety]. And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord” (Isaias 11:1-3).

What Isaias calls “spirit,” the technical language of theology calls “Gifts.” The Holy Ghost who dwells in us when we possess the grace of God, this sweet Guest of our soul who masterfully directs our spiritual life, has desired to establish in the different parts of our being those mysterious realities, the Gifts by which He communicates with us and influences each and every one of our human faculties.

These Seven Gifts sound very much like virtues that we may have—but they are not virtues. Their role is to perfect the virtues, strengthen them, raise them to superhuman levels. They are superior to and more perfect than our virtues, but they work in harmony with them—often pushing them beyond imagined limits.

The gifts of the Holy Ghost are of two kinds: (1) the first are specially intended for the sanctification of the person who receives them; (2) the second, more properly called charismata, are extraordinary favors granted for the help of another, favors, too, which do not sanctify by themselves, and may even be separated from sanctifying grace. Those of the first class are accounted seven in number, as enumerated by Isaias (11:2-3), where the prophet sees and describes them in the Messias. They are the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety (godliness), and fear of the Lord.

The Gift of Wisdom, helps us see things from a more overall and general viewpoint—seeing things as God sees them and thereby detaching us from the world, makes us relish and love only the things of Heaven.
The Gift of Understanding helps us to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary.
The Gift of Counsel springs from supernatural prudence, and enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God and our own salvation.
By the Gift of Fortitude we receive courage to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise in the practice of our religious duties.
The Gift of Knowledge points out to us the path to follow and the dangers to avoid in order to reach Heaven.
The Gift of Piety, by inspiring us with a tender and filial confidence in God, makes us joyfully embrace all that pertains to His service.
Lastly, the Gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him.

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
1. Fear of the Lord

Fear of the Lord
It is with the lowest Gift on the totem pole that we will begin—Fear of the Lord. Holy Scripture tells us that “The fear of God is the beginning of his love” and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). Our two faculties of the soul are the intellect (mind) and the will (heart). The highest level or pinnacle for each of them is love for the heart (will) and wisdom for the mind (intellect). Fear is the necessary foundation or platform for both love and wisdom.

God is love—“He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8)—and we must fear losing that love or charity of God: “The Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Call together the people unto Me, that they may hear My words, and may learn to fear Me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children!’” (Deuteronomy 4:10). “That thou mayest fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His commandments and precepts … Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve Him only” (Deuteronomy 6:2; 6:13). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear: fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).

Various Kinds of Fear
How can there be a Gift of Fear? Is not charity at the root of all the Gifts? And do not the Scriptures say that perfect love excludes fear? How is it possible, then, that fear of God can come from the profound and divine root of charity? In order to understand this we must do a little analyzing. There are various kinds of fear: there is fear of pain and fear of blame; there is also a fear of the world that makes us conform to the world and forget the holy commandments of God and commit sin — fear, that is, of some earthly, temporal evil. How many there are who separate themselves from God through such earthly fear!

Worldly Fear
Worldly or mundane fear is that which dreads the loss of temporal goods, such as riches and honors. Innocent in itself, it becomes injurious when we prefer to sin rather than lose these goods. History is replete with cruelties that worldly fear has caused. It is the fear of a Pilate who condemned Jesus to death because he feared to lose the esteem of Caesar. It is the fear of a Herod who put the Holy Innocents to death, because he feared for his crown. It is the fear of a Pharaoh who dreads the multiplication of the Israelites in Egypt. It is the fear of thousands of young men and women today, who deny their religion and abandon their most sacred duties, the frequentation of the Sacraments and the sanctification of Sunday, on account of human respect.

Carnal Fear
Carnal fear is that, of bodily inconveniences, fear of sickness or of death carried to the extent of losing the goods of the soul. It is the fear of a Peter denying his Master, lest he meet the same fate. Ah, how many Peters has the course of ages not seen? It is indeed lamentable how the sight of torture, or the fear of death, turns the mind from the thought of Heaven, and to preserve the body, the soul is lost: “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). This is a common fear. Do we not see it every day dictating recourse to sinful means in order to avoid the ordinary inconveniences of life? We witness it many times daily—perhaps from ourselves too! A lie here and there to avoid something, or to get an advantage; afraid to correct others for fear of reprisals or fear of losing one’s popularity; sleeping on the job and misusing our employer’s time; conforming to the world for fear of being an outcast, etc., etc.

Servile Fear
There is another fear that keeps us from sin and brings us close to God, but which is imperfect: theologians call it “servile fear,” the fear of punishment. Servile fear is the fear of God because of the punishment He dishes out to sinners; it is the avoiding of sin purely and simply because there is a Hell. There is no doubt that this fear keeps us many times from falling into sin; but the motive is of an inferior order, and without the nobility proper to love. Servile fear is not the Gift of Fear of God.

Filial Fear
There is another fear that is called filial. It consists in the repugnance that the soul feels at the thought of being separated from God. This fear comes from love. It is true that perfect love casts out a certain type of fear, but there is also a fear that is, we might say, the basis of love. Whosoever desires, whosoever loves, experiences a profound fear of being separated from the loved one, of displeasing him. Love cannot be conceived of without this fear. One who loves deeply has a fear that is above all other fears — fear of separation from the beloved. This is the Gift of Fear which is directed by the Holy Ghost. In a more perfect sense filial fear is the beginning of wisdom, because, in order to possess divine wisdom, we need to unite ourselves so closely to God that nothing can separate us from Him. The Gift of Fear unites us with God in this way. It hinders us from ever separating ourselves from the Beloved, and in that sense it is the beginning of wisdom.

Fear of the Lord Delivers From Fears
The Fear of the Lord is necessary that we may work out our salvation; it is necessary for us lest we degrade ourselves to the level of brute creation. It is the only guardian of our liberty and of our honor, because it alone is capable of delivering us from all other fear, from servile, worldly and carnal fear.

The first service rendered by the Gift of Holy Fear is to deliver us from this shameful tyranny. Servile gives way to filial fear, that fear to offend God because He is so good; it is always accompanied by confidence and love. As for worldly and carnal fear they no longer possess an illegitimate dominion, as filial fear either absorbs or banishes them. It regrets, deplores one and only one thing—sin.

This Fear of the Lord is, moreover, the only safeguard of that for which the whole world strives, liberty. Man cannot live without fear. If he does not fear God, he fears creatures, and if he fears a creature he is a creature’s slave; for, his freedom and his dignity belong to him whom he fears. To fear aught else except God, is to be under the yoke of tyranny. This is not understood by those who pretend to freedom by shaking off the yoke of God. In vain are revolutions begun; they but plunge their slaves into deeper distress. He alone is free who fears God; for, where the Spirit of God is, there, too, is liberty. Hence, we should only “fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

The Spirit of God unites us to Himself in such a way that He infuses in us an instinctive, profound, efficacious horror of being separated from God. This fear overrides all other fears.

The Gift of Fear in the Saints
Many of the great deeds in the lives of the saints were inspired by the Gift of Fear. St. Louis Gonzaga wept and scourged himself when he had to confess some little faults that we find it hard to believe were really sins. Why such tears from the saint? Why such grief? Because he examined so closely, under the influence of the Gift of Fear, the magnitude of those faults which to us seem insignificant; because he saw evil in them, a sign of separation from God. They were certainly very slight, but is anything really insignificant in love? When one loves passionately, does not the slightest danger of being removed from the beloved tear the heart to pieces?

This same Gift of Fear influenced St. Juliana of Falconieri, who trembled on hearing the word “sin,” who would faint when she heard of a crime being committed. This is something higher, something deeper, something much more perfect, than we are able to attain by our natural faculties; it is a supernatural effect which the Holy Ghost produces in souls so that they can look with horror at sin, and thus cling with intensity to God.

Degrees of Fear of the Lord
Of course there are degrees in the Gifts, as there are degrees in the Virtues. In the natural order, any faculty can be developed by practice, the acts performed by it becoming all the while stronger, more perfect. The intelligence of a student on the threshold of knowledge is not of the same degree as that of one who has spent his whole life in serious and profound study. The natural faculties grow with exercise, and as they grow we distinguish new degrees of them. The same thing happens in the supernatural order. The Virtues have their degrees, and so do the Gifts.

The gift of the fear of God, in the first degree, produces horror for sin and strength to overcome temptations. By means of the virtue we keep away from sin and conquer temptations, but with many struggles, many failures. We know from sad experience that our spiritual efforts do not always result in victory. How many times we are overcome; and even when we finally come out victorious, how conscious we are of deficiencies, hesitations, effort! With the Gift of Fear, victory is rapid and perfect. How often have we known this experience in the depths of our souls — the quick, instinctive impulse in the presence of temptation to leave the danger at once! It was the Holy Ghost moving us with His Gift of Fear.

In the second degree of this gift, the soul not only stays away from sin, but clings to God with profound reverence, avoiding even insignificant acts that are signs of imperfection. The profound respect of the saints for everything sacred — the Church, the Gospel, the priest — is the effect of the Gift of Fear. Everything divine is reverenced. The soul under the power of this gift does not want to fail in the least detail in respect and veneration for God.

A marvelous effect is produced in the third degree of this gift: total detachment from the things of this earth. That is why theologians say that this gift produces the first of the beatitudes: that of poverty of spirit. When we cling to God and avoid all that could separate us from Him, in such a way that exterior things lose their fascination for us, then the soul knows it is free, and it experiences the divine detachment characteristic of this stage of the spiritual life; it reaches the glorious height of which Jesus Christ spoke when He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 5:3). The disinterestedness of St. Francis of Assisi, who considered all the things of earth as nothing; the disinterestedness to which Christ counseled the young man of the Gospel — “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor.... and come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21. Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22): such disinterestedness as this is the fruit of the divine Gift of Fear.

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
2. Piety

Afraid of Being Called Pious?
In this second article, we will look at the Gift of Piety. Today, the word has a partially condescending ring to it: “O, look at him! There goes pious Pete!” (Or “Pious Pam!”). This is due to a misunderstanding of what piety is, and such a remark often targets those who try to pretend that they are spiritual persons, when in reality they are not. In other cases, however, it is a worldly person’s method of mocking a truly spiritual person whose love of God is unsettling the worldly person’s conscience. Whatever it be, let us take a closer look at this Gift that we have all been given in seed-form at our Baptism, and in a more mature manner at our Confirmation. In the book of Isaias, where the seven gifts are mentioned, the word "godliness" is used instead of "piety", which expresses the gift much better.

Charity Must Communicate
There is no part of our being that the movement of the Spirit does not reach; there is no occasion in all our spiritual life that He does not attend with His divine influence, by means of some of His gifts. He communicates to us the vigor, courage and superhuman strength to accomplish all our undertakings and to overcome all dangers for the glory of God.

But our spiritual life is not intended to keep us closed up within some interior castle, remote from everything and everyone. All life demands relationship with others, and this is especially true of the spiritual life. We have duties to fulfill toward God and neighbor; we cannot live in selfish isolation. The Christian spirit is a spirit of charity, and charity requires communication—and not only charity, but justice and many other virtues as well.

Virtues for Communication
A group of virtues has been provided for us, with justice at the center, by which all our relations with God and our neighbor will be ordered and disposed. For those to whom we owe some heavy debt, there is justice; for our obligations to God, there is religion; for our parents, our family, and our country, there is piety; for our benefactors, there is gratitude; and so on for all our relations with other people.

Piety Perfects Imperfect Virtues
But, as already noted, virtue is always limited by the human stamp of imperfection. The Holy Spirit will have to act upon our relationship with others by means of a gift. The gift of piety it is that unifies in an admirable way all these relationships, guides them, makes them more profound, more perfect.

Piety Unifies
In the first place, it unifies them. Observe that in the field of the virtues there is a whole multitude provided for the ordering of our relations with others, while in the domain of the gifts, there is only one. This is because the higher and the greater a thing is, the nearer to God, the simpler it is. The Apostle St. Paul speaks, in words we have already noted, of this very lofty principle, this norm of our relationships: “You have received a Spirit of adoption as sons, by virtue of which we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

How Can I Repay God?
Because God is our Father, we have very intimate and holy filial relations with Him; and from this Spirit of adoption who makes us look upon God as our Father comes the order and union that the gift of piety establishes in our relationship with our fellow man. Let us analyze this doctrine. By means of justice and the moral virtues our relations with others are regulated, each of our neighbors being given his due. Now, there are debts we can pay with mathematical exactness, and others we can never take care of ourselves. How could we pay God for the benefits we have received from Him? “How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for me?” (Psalm 115:12).

No matter how sincerely and completely we offer our life to Him, we can never repay, for He has given us everything; even though we gave it all back to Him, there would still remain an unpaid debt. To enable us to make a return for this debt in our small way, we have the virtue of religion.

Piety Pushes Payments
The virtue of piety demands that we repay our parents for the benefits received from them (benefits which in fact can never be fully repaid; for how can we fittingly repay them for the life they have given us?) And, like justice, religion, and piety, there are other virtues of the same group ordering our relations with others, and having a motive and a norm proper to their particular work. But the gift of piety has no limited norm such as a debt or a benefit; for the sacred norm of this gift is the Father Himself.

The virtue of religion produces in us gratitude to God for numberless benefits received in the natural and the supernatural order, and honor and devotion to Him who has sovereignty over our being. It prompts us to respond to His beneficence, and to fulfill our duties toward Him as our Sovereign, by means of the acts of religion.

Piety Looks After Honor
But the gift of piety is not concerned with what is owed to God; it does not measure the honor due to Him for the benefits that have been received from Him. The gift of piety is inspired by the Spirit of adoption by which we call upon God as our Father. Since He is our Father, we should have a deep filial affection for Him in our hearts, because it is proper that children love their Father. The gift of piety, or rather, the Holy Spirit through the gift of piety, develops in us this filial affection; and thus we are concerned about the honor and glory of our Father because we are His children.

The virtue of religion beholds God as Sovereign; the gift of piety sees Him as Father. The virtue of religion is mindful of benefits received, the gift of piety leads the soul to say: “He is My Father; therefore I must bear in mind His honor, His glory, and His greatness.”

The sentiments of the soul under the direction of the gift of piety are often expressed in the Scriptures. “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God almighty, who art, and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun Thy reign” (Apocalypse 11:17). Here thanks are not rendered for His benefits, nor because He has received us into His kingdom, nor because He has made us: thanks are given for the power of His virtue, for the glory of His triumph.

Everyday in Holy Mass the Church voices these same sentiments: “We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory.” Do we really understand these words? We give thanks to God, not because of what He has given us, but because He is great, because of His glory. It is natural for a son who truly and worthily loves his father, to take immense care of that father’s honor and glory, not regarding the benefits that may come to him from it.

Piety and Charity
The gift of piety is clearly distinguished from the virtue of charity: the virtue of charity has for its object God Himself, while the gift of piety looks to God’s honor. Undoubtedly it does so by means of charity, for charity is the root of that adoptive affiliation that the Holy Spirit makes us feel in the depths of our soul. But while charity makes us love God for Himself, the gift of piety makes us watchful of His honor, makes us give Him all our actions so that He may be honored and His glory increased.

When St. Ignatius of Loyola chose for His motto “For the greater glory of God,” he was without doubt inspired by the gift of piety. This gift helps us to fulfill all the duties we have toward God in a delicate, attentive, filial manner. Also, as a logical consequence of the Spirit of adoption which the Holy Spirit infuses into our souls, it makes us feel a singular and affectionate interest in all our fellow men.

Scope of Piety
Piety, in the natural order and in the order of the virtues, refers principally to our parents and, as a logical consequence, to the fulfillment of our duties toward all our relatives, toward all who make up our family, even to love of country.

Piety, as the gift of the Holy Spirit, leads us to knowledge of God the Father, and to a sense of our fraternity with all men; for all men are our brothers if God is our Father; and all the glory and grandeur of God, to which we are drawn because of the gift of piety, logically makes us honor all who share in this glory. And every Christian, indeed everyone not reprobate, has a participation in that divine greatness, or at least is intended to have it.

Saints and Piety
When Francis of Assisi had not yet found his true path — when, according to the fashion of his time, he was still dreaming of glory as a knight errant — a leper came to him, and Francis felt a supernatural movement in his soul. He responded to it, and in that very moment he received a revelation: the revelation of human fraternity. When Francis understood and knew that all men are brothers, he received the marvelous effect of the gift of piety. This gift enables us to perform our obligations toward others, not by the measure of strict justice, but in accord with the great affection we bear them in our souls. Rightly has St. Thomas said: “Love has no measure.” And when it is love, not duty, that inspires our actions, we pass all limits, we abandon all measures, and generously pour out the love of our hearts. This is the gift of piety. With it the soul can give itself to God and to others without reserve, with all the generosity, with all the expansiveness, of a supernatural and divine love.

Effects of Piety
To complete our understanding of the gift of piety, we should notice some of the principal effects it produces in the soul.

With respect to God, the gift of piety inspires us with sentiments of confidence, and prompts us to give ourselves to Him. A child trusts its father, and gives him its heart; a soul under the influence of the gift of piety has complete confidence in God and gives itself wholly to Him. For more than nineteen centuries we have had this sublime thought from the Gospel: “Unless you ... become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Yet no one before St. Thérèse of Lisieux so perfectly understood, expressed, and practiced the way of spiritual childhood.

Piety and the “Little Way”
Many virtues and gifts contributed to her formation; but her “little way” is particularly marked by the gift of piety. To become as a little child is to sense deeply our divine filiation. The saint said that because she was living in a modern world of discoveries, she also wanted great discoveries in the spiritual order; that she wanted to go up to God and to reach her perfection in an elevator. No doubt she would have used the word “airplane” if she had lived a few years later.

The arms of Jesus were her spiritual elevator. She was like a child in the embrace of its father. How often she repeated that comparison! The unlimited confidence that Thérèse of Lisieux had in God was filial confidence. The absolute surrender by which she put all that she had, all that she was, into the hands of God was the result of the gift of piety.

In the high degrees of this gift, the Holy Spirit infuses into souls the desire to be united with Jesus Christ the Victim, in order to expiate the sins of the world and to promote the glory of God.

Piety, Communion and Sacrifice
We believe that all who worthily receive Communion — not only the ministers at the altar, but also the faithful — participate in the sacrifice of Jesus. Because of this participation, and with the help of the gift of piety, we should experience, in a divine, deep, and efficacious manner, the sentiments Jesus had in His heart when He offered the sacrifice of the Cenacle and the sacrifice of Calvary. We should desire to unite our sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus, and to offer them together with His; to carry within our hearts an echo of the desire, immense and divine, that Jesus had within Him when He offered Himself as a Victim for the sins of the world.

With regard to our brethren, in the first degree of this gift the soul gives itself generously to others, in the way proper to the gift. The second degree is no longer an overflow of generosity whereby the soul gives what is superfluous: it now gives what it needs itself. Let us recall what St. Paul said: “I could wish to be anathema ... for the sake of my brethren” (Romans 9:3). How did the Apostle come to desire the loss of the divine gifts so as to give them to others? A strange generosity! A generosity without limits that proceeds from the gift of piety.

The last degree of this gift, particularly in those dedicated to the apostolic life, consists in giving oneself without reserve, in giving everything for others. “But I will most gladly spend and be spent myself for your souls, even though, loving you more, I be loved less” (2 Corinthians 12:15).

Thus the gift of piety, springing from charity like an effusion from the Spirit of adoption, has no measure; it lacks the narrow, rigid norm of the virtues; it rather breaks through measures and limits, and in an impulse of holy generosity makes the souls that possess it in its fullness give everything, and even themselves, for the good of others.

Opening Up the Supernatural World
Each one of the gifts opens up a new vista for souls, a view of an unknown and mysterious world, a world beautiful, holy, divine. The more knowledge we have of the works of God, the greater is our astonishment. There are things we hardly suspect in the supernatural world. When we succeed in getting a glimpse of them, we feel that we rise a little from the Earth, that our startled eyes see, though still imperfectly. In reality the truths pertaining to the gifts of the Holy Spirit are very lofty; but those gifts are truly ours.

A faint parallel might be this: If a physiologist should speak to us of the marvelous and mysterious things that happen in the physical order, things unknown to those who are not initiated into the science, we could not deny those facts merely because we are not trained to grasp them. Perhaps it would be difficult to understand them, but because they are verified in our lives, they have a consequent intense interest for us. Likewise, we must accept as a fact that we have all the gifts of the Spirit. Even the repentant sinner regains them by receiving absolution, for he cannot have grace without the gifts, nor without the Spirit: the Spirit never separates Himself from His gifts.

Pay Attention
These marvels are truly present in our soul, even though they may be prevented from reaching their perfect development because of our fault or our deficiency. Let us be more attentive to the divine inspirations. Let us enter more fully into the spiritual life, and yield to the beauty of that mysterious world. Wonders would then be accomplished in our hearts, wonders such as those manifested in the hearts of the saints.

May the divine Spirit pour His light into our souls, touch our hearts, reveal to us the world of sanctity and grace, so that we may love Him more and more. May He lead us with His holy movements, and guide us into the world of light and love, of generosity and elevation; the world that is neither bought nor sold; the eternal and exceedingly delightful world where we hope to be happy forever in the Heart of God.

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
3. Knowledge

If You Only Knew!
If the natural order in this world can be so beautiful and so magnificent, we cannot doubt that the supernatural order is even more so; just as the statue surpasses in beauty the pedestal on which it rests, just as the jewel is richer than its setting. If, in the natural order, there is a great wealth of intellectual gifts which combine together to form the riches of our human knowledge, then, in the supernatural order, there are also multiple and exceedingly rich gifts of the Spirit which enable us to have profound and perfect knowledge in the divine order. Let us then speak of the Gift of Knowledge.

To Know is Wonderful
Among the most precious of the treasures that make up our intellectual wealth is the capacity to know. Knowledge scrutinizes the world, probes into the depths of all phenomena, of all beings, and, recognizing the wonders God has placed in the natural order, leads us, especially in our own times, to astonishing discoveries.

In the supernatural order, there is a very profound science that also makes wonderful discoveries: it is what the Scriptures call “the science of the saints.” We read in the Book of Wisdom: “She guided him [the just man] in direct ways.... and gave him knowledge of holy things” (Wisdom 10:10). This Knowledge of the saints is divine Knowledge, it is the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

There is Knowing and knowing
There is another science in the supernatural order: theology, in which are found the great principles of Faith, supported by the solid arguments of human reason. But this is not the science of the saints, for even a sinner can be a theologian. The Knowledge of the saints is the Knowledge of those who possess the grace of God, and therefore bear the Holy Spirit in their souls; who are moved, led, and guided by Him to a divine mode of understanding.

Gift of Knowledge
The Gift of Knowledge has some points in common with human knowledge and with the Gift of Wisdom, but it also possesses entirely distinctive marks. Human knowledge is that which makes things known through their immediate causes. To say this more simply, it is a man’s natural understanding of creatures. The Gift of Wisdom, as we shall later see, looks deep into the very bosom of the divine, and from that high vantage point contemplates creatures—Wisdom sees things from God’s persepective. The Gift of Knowledge follows a different course: it gives us an understanding of creatures from an earthly perspective so that we may be able to lift ourselves above them to focus on God.

Human Knowledge
Human knowledge is discursive. It passes from one truth to another, and thus covers the whole field of learning. Our intelligence naturally proceeds in a slow and laborious manner. By reasoning, it researches and assembles all available truths until it arrives at a systematic and more or less complete whole. The Gift of Knowledge does not reason in this human way: It is intuitive; it has the divine character proper to the action of the Holy Spirit; it gives us an insight into the mysterious relationships between creatures, and particularly into the great all-transcending relationship that creatures have with God.

Superior Manner of Knowing
Under the influence of the Gift of Knowledge, we do not have the same knowledge as acquired through human science. Human science gives all things their proper name; it exposes their behavior, their properties, and the laws that govern them. The divine Gift of Knowledge does not teach us the properties of creatures, but considers them in a broader, more profound manner in the relation to God. It gives answers to the questions: “Do they lead me to God, or do they lead me away from God? What can they teach me about God?” Someone has happily said that before creatures had their present names, they had a common name: they were called “reflections of the divine bounty, resplendent stairs by which we mount to God.”

The Gift of Knowledge also gives creatures this common name; in the light of the gift, all are more or less reflections of divine goodness, heavenly beauty; at the same time, they are adequate means of helping us to God, luminous ladders by which we ascend to Heaven.

Creatures of this Earth, looked upon in this way, in their intimate relationship with God, have two distinct characteristics: their own nothingness, and the stamp of divinity upon them. A deep insight into this double aspect is a necessary condition of any understanding of them, and such insight is had through the Gift of Knowledge.

All is Vanity
What is created is vain. Solomon said in the Book of Ecclesiastes, in a transcendent and profound phrase, “Vanity of vanities.... all things are vanity” (Ecclesiasticus 1:2). 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 it for Himself alone. No matter how much we strive to fill our heart with creatures, this will never be. They are vain; they are not for us: we were born for greater, higher satisfactions.

But how difficult it is for us to comprehend the vanity of things! They dazzle 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).

Vain Warnings of Vanity
How many times creatures seduce 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 and unfortunate experience is enough to tear the blindfold from our eyes. We let ourselves be carried away by the bewitchment of vanity, we fasten our heart on some creature.

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?

The Saints Saw Correctly
A keen sense of that truth has been characteristic of all outstanding conversions. It was St. Francis Borgia who exclaimed when contemplating his dead sovereign: “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.

Leave Things and Follow Me!
Merely to consider these things is not enough. We read the pages of Scripture that treat of the vanity of things. We read the immortal words of the Gospel: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor.... and come, follow Me.” It is the divine lesson on the vanity of things of Earth: sell all you have, for everything is vain. We believe in the Scriptures and in the word of God. Yet our belief remains ineffective; it does not cause a profound transformation. But one day, a word, an incident, a light from God, reveals the truth to us, and then our conversion takes place.

Workings of the Gift of Knowledge
The first action of the Gift of Knowledge is to reveal in a profoundly intuitive manner, and with irresistible conviction, the vanity of things. After this vision, we turn earnestly to God and begin to walk the road of Christian perfection.

Spiritual writers speak at times of a second conversion, in addition to that first one by which we leave sin and enter upon the way of grace. In the second conversion, when the soul takes a new route in the spiritual life, when God calls it to a higher perfection, the Gift of Knowledge produces an even deeper and more perfect conviction that the things of the Earth are vain. At times this effect is bitter, painful, even terrible. Virtue is not always sweet: sometimes it seems cruel.

Dark Night of the Senses
There are virtues that tear the heart to pieces, that disconcert us, that disillusion us; but that is the way the Gift of Knowledge fills us with complete scorn for the things of Earth. Here is the “dark night of the senses” of which St. John of the Cross speaks, the long and tremendous purification to which God subjects a soul when He wishes to lift it up to great heights.

To such a soul, all creatures have suddenly lost their charm; their former allure is gone. No longer does the soul find rest in the old delights. It is night, a dark night in which shines not a single star — a blessed night, for the soul has been preserved from the charm of creatures, to find itself on the straight and sure way that leads to God.

Divine Spark
But if it is true that there is vanity in creatures, it is also certain that there is in them a certain divine spark. Each creature might seem the crude wrapping that encloses a heavenly pearl. The created thing is vain because it is deficient, because it is limited, because it will never be able to fill our heart. But there is also in every creature, from the highest of the seraphim to the lowest atom of matter, a flash of divinity. In a magnificent poetic figure already quoted, St. John of the Cross describes God as He passes through the universe, showering graces, and covering all created things with His light as His divine countenance is reflected in them.

All things have upon them the mark of God; they are made to His likeness. The Book of Genesis says that when God beheld His creation, He saw that it was good. Yes, all things are good because they all have something from God; they all bear a reflection of His goodness, and in all of them the beauty of the Creator is portrayed in a manner more or less distinct.

Ordinarily we do not see that beauty in its true light; what it holds of physical beauty dazzles us. But when the Gift of Knowledge has made us see the vanity of earthly things and has purified our souls, then we contemplate the things of Earth in a new way.

Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi was the saint who possessed in magnificent abundance the Gift of Knowledge. Let us recall the stages of his extraordinarily beautiful life. First, there was his dissipation in creatures. He dreamed, like most men of his time, of attaining great glory as a knight. When God revealed to him the vanity of earthly things, he felt the necessity of getting rid of everything. He threw his rich clothing into the hands of his father, saying: “Now I can say more truly, ‘Our Father who art in Heaven.”‘ Then, clad in coarse sacking, he set off to Portiuncula to wed the Lady Poverty.

The first stage in the life of Francis ended in scorn for the things of Earth. The Gift of Knowledge made him get rid of everything and fall in love with poverty, because poverty is truth, because it is the ladder that leads to God, and because he knew, in consequence, that poverty is the greatest wealth.

Francis Saw Differently
Henceforth his gaze was transformed and he saw creatures in a new manner. With what depth of love did Francis look at all the things of Earth! The flowers, the birds, the water, the sun — all had a divine meaning for him; all spoke to him of God, and he felt a deep, immense and rare fraternity with all.

Do you recall how he referred to creatures? — sister water, brother fire, brother sun, brother wolf ? With what tenderness he protected the little worms that crawled along the road so that travelers would not step on them? How he objected to the putting of narrow enclosures around trees by which their growth would be limited?

He Must be Crazy!
And with that profound knowledge of nature, with that divine way of looking at creatures, he did things that, to ordinary men, seemed like madness. Do you remember the occasion on which he spoke to the birds — how, when he started to preach to them, the little creatures gathered around him to listen? Madness, they will say, those who judge only by human standards. Divine sublimity, we must say, who are initiated in the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. He looked at creatures with different eyes, not with the poor human vision that sees only the transitory and superficial; he looked at them profoundly and saw in each one a reflection of God; each was like a very clear crystal in which he contemplated the Creator.

The Other Francis
It is possible to find this fruit of the Gift of Knowledge in the life of many other saints. We remember that St. Francis de Sales made use of anything whatsoever that he observed in nature in order to lift himself up to God. When he looked at the fields and the flowers, he said to them: “Quiet, quiet — don’t tell me that I may love, for I am dying of love!”

For him, creatures had a mysterious language. All spoke to him of God, just as a picture, a flower, a perfume, can be for us a reminder of one we love. That is why he told the flowers to be quiet, for it seemed to him that all creatures were inviting him to love God, and he could no longer support the ardor of his soul.

The Knowledge of Adam and Eve
In the high degree of the Gift of Knowledge, we enjoy a vision similar to the beautiful and profound one Adam and Eve must have had in paradise before the fall. The Scriptures tell us that Adam gave each thing its proper name, which indicates that he had a deep and perfect knowledge of everything around him.

When his virgin nature had just come forth, fresh and beautiful, from the omnipotent hands of the Creator, when his spirit was clothed in grace, when the Holy Spirit, by means of His gifts, moved him, with what insight Adam must have looked upon all creatures; with what penetration he must have contemplated the universe; with what appreciation he must have beheld the splendid verdure of paradise!

Gift of Knowledge Detaches Us
In the perfection of the Gift of Knowledge is found complete detachment. Souls that are not subject to the thrall of creatures discover the holy liberty of the children of God, the joy of freedom, the deep happiness of perfection. At the same time their outlook becomes celestial and they behold the world differently — with a divine glance.

Seeing Sorrows Differently
Let us not end these considerations without indicating another excellent and apparently strange effect of the Gift of Knowledge in its higher degrees. Souls that possess it look at suffering and humiliation differently than others. This unusual and, at first sight, inexplicable love of suffering is noticeable in the lives of the saints.

We have spoken of St. Teresa’s alternatives — pain or death: both things from which we ordinarily flee, but for Teresa of Jesus, the only two things worth having. St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi modified the expression of St. Teresa thus: “Not to die, but to suffer.” St. John of the Cross, when Jesus asked him, “What recompense do you desire for all that you have done for Me?” replied, “To suffer and be despised for Thee!”

Does it not seem strange to ask for sacrifice and humiliation as a reward? Yet, in the light of the Gift of Knowledge, sacrifice and humiliation have a supernatural significance. We, imperfect as we are, recognize nothing but the superficial; the saints, with the light of God, look into the depths of things.

Sacrifice and humiliation are precious; they are the opposite of the “witchery of paltry things.” By suffering and humiliation we resemble Jesus Christ, and nothing is so divine as that which pertains to Jesus Christ and makes us like unto Him.

If They Did It, So Can We
Talking of these things, it seems as if one were standing in a deep valley and looking up at a very lofty peak, immaculately white with snow, a glorious height that it may seem impossible to reach. On the other hand is it not sweet and beautiful to contemplate from the depths .of our misery those great summits of sanctity to which our brothers have attained — the dwelling place of God? What must the life of a saint be like — that looking at things in the light of truth, that penetrating into the depths of them, that experiencing of new desires and impressions together with peace of soul and joy of spirit: a feast of light, a feast of love, a feast of peace! Even if we do not have the strength to scale these soaring heights, the celestial vision can enkindle in us the desire of living a more perfect Christian life.

When we contemplate a splendid mansion, the desire comes to us to make our own poor house more beautiful and comfortable; and when we hear a sublime musical composition, even though we do not pretend to produce anything like it, we feel a greater love for music and, according to our talent, we try to become more proficient in it.

Even so, contemplating the marvels which the Holy Spirit produces in souls, our heart is thrilled, our spirit encouraged, although we ourselves journey with such slow steps toward Him who is Light, who is Love, who is Happiness; toward Him who bathes all loving souls in splendid light, in most sweet love, in infinite peace.

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
4. Fortitude

The World Makes Me Weak!
When it comes to doing good, we find enormous difficulties in ourselves: the disordered inclination to evil and to the things of this world; the attraction of creatures called, in Holy Scripture, the “witchery of paltry things” (Wisdom 4:12). We need the Holy Spirit to moderate our affections, to regulate our lives, and to unite us more intimately with God, so that no earthly attraction, no worldly enchantment, can pull us away from His loving embrace. The Holy Spirit accomplishes this, as we have already seen, by means of the Gift of Fear.

It’s Hard to Be Good!
But there is another very important field in which we need the efficacious and decisive influence of the Holy Spirit: the difficulties and dangers of the spiritual life. According to one translation of the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon the Wise has said: “All things are hard” (Ecclesiastes 1:8). Experience teaches us the meaning of his words, and how true they are for human nature. The more noble and generous the undertakings, the greater the difficulties.

How many obstacles have to be overcome before we reach eternal happiness! We may recognize our duty with precision and exactitude; we may have a desire to fulfill it and to take the paths God has marked out for us — but our nature finds it so hard! We need such strength and sacrifice; we fail so many times; and knowing that, we may abandon the right road, we give up the undertaking because it seems too painful.

Spiritual Difficulties
In the spiritual life, there are difficulties and there are also dangers: occasions of sin and obstacles to good. Job said that human life is temptation. St. Peter said that the devil goes about like a roaring lion, looking for a chance to devour us. Dangers come from our associates, from the depths of our own being, and also from the infernal powers that plot against us and keep us from traveling a straight and direct path to perfection and happiness.

Heaven Belongs to the Strong
We need extraordinary strength to help us bear these difficulties, avoid these dangers, strive toward the accomplishment of the will of God, and finally reach the end for which we were made. Heaven belongs to the strong, and for this reason there are relatively few saints: for few have the fortitude to make the efforts and sacrifices required by perfection.

An Army of Virtues
That we may overcome the difficulties and escape the dangers, God has provided us with a set of virtues grouped around the cardinal virtue of fortitude. These are patience, perseverance, fidelity, magnanimity, and a number of others which, like an army in battle array, stand ready to help us. They are very efficacious, yet they are not sufficient; for virtues, as already explained, although they are supernatural, receive in our practice of them our own stamp: the human character, narrow, limited, and very weak.

Virtues Need Leading and Perfecting
Therefore does Holy Scripture say that “the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans” (Wisdom 9:14). Our acts have the seal of weakness and deficiency. If we are to attain salvation, fortitude with its companion virtues is not enough. A gift is needed, the Gift of the Holy Spirit that bears the same name as the virtue: the Gift of Fortitude. The Holy Spirit moves us by this Gift so that we are able to overcome difficulties, to avoid dangers, and to have confidence. “I can do all things,” exclaimed the Apostle St. Paul, “in Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

The Virtue of Fortitude and the Gift of Fortitude
Let us now analyze the reasons why the virtue of fortitude must be completed by the corresponding Gift. The virtues have a norm distinct from the Gifts. The virtue of fortitude encourages us in laborious works and fills us with the strength to overcome difficulties; but as it functions according to the measure of our human strength, it cannot encourage us to do anything above that strength. All virtue, theologians say, consists in the middle course; any deviation of our will to the right or to the left removes us from virtue. Fortitude, the virtue, certainly does not permit irrational timidity, but neither can it prompt us to undertake with assurance and boldness anything superior to our human strength. We find this prudent counsel in Holy Scripture: “With what is too much for you, meddle not” (Ecclesiasticus 3:22).

Gift of Fortitude Perfects Our Virtue of Fortitude
Now, is it not too much for human strength to complete every work and avoid every danger? Where is the man strong, great, persevering enough to finish every labor he undertakes and to escape from every peril he finds in his path? The work which the Christian has to achieve, the sanctification of his soul, the winning of eternal salvation, is the greatest and most arduous work known on Earth. Can man, by his own strength — though assisted by divine aids yet still by his own strength — do this tremendous work and avoid all the dangers of a lifetime? Undoubtedly he cannot. He needs some aid that is superior to the virtues; he needs the Gift of Fortitude.

Our Strength or God’s Strength?
The measure and norm of the Gift of Fortitude is infinite strength, the strength of God. By means of this Gift the Holy Spirit prompts us to do all that the strength of God can do. In the supernatural order, under the movement of the Holy Spirit, creatures are actually clothed with the strength of God. St. Paul does not exaggerate when he says: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). The words may seem boastful and proud: I can do everything.

How can St. Paul say this when the ability to do everything is proper to God alone? What he means is: I can do everything because I depend on God, because I possess His strength, because I am clothed in His divine Fortitude. Such is the norm of the Gift of Fortitude, the infinite strength of God. With this strength we can conquer every difficulty; in fact, we often observe how obstacles become a means to some good end in the all-powerful hands of God. And with this same strength we can overcome all dangers, for none is so grave as to withstand the power of the Most High.

Confidence of the Saints
Not only does the Gift of Fortitude help us overcome difficulties and avoid dangers, but it also gives us a confidence like that which the Apostle Paul describes in the passage just cited; a confidence, a security, that produces peace in our souls in the midst of dangers, in struggles, in all our tribulations. There is nothing so glorious as the spectacle offered by the lives of the saints: in the midst of difficulties, in their struggles against the powers of Earth and Hell, they preserved peace and happiness, for they were ruled by the Holy Spirit and worked under the efficacious and omnipotent force of the Gift of Fortitude. Let us take a few examples.

Francis and Fortitude
By means of the Gift of Fortitude the saints have attained the incredible perfection that makes them take joy in suffering. It is hardly possible for us to understand how happiness can spring from the very depths of pain, but it is true. St. Francis of Assisi and his companion, on a certain journey, stopped that the saint might explain in what perfect happiness consists. I shall not dwell on the well-known story except to remind you of the conclusion which the Seraph of Assisi gave to it: “O Brother Leo, perfect happiness consists in suffering for Christ, who willed to suffer so much for us.” These are not the words of a scholar trying to impress his audience: they spring from one who had the sincerity of a child. Francis truly means that the greatest happiness, the most perfect happiness, is the celestial happiness of suffering. This he could only say under the influence of the Gift of Fortitude.

Ignatius and Fortitude
St. Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, while being taken to Rome to his martyrdom, gave another example of what the Gift of Fortitude does for the soul. He addressed an amazing letter to the Roman Christians, the purpose of which was to entreat them, in the heart of Christ, not to prevent his martyrdom: “ ... If the wild beasts do not throw themselves upon me, as has happened with some martyrs, I shall incite them to do so. Forgive me, my children, but I know what is good for me; for I am the wheat of Christ and I must be crushed by the teeth of wild beasts so that I may be converted into immaculate bread.” These are the words and the attitude of a very wise man, a man under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who enjoys the efficacious strength of the Gift of Fortitude.

Teresa and Fortitude
In other saints we find the Gift of Fortitude having an influence on acts that are not so extraordinary and heroic. Pope Gregory VII is an example of it in his gigantic struggle against the enemies of the Church. The superhuman strength shown by St. Teresa, in the reform of the Carmelite Order, likewise manifests the working of the Gift of Fortitude. She endured enormous difficulties in her contacts with all kinds of people, while, at the same time suffering a tremendous desolation of soul. Could she have accomplished her work without the Gift of Fortitude?

It is necessary even in ordinary life. Every Christian finds himself, at some time or other, in a difficult situation, in which he needs the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Fortitude is also indispensable to perseverance in virtue, to the efforts that must be made to attain Heaven. Without it, the heart is lacking in peace and confidence.

Thanks be to God, we received the Gift of Fortitude on the day of our Baptism. We keep it as long as we have grace in our soul. The Holy Spirit is within us, and we can receive His efficacious aid whenever it is needed.

The Degrees of the Gift of Fortitude
(1) In the first degree we can do all that is absolutely necessary for the salvation of our soul; all that God commands us, even extraordinary and heroic things.

(2) In the second degree our spirit acquires a superior strength, not only that we may accomplish what is absolutely necessary, what is of precept, but also that we may do the things of Counsel, according to the duties and the spirit of each soul in the state in which God has placed it.

(3) In the third degree the Gift of Fortitude elevates us above every created good; it makes us conquer ourselves, and places us in the very heart of God, where boundless confidence and unchanging peace reign.

No Comparision
If only we knew the Gift of God; if only we knew what a marvelous world we carry within our soul! If only we realized the incomparable and divine beauty of the supernatural world! In the exterior world there are marvelous things. Who is not delighted with the sweet fragrance of spring? Who has not experienced the mysterious charm of the dewy woods? Who does not feel the grandeur of the ocean when he hears its mighty voice, when he sees the surge and beat of its great waves? Who does not experience a delicious peace while contemplating on a tranquil night the stars that sparkle so mysteriously in the heavens? Yet all this is nothing in comparison with the supernatural world.

Paltry Works of Human Hands
Or if we pass to the realm of science and art, to all the marvelous works that man has produced, this is still nothing in comparison with our interior world, because there we have God. His graces and Gifts are found in the sanctuary of our soul, and so we carry a divine world within us. Yet, for the most part, the greater majority of people are blind to this! Jesus said: “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). And as Holy Scripture adds: “But our God is in Heaven. The idols of the gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men. They have mouths and speak not: they have eyes and see not. They have ears and hear not: they have noses and smell not. They have hands and feel not: they have feet and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat. Let them that make them become like unto them: and all such as trust in them” (Psalm 113:11-16).

Come, Holy Spirit, Light of souls! Open our eyes that we may perceive Thy wonders in our heart! Enlighten us, move us, quicken us, prompt us, that we may forget this poor exterior world, so deficient and imperfect, and may live in that other interior world, where Thou art and where, like a splendid Sovereign, Thou dost give us Thy Gifts of infinite power.

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
5. Counsel

Captain Counsel
There is a Gift of the Holy Spirit that directs the Gifts of fear, Fortitude, and Piety—like a captain directs his company. This is the Gift of Counsel. Before performing any deliberate action, we go through a mental process with the purpose of examining carefully, not only the lawfulness of what we intend to do, but also its convenience, its timeliness. Ordinarily we are not aware of this process, just as we are not aware of what happens when our food goes through the digestive tract to be assimilated by the entire organism. Because we are accustomed to use our intelligence to regulate our actions, the procedure goes by unnoticed. But on certain occasions, in more difficult and complicated activities, when we do not see our way clearly and immediately, then, because of our greater concentration on the matter, we are aware of the process of our deliberation.

It is no easy thing to determine what should be done in difficult matters, and to know what should be known about the lawfulness, the appropriateness, and the opportuneness of an act. We analyze, reflect, and recall the past to guide us in the present and to foresee the future — and how many times, after we have reflected and analyzed at great length, we still do not know what to do in a given circumstance, but have to go to a wiser, more experienced person for advice.

Prudence and Prudence
To help us determine what should be done in a particular case, we have the virtue of prudence in the natural order, and also the infused virtue of Prudence, which bears the same name in the supernatural order.

Prudence is not the theoretical or speculative knowledge of ordinary spiritual things; it is the application of this knowledge and these general principles to concrete cases with their special circumstances of time, place, manner, etc. Prudence is a difficult virtue to practice — not only the prudence needed to direct others, but even that prudence which is absolutely necessary in guiding and governing ourselves. It is difficult because, while we must look upward in order to work according to higher principles and rules, we must look downward and remain in touch with this Earth in order to be aware of each one of the circumstances that surround the act we are thinking of doing.

Choir Director Prudence
It can be helpful to think of prudence as the director of a great chorus of many voices, each carrying its own melody. The director must mark, with his baton, precisely the moment when every voice must enter, and the tones for every melody. In a word, he must harmonize all those voices to produce a unified whole. This is the work of prudence. Prudence directs, in a certain manner, the other virtues; it marks for each one of them its opportunity, its degree, and tells how and when it should be exercised. Prudence gives wonderful harmony to our life.

But in this matter, as in all others in the spiritual life, the virtue is not enough. Timidity and uncertainty are the usual characteristics of the natural or human virtue of prudence. How difficult it is to unite prudence and boldness! There are bold men who ignore prudence (they are uncautious fools), and there are men who seem prudent, yet who do not dare to do the bold things they should (they are overcautious fools). This is typical of human work. Our decisions are uncertain; and in many matters, especially spiritual matters, we find it difficult to arrive at stability and security! We plan and arrange things without having the assurance that they will attain the desired result; our procedures are unsure and do not always bring about what we have intended. Human life is so complicated, so difficult, the ways by which we reach perfection are so painful, we find so many troubles, so many contradictions in our life, that if we had no other direction, we would never attain our end.

God Helps Out
But God, who never fails us in our needs, has given us a Gift by which the Holy Spirit becomes our guide. As the Archangel Raphael led Tobias on his journey, so the Spirit who lives in our souls guides us along the winding and troublesome paths of this life, until we reach our perfection in the inexpressibly loving embrace of God.

Counsel, the Prudence Par Excellence
That superior Prudence, that divine Prudence, which comes from the Holy Spirit, is the Gift of Counsel. It does not have the same name as the virtue, because the prudence we receive, from the Gift of Counsel, does not spring from the depths of our intelligence; it comes to us from above, from a superior Being: it is communicated to us by the Spirit. Just as, in a particular case of doubt, we seek someone more informed than ourselves to advise us, so does the Spirit counsel us by means of this Gift. But His counsel is not a passing thing, like the advice of human beings; no, it is a light that we receive, it is a Gift. Through it, the Spirit moves and guides us in a definite way along the difficult paths that lead to God.

Prudence, ruled by reason, gives a human mode to our actions: which result in uncertainty and timidity; whereas the Holy Spirit puts a divine character on the acts that proceed from the Gift of Counsel. The virtue of prudence and the Gift of Counsel have different norms. The virtue of prudence acts according to right reason, enlightened by Faith, which helps us to judge whether we should perform such and such an action at a certain time. The Gift of Counsel is higher reason; it is divine, it is eternal reason, the reason of God.

Amazing Saints
At times the saints have been able to do things that fill us with amazement. For example, St. Catherine of Siena spent entire Lenten periods without any other food than Holy Communion. In the light of human prudence, there is no justification for doing this. Right reason demands that we give our bodies the necessary food; it prohibits such excesses, though, at the same time, it does not tolerate neglect of mortification, for the middle way must always prevail in the practice of virtue. But St. Catherine accomplished this amazing thing because of a superior instinct, a divine instinct, acting according to divine reasoning, not human reasoning. She did not see the usual rule of reason; she saw the exalted rule of the will of God.

Looking into God’s Mind
Let us imagine that we could look into God’s mind, in order to discover the proper thing to do in every circumstance; as we might look, here on Earth, into the brilliant mind of a learned man to find the correct answer to a problem. This is the way of the Gift of Counsel.

When we work under its direction our decisions will be quick, sure and audacious. With what boldness do the saints proceed, with what security, and with what rapidity! They do not follow the counsels of men, nor the dictates of their own reason. They have a higher norm: eternal reason, the mind of God, that illuminates their spirit and lays before them the road they should follow.

Vincent and Prudence
In numerous instances we can discover the influence, the effect, of this Gift upon the saints. For example, how could St. Vincent Ferrer have performed miracles with such naturalness if he had not been guided by the Gift of Counsel? The saint would speak a few words from the Gospel, then add: “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are now healed”; and he worked these miracles just in passing, as any ordinary act of his life. Now, if one of us should try to imitate St. Vincent and perform miracles, he would commit a gravely imprudent act. St. Vincent could perform them because the Holy Spirit moved him; because he was, in a special manner, under the direction of the Spirit.

First Degree of Counsel
In this Gift, as in all the others, there are degrees. In the first, the soul succeeds rapidly in doing the will of God as regards what is immediately necessary in the spiritual life. It is no simple thing to have this , security. While the known will of God is by no means always easy to fulfill, yet it is often more difficult to know God’s will than to fulfill it. Have we not all found ourselves in situations in which we could not exactly say what our obligation was? What did God want us to do in such cases? The Gift of Counsel helps us to answer that question in a quick and certain manner.

The Gifts work in us simultaneously, or rather, the Holy Spirit makes us work and advance under the influence of His Gifts, and on some occasions several of them cooperate in the work of our spiritual life, just as many organs cooperate in our body, and many faculties in our soul. But in this world of the Gifts, the actions that proceed from them have to be ruled by the Gift of Counsel.

Now this Gift also influences the actions of our everyday life, those actions that are ruled by the ordinary virtue of prudence. As in a battle the general who has the responsibility of a special division works with freedom in it, but receives orders from a higher chief, so the virtue of prudence rules our actions, but receives directives from another, more excellent supernatural arbiter, the Gift of Counsel.

Second Degree of Counsel
In the second degree, the Gift of Counsel shows us the will of God, our designated way, not only in the necessary things of our spiritual life, but also in the things of counsel; in the things that, while not absolutely obligatory, are very beneficial and useful for helping us to reach God.

Third Degree of Counsel
In the third degree, the soul seems to rise from the Earth and to live in another, higher world. The hand of God guides it with security, without mishap, and without timidity. The soul goes along the path that our Lord indicates, until it arrives at that height of perfection to which it has been called by God.

Listen, Follow, Be Happy!
Happy the souls that yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance! What peace, what security, and what tranquillity are theirs! They do not experience the uncertainties of human life those uncertainties which are among our greatest miseries. At each step we find a difficulty. As the Wise Man has said: “All things are hard.” And they are especially so in the spiritual order. How are we to get out of these troubles that we find everywhere we turn? What ought we to do about them?

The Holy Scriptures tell us that there is a time for speaking and a time for keeping still — are we to speak or remain quiet in this moment of vexation? There is a time for rejoicing and a time for suffering — how can we know exactly what to do at some precise juncture? How many uncertainties in this life, how many hesitations, especially when our spirit and intention are right and we do not wish to stray from the paths marked out for us by God! Happy the souls that are led by the Holy Spirit in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, among the winding pathways of Earth! The hand of God guides them in a sure manner, they have tranquility and peace because they have light; because the Holy Spirit moves them; because they go under the shadow of His wings, traveling triumphantly along the paths of life that are to take them to eternal joy.

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
6. Understanding

What’s in a Word?
Some words express our thoughts with admirable accuracy. Though they may not be precise definitions, they are exact expressions of the object that they refer to. Such is the Latin word intelligere (intus-legere: meaning “to read interiorly, to penetrate”). Understanding also fits this bill: to fully grasp something means going beyond the superficial, beyond the surface appearance of things, to see what “stands” “under” the surface. When we go below the surface, we “get to the bottom of things”—we finally “understand” those things.

Heaven’s Useful Gifts
In the natural order, intelligence is the ability to see the abstract, the immaterial truth—that is what a principle is, it is a immaterial truth that guides our material or concrete actions. In the supernatural order, intelligence penetrates higher truths—in order to know them (with the help of the Gift of Knowledge) and to go beyond that—to understand them (with the help of the Gift of Understanding). As the natural light of reason makes us understand sensible things, the light of the Gift of Understanding, of which we shall now speak, helps us to penetrate supernatural truths and to reveal their intimate depths.

Knowledge is Great, Understanding is Better
St. Ignatius Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises (a.k.a. “Ignatian Retreat), points out that it is not great knowledge which profits the soul, but rather the penetration and savoring of spiritual things. To find spiritual profit, we do not have to multiply readings and meditations: we should rather go to the heart of some few truths, understand them as much as we can, and delight in them. When the Spiritual Exercises are made, or during a day of retreat, or simply whenever we meditate attentively on some supernatural truth, it seems that our soul is transformed, that we become another being. With the new light given us, our soul has a changed attitude toward spiritual things.

To attain perfection, we need to ponder in this way the exalted truths of Faith. But Faith alone, which is based on the authority of God who revealed these truths, is not enough to make us penetrate them: we need the additional power of the Gift of Understanding.

Different Gifts—Different Uses
The other intellectual gifts are not intended for this specific purpose of penetration. The Gift of Counsel, as already explained, helps us to apply the great Christian principles to our actions; knowledge is the means by which we find the Creator through creatures, and wisdom ( as we shall see later) makes us look at all things from the lofty viewpoint of God.

The gift of penetration, the gift of intuition, is the Gift of Understanding. By means of it we go deep into the meaning of supernatural truths, of the Christian mysteries, of the dogmas of our Faith. And the more developed is this gift in our soul, the more profound is our vision, the more penetrating our intuition.

How It Works
Why and how does the Gift of Understanding penetrate into supernatural truths? Let us try to understand this by applying the general principles already described with regard to the gifts. The intellectual gifts give us a profound knowledge of divine things because through them we are united to God in a sweet, intimate experience produced by love. This happens in the Gift of Understanding as it does in the other gifts. It is necessary to have charity, the profound root from which spring forth like divine shoots all the gifts of the Spirit. By charity we are united to God, we cling to Him; and from this intimate union and firm cleaving there results an experimental knowledge.

We have a particular power of penetration for understanding the people we love. We do not need to talk in order to know their intimate thoughts or to share our own with them. In the same way, when the soul is united to God, it sees Him and knows Him by a direct and sweet experience.

Each one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit unites us to the Holy Spirit as to the Director, the Mover of our souls; but, at the same time, it unites us to Him as to the object of our love. For, as we have seen, the Holy Spirit is also the Gift, the highest Gift of God.

Possessing the Gift is Possessing God
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us admirable things on this point. Before a gift is given, it belongs only to the giver; but when it is given, it is his to whom it is given. The Holy Spirit is from God, He is God; but when given to us, He is ours. He is ours, says the holy Doctor, as much as anything we have the liberty to dispose of can be ours. Thus we are free to dispose of this Spirit who has come to us. That is to say, we can enjoy Him when we wish, because we possess Him, because He belongs to us, because He is at our disposal. And being thus united to Divinity, we have, in a certain way, the sense possessed by the Divine. The enlightened eyes of our heart have a penetrating and profound power, and we can read the depths of supernatural truths. In a special way, the Gift of Understanding supposes the knowledge, the perfect comprehension, of our end.

Ideas Beget Actions
St. Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises (aka “Ignatian Retreat) establishes the goal or end of man as being the beginning and foundation of all the marvelous considerations he brings forth in order to lead the soul to God. It is the first truth that he examines thoroughly, and the method has become traditional in the giving of spiritual retreats. Whenever the Spiritual Exercises are practiced, or missions are given, they begin by the presentation, in one way or another, of this transcendent doctrine of our last end. And rightly so, for, in actuality, the end, which is last to come about, is first in the order of thought—before I build a house or decorate a room (my goal or end), I must have an idea or plan of the finished thing in my mind. Another way of putting it is that “Ideas have consequence” or that “We act as we think.”

The Deeper Meaning to Things
In order that a lecture be clearly understood by the hearer, it is indispensable for the speaker to announce the topic he intends to develop, the end which he proposes; if we do not know that, it will be difficult to follow him—it like saying: “The purpose of my talk tonight is…” or “This is where this talk is headed…”

The same thing is true with regard to the appreciation of the great masterpieces of art. We can look at a painting two ways: (a) we can look at its aesthetic beauty—shown by the colors, arrangment of objects, true likeness, etc., or (b) we can also look beyond that to the symbolism used by the artist in painting his picture. There is a world of riches in the hidden meaning of objects, colors, animals, etc. These meanings “stand under” the surface of the painting. If we know the language of this symbolism and the purpose the artist had in mind, we understand his work better. If we do not know it, how can we grasp adequately the meaning which the artist wished to impart to the picture?

Understanding God’s Ways
Likewise, when we have a perfect knowledge of our end and can see and understand God’s Providence working things out in a hidden way below the surface or appearance of things, then our will is bound to it, for essentially we already possess that ultimate end, by possessing God in our heart by making our will comply with the Diveine Will. This is the work of the Gift of Understanding; by it the Holy Spirit moves us so that we can penetrate the depths of all supernatural truths and thus attain our eternal salvation.

Limits to the Gift of Understanding
However, this does not mean that, by this Gift of Understanding, we contemplate supernatural truth in ALL its splendor and fullness. Only in Heaven shall we be able to have a clear and unshadowed vision of divine things; only in Heaven, when, with the light of glory, we see God face to face and know in our own hearts His beatific love, will our vision of divine things be positive, radiant, and full. On Earth, even under the direction of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, we live always in the semi-darkness of exile. To repeat what has already been said, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are founded on Faith, and Faith is always obscure. But, in spite of the fact that the Gift of Understanding gives us a negative vision, we can still penetrate very deeply and efficaciously into supernatural truths. The Gift of Understanding enables us to distinguish the true from the false in the supernatural order; even more, it helps us to understand that divine things are above human things.

Speaking in Symbols
In order to speak of supernatural things we must always make use of symbols, of figures; it is the law of our limited reason. St. Paul says: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen — His everlasting power also and divinity — being understood through the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). Therefore, when treating of the supernatural order, we find symbols everywhere, because there are mysteries everywhere. We cannot speak of divine things except by comparing them with the things of this world, making use of images, symbols, and figures.

Thus we say that baptism is a new birth, that man is born again, as Jesus Christ explained to Nicodemus. Nicodemus did not understand, so Jesus said to him: “Thou art a teacher in Israel and dost not know these things? ... If I have spoken of earthly things to you, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things?” (John 3:10, 12).

Jesus said also, to His Apostles: “I am the Vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5), in order to explain the close union that exists between Him and us. And these were His words when preaching abnegation: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34. Luke 9:23). On every page of the Gospel we find symbols such as these.

Jesus said also, to His Apostles: “I am the Vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5), in order to explain the close union that exists between Him and us. And these were His words when preaching abnegation: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34. Luke 9:23). On every page of the Gospel we find symbols such as these.

Dangers of Over-Simplifying
But there is danger of taking these figures and symbols too literally, because by using them we minimize divine things and reduce them to the lowest proportions. Now, the Gift of Understanding makes us penetrate forms and symbols in such a way that we know that the thing symbolized or signified is very superior to the symbol or the sign; that the symbol is nothing more than a rock on which we place our foot for support in order to spring forward into the infinite. Thus the Gift of Understanding penetrates all the wealth of supernatural truths and gives us a vivid, intimate knowledge of divine things.

A Gift of Contemplation
Understanding is one of the gifts of contemplation. By means of it and by its influence, the Holy Spirit elevates souls to a singular and profound vision of God and the things of God. One might say that contemplation is the very beautiful light of those who love, and that it has for its essential principle the Gift of Understanding. But it is not only intellectual; it also has a great influence on our practical life. Holy Scripture says that Faith works through charity; and the Gift of Understanding, while enabling us to penetrate the meaning of the truths of Faith, must also lead to an understanding of matters related to action, to the works of love and charity required for the gaining of eternal life.

So the Gift of Understanding, indispensable to the attainment of everlasting happiness, also has its influence on the practical matters of life. There is an exact and comprehensive rule for discovering the field of work that is proper to this gift: it helps us to discover what is concealed, all that is hidden from us which we need to know for our eternal salvation. Wherever there is mystery, the Gift of Understanding enables us to comprehend and penetrate — if, to repeat, it is something necessary for our salvation.

Revealing Hidden Things
Let us now examine the principal cases in which the Gift of Understanding reveals hidden things to us.

The substance may be hidden under the accidents, as in the Holy Eucharist. The Gift of Understanding makes us pierce through the accidents to the substance of Jesus Christ hidden there. There have been saints, endowed, as it were, with an understanding of the Eucharist, for they discerned the Presence of Jesus wherever He was. Undoubtedly this was an effect, a fruit, of the Gift of Understanding. Under the accidents, they could discover the substance.

Hidden Truths
Concepts and truths also lay hidden under words. How many difficult expressions there are in the Scriptures! And because they contain mysteries, the Gift of Understanding makes us penetrate the words that we may discover their secret sense.

Realities are hidden under figures and symbols; St. Paul tells us that all that happened to the Israelites in the Old Testament was a figure and symbol of the New. Does he not say that the rock from which came forth refreshing water was Christ, and the manna, a symbol of the Eucharist? And does he not teach us the symbolism of many of the ceremonies of the Old Law? Behind the figure is the thing signified or prefigured, and the Gift of Understanding discovers it.

Under the visible is hidden the invisible and the divine. We have an example of this in the material world. The Scriptures tell us that the heavens sing the glory of God; that the Earth shows forth His majesty. Indeed, all creation is filled with the divine. But in order to discover this divine hidden under the visible, we need the Gift of Understanding.

Under the causes are hidden the effects. The sacraments, the causes of grace, are exteriorly only visible things. A priest pours water on the head of a child while saying mysterious words; the minister of God extends his consecrated hand over the repentant sinner and says: “I absolve thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” But underneath these things, underneath these causes, true prodigies are performed. St. Thomas does not hesitate to say that the justification of a single sinner is a greater work than the creation of the world.

The Whys and Wherefores
The providential designs of God are hidden in human events. On one day, the last day of the world, and eternally in Heaven, we shall contemplate the profound meaning of human history. Now we see things in a fragmentary and imperfect manner: the reason for war, for catastrophes, for all the tremendous ups and downs of history. Now, with hesitant tongue, we can hardly say anything about them because we know they are under the control of the wise providence of God. In Heaven we shall comprehend their profound meaning; we shall know, with the exactitude of an accountant balancing his books, the reasons for all these human affairs. And then we shall praise God for both peace and war, both sorrow and happiness; for everything is planned with admirable wisdom.

By means of the Gift of Understanding we begin to contemplate hidden things while we are still on Earth, for this gift penetrates all supernatural truths and reveals their secrets under any veil. Every Christian has this gift, together with the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are not extraordinary favors conceded to a few; everyone who is in grace possesses them. And if he always has them, it is because he needs them at every step. However, God will not cast pearls before swine, and He looks to see how much our heart is disposed to Him, before deciding how much He will allow the Gifts to work in us—as you sow, so shall you reap.

Seeing the Light
At certain times in our life we have seen, with greater clarity than usual, one or many of the truths the Gospel teaches. At a great liturgical event, or in the course of a spiritual retreat, or while receiving the Holy Eucharist, has there not passed through our mind a flash of celestial light? Have we not seen clearly in a moment certain things we could not understand before?

It is the Gift of Understanding given to every Christian which makes him apprehend supernatural truths when this is necessary for the attainment of his salvation. And as it increases, this gift produces things even more wonderful in our soul; it make us penetrate into the very mysteries of religion; by it we understand the beautiful harmonies in spiritual things.

The View from the Top
Just as we contemplate from the summit of a mountain some marvelous sight — range after range of peaks, smiling valleys covered with flowers, and dim horizons that are lost in immensity — so by the Gift of Understanding, when it has reached its highest degree, we are led to contemplate magnificent panoramas: those infinite horizons of the supernatural order that reveal, as far as is possible on Earth, the perfections of God: His justice, His mercy, His love. By this gift we also understand, to the extent that it can be understood in this our exile, the submerging, the annihilation, if we may so speak, of the Word Incarnate in the mystery of the Incarnation, in His most sacred Passion, in His descent to the tomb.

A New View of Ourselves
The light of the Gift of Understanding even helps us to know ourselves deeply and to discover the profundity of our misery. Sometimes the humility of the saints seems excessive as when St. Francis of Assisi wished to be trodden on and called the outcast of the people. How can saints, we say, whose life is admirable, men and women, actually canonized by the Church, have had such a low idea of themselves? It is because they were filled with the light of God.

When a room is in semi-darkness we may have the illusion that it is clean; but when there is a very bright light, we perceive even the tiniest speck of dirt. That is what happens to us when we have the light of God. Then we feel our smallness and our misery; before God we are all very small.

To the Gift of Understanding corresponds the beatitude: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Cleanness of heart and the peace which emanates therefrom are its fruit and its reward. Sometimes that cleansing is terrible, because the spirit is purified only through pain. The dark night of the soul of which St. John of the Cross speaks, is, in great part, the work of the Gift of Understanding. It leaves the soul in profound desolation in order to transform its comprehension, to cleanse its vision, so that it may one day be able to see God.

As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man called out to Him. The Apostles did not wish the Lord to be bothered by this suppliant, but the more they tried to keep him away, the more the blind man cried out. Jesus went up to him and said: “What wouldst thou have Me do for thee?” And the answer came: “Rabboni, that I may see!” (Mark 10:51-52).

In these words, the blind man expressed his greatest desire, the pressing need of his soul. Is it not true that this is one of the great necessities of our heart and that it should be one of our great desires? So sad and painful is blindness — so rich and beautiful is light! Every day let us say to the Lord, as did Bartimeus, the blind man of the Gospel: Lord, that I may see!

THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
7. Wisdom

Reaching the Summit
The previous articles have brought to our attention the admirable parallels that exists between the natural and the supernatural order. With regard to the natural order, our intellectual wealth does not consist in isolated knowledge, but rather in a coordination of knowledge, a system, a unity; each science coordinates the knowledge that belongs to it and unifies it in the causes and principles that it studies, to those of other sciences. All knowledge is made to be linked, not isolated. But our mind tends toward a still superior type of coordination, that of wisdom, unifying and coordinating in the highest and deepest things all the vast field of human knowledge. Philosophically, wisdom is defined as “knowledge of all things in their ultimate cause.” It is the pinnacle of knowledge, where all other knowledge meets at the summit or pinnacle.

Coordination of All the Gifts
With even greater reason must these coordinations or links be made in the supernatural order. The piecemeal unification of truths through the Gift of Understanding would not be sufficient to bring to perfection the supernatural science. All the supernatural knowledge we possess must be coordinated, systematized, and unified. The Gift of Knowledge establishes a certain coordination; but the supreme coordinator, which contains, so to speak, in perfect unity all supernatural knowledge, is the Gift of Wisdom. It has a similarity to that idea of wisdom in the natural order, which coordinates our knowledge of causes and effects.

In the supernatural order of the gifts, Wisdom comprises all supernatural knowledge, coordinates or links this knowledge to the Supreme Cause, the highest Principle: which is, of course, God. This most exalted of all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, has an incalculable wealth, for St. Paul affirms that the spiritual man judges all things, because he has received the Holy Spirit, who examines the utmost depths of God: “For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

We do not speak, he says, with the words of human wisdom, but with the wisdom of Him whom we have received. The Gift of Wisdom covers all things, but in the vast stretch of knowledge that it opens up there is a perfect unity, because the soul looks at all things from a great height and through the Supreme Cause: God.

Wisdom Built on Charity
The knowledge obtained from the Gifts of the Holy Spirit is born of an intimacy that comes from our union with God in the holy virtue of charity. As indicated earlier, even in the natural order, love is a source of knowledge. We understand very well what we love. The artist who loves beauty comprehends all things related to beauty. There is connaturality, there is proportion, between artistic beauty and the artist, for the spirit of the artist is formed to recognize beautiful things.

The archeologist has a deep feeling for whatever is ancient; his love makes him better understand all the things related to his field of learning. And when we love one another, with what facility we comprehend the intimate sentiments of the beloved, whose thoughts we seem to guess; and the more intimate the relation, the more perfectly in exact degree is the loved one known.

Jesus Christ Himself tells us with respect to His love: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:57); and, in truth, the one who loves is in the beloved. He projects his heart, his intelligence, his being into the one he loves, and carries that beloved in the intimacy of his own soul, in the depths of his own heart. Thus did St. Paul speak to the Faithful: “I have you in my heart” (Philippians 1:7).

But even this power we receive from love, this power to understand what we love and to apply all our faculties to the profound knowledge of the beloved — is it enough to explain the intimate experience we have of divine things by means of the Gift of the Holy Spirit? No, there is something more: there is charity by which we are intimately united to God Himself. No effort of ours will ever measure the closeness of that union.

Unity—Vine and Branches
Jesus, particularly on the night of the Last Supper, spoke about this union: “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remain on the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches.... Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

And as if that comparison were not sufficient to express the very close union that exists between Him and us, He went so far as to compare it to the ineffable union between the three divine Persons of the Trinity. And later on this night of His sacred Passion He prayed to the Father “that they may be one even as We are one: I in them and Thou in Me; that they may be perfected in unity” (John 17:22-23).

And because we are so united with God through charity, and this union is closer than any earthly union, it makes us penetrate, with an experience sweet and intimate, the things that are divine.

Read About It or Taste It?
Let us consider a simple comparison which will undoubtedly help our understanding. When we eat of any fruit, we appreciate its flavor much more than by reading about it in a botanical book. What description could equal the pleasure of actual taste of a thing? When we are united to God, when we enjoy Him by an intimate experience, we have a much better knowledge of divine things than through the description of scholars or through the books of the wisest of men. The knowledge of the gifts is acquired by connaturality and by intimate experience through the close union we have with God. This is true of all the Gifts, but particularly of the Gift of Wisdom. Dionysius, when speaking of a certain mystic, said: “Hierotheus is perfect in divine things, because he not only learns them, he experiences them.” The Gift of Wisdom gives to our souls this power to experience divine things, to taste them in the depths of our being, and, by that pleasure and experience, to judge all things.

How?
Now let us explain how this is applied especially to the Gift of Wisdom. Through charity — that queen virtue, the form and soul of all the others, the richest gift, after grace, that we have received — we are united to God as to the Mover and Director of our souls, as to the ultimate end of our actions, as to the object of our experience and our delectation.

Charity Loves God—Wisdom Knows God
We have seen that each Gift has its own individual manner of bringing us near to God. The Gift of Understanding looks at Him as the supreme end of man, and because of its consideration of that end, it penetrates into the supernatural truths. But do we know how the Gift of Wisdom makes us draw near to Him? It reveals Him as infinite goodness, tasted and experienced. There is a remarkable analogy between the object of charity and the object of the Gift of Wisdom. The object of charity is God Himself, in His infinite goodness; the object of wisdom is that same goodness, but as an experience, as something savored. Through charity we love God in Himself; through the Gift of Wisdom we know His infinite goodness because we taste and experience it.

The Gift of Wisdom is closely related to charity, for it stems from charity and leads back to it. It comes from charity, for the one who possesses the Gift of Wisdom knows why he loves. To quote the words of a mystic, through the Gift of Wisdom “we see with the eyes of the Beloved”; with the eyes of God. The expression is bold, but it expresses the reality. If we could, so to say, enter into God and look through His eyes, we would see things in a divine manner. And so it is with things that are seen with the Gift of Wisdom: they are seen in God, they are seen from the heights.

But we can penetrate into God and see through His eyes and consider with His mind because charity has united us closely with Him; because we have clung to Him and formed with Him one single spirit.

Charity leads to Wisdom—Wisdom leads to Charity
The Gift of Wisdom, which comes forth from charity, also leads back to it. The light of this Gift is not cold and lifeless like the light of human wisdom. It is glowing and life-giving like the rays of the sun, which of its essence pours forth light, warmth, and energy. The light of the Gift of Wisdom sets the heart on fire with love and in that way returns to the principle from which it emanated, completing the divine circle.

Like Charity, Wisdom rests on Faith
It might seem strange that the Gift of Wisdom, which, like all the other intellectual gifts, has its foundation in Faith, should go beyond it. The knowledge we have through the Gift of Wisdom, while remaining within the sphere of Faith, exceeds in an incredible manner the knowledge that comes from Faith. How is this possible?

If we penetrate into the nature of intelligence and will, we find the secret of this apparent anomaly. St. Thomas teaches that it is better to know than to love things inferior to us, but that it is better to love than to know things superior to us. With respect to God, it is better to love Him than to know Him; for knowledge causes things to come to us and to adapt themselves to our manner of being, but love, which is charity, makes us go out of ourselves and throw ourselves upon the beloved object.

He who knows, adapts the thing known to his own manner of being; he who loves, resembles the thing loved. When we treat of inferior things, we lift them up by knowing them, for we give them our own mode of being; but when we love inferior things, we debase ourselves. On the other hand, when we know superior things we belittle them by adapting them to our intelligence; but when we love them, we lift ourselves up to them.

Love Above Knowledge
Therefore, in this life it is better to love God than to know Him, and it is better to love Him through charity than to know Him through Faith; for in this world knowledge always has its deficiencies, while love, being a gift of the Holy Spirit, has greater perfection. Charity on Earth does not differ essentially from charity in Heaven, while Faith stops at the threshold of Heaven, so that vision may replace it. Therefore it is not without reason that charity surpasses its foundation, and that by means of it we enjoy a broader, more profound, and, we may say, more divine knowledge than we have through Faith.

Wisdom Ranks Above All GIfts
Truly, the field of the Gift of Wisdom is wide, very wide. It encloses all the objects of Faith, divine and human: “The spiritual man judges all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15). Nothing escapes the eye of supernatural wisdom. But its proper object, its primary object, is God; the eyes of wisdom view the depths of Divinity through contemplation. And because they contemplate the divine, as already said, they see “through the eyes of the Beloved,” and from that vantage point discover all the things that must be known in the supernatural order.

This Gift of Wisdom is above all the other Gifts and directs them all. It is the Gift supreme. Even the Gift of Understanding is ruled by it. It is the first in the enumeration of Isaias already quoted: “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of Godliness. And He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.”

Understanding and Wisdom
The Gift of Wisdom is of capital importance in supernatural contemplation. Certainly the Gift of Understanding purifies the soul for contemplating divine things and penetrates the truths of Faith. By these two operations it prepares the soul, so to speak, for wisdom. This latter, theologians teach us, is characteristic of the highest degrees of the spiritual life. It is, we might say, the Gift of the saints. Not that they alone enjoy it. Thanks be to God, from the day of our Baptism we possess all the Gifts. In us, however, they do not always attain their perfect development, either through our fault or, at least, through our neglect.

All men have the same faculties, but many are poor and unlearned, many have never cultivated their intellectual powers. They may have developed their muscles and possess great physical strength; but they have neglected to develop their minds. In the same way, there are souls who neglect the development of the magnificent gifts they have received from the bountiful and sanctifying hand of God. The saints, who have reached the heights of perfection, possess all the Gifts most perfectly; but, in a singular manner, they possess the Gift of Wisdom.

This Gift produces in us the most Faithful resemblance to Jesus Christ. Recall the mysterious words of the Apostle St. Paul: “But we all, with faces unveiled, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His very image from glory to glory, as through the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This series of lights and of glories through which the soul is transformed into Jesus is the work of the Gift of Wisdom. When wisdom has reached its perfect development in the soul, then the soul has the image of Jesus, it has the reflection of infinite Wisdom, as charity is the reflection of the Holy Spirit.

First Degree of Wisdom
It is natural that in this Gift, as in all the others, there should be degrees. The first degree, which the soul possesses from the moment it possesses the Gift, makes us cling to God; and because we cling to Him we have a right judgment, a supernatural rectitude for judging divine things, and the power to use divine norms in the regulation of our activities.

Second Degree of Wisdom
In the second degree, we feel a special delight in divine things. Let us recall the words of St. Paul which Holy Church repeats to us during the paschal season: “If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are on Earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). Mind the things that are above! It is the function of the Gift of Wisdom to give us a taste for these divine things. Through the sweetness and pleasure we experience in them, we begin to scorn mere human satisfactions.

We have seen this change take place in the saints. St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus asked God to put a drop of bitterness for her in all earthly delights. Such a petition seems incredible to us, for it is the opposite of what we would ask. Yet the young saint of Lisieux wished never to relish human pleasures, for having tasted divine happiness, she could not be satisfied with anything less. As delicate palates accustomed to choice foods can no longer enjoy ordinary dishes, so the things of Earth cannot be appreciated and enjoyed when one has had an intimate experience of things divine.

Wisdom and Pain
There is another effect proper to the Gift of Wisdom: it makes us know what a treasure pain is and gives us a lively desire for it. We have already said that the Gift of Knowledge enables us to know and love pain, but this Knowledge and this keen desire are greatly deepened by the Gift of Wisdom. All the saints who have loved suffering and been impatient for their hour of martyrdom have been under the influence of this Gift. Remember their words: Ignatius of Antioch — “I am the wheat of Christ, and must be crushed by the teeth of wild beasts to be converted into immaculate bread!” Teresa of Avila — “To suffer or to die!” Mary Magdalene de Pazzi -- “Not to die, but to suffer!”

When the profound reason behind all of these desires is not understood, they seem strange, morbid, even mad. But in the light of the Gift of Wisdom, the Cross is beautiful, pain is sweet, for it has in it something divine, something of Jesus; it is the straight and luminous ladder by which we mount to Heaven. Where pain is, there is the Cross, impregnated with love; from the depths of pain blossoms forth the perfect happiness so marvelously described for us by St. Francis of Assisi.

In order to understand these things we need the Gift of Wisdom. As St. Paul tells us, the carnal man does not perceive divine things, while the spiritual man judges all things. When the Gift of Wisdom has developed in us, the Holy Spirit enables us to penetrate into the riches of the Cross, into the marvels of pain, so that we desire them with all our heart, with all the power of our soul.

Highest Degree of Wisdom
In the highest degree of the Gift of Wisdom, souls live as if in Heaven; they begin to taste the delights of the Beloved and no longer seek the things of Earth, for now they see everything in relation to the Heavenly kingdom. This is what St. Bernard has to say about it: “Whatever you may write, it cannot delight me unless I read in it the name of Jesus. However you may argue or converse, your words cannot give me pleasure unless I hear in them the name Jesus. For Jesus is sweetness to the taste, music to the ear, joy to the heart.” Such souls begin to contemplate in this life something of God; they see all things with the eyes of the Beloved and their vision of the universe comes from the lofty throne of Divinity.

The Immense Riches of the Gifts
We have now reached the end of our exposition of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. These marvels of God are beyond all human words; the fullness of their light can never be expressed. Yet, even though our efforts cannot lead to the perfect comprehension of such an inexhaustible subject, at least our souls have been opened to its marvels. We feel a spirit of unrest, for who can sleep when he has had a glimpse of paradise?

There is an unknown world, a divine world, filled with immense riches, with a sweetness beyond all dreams, and for this world we were created. We were not meant to find our happiness in time, to have our treasures stolen by thieves or destroyed by rust: we were made for a superior world, a secret world, a world proportioned to the infinite desire of our soul. We are now aware of its reality. We can say: “There is a greater beauty than our eyes can see, a more radiant glory than we can conceive, a happiness beyond all measure, beyond all imagination, beyond all thought.”

May the Holy Spirit, whose movements are the teachers of all things, complete our humble efforts. May He shed His light in our souls. May He enkindle in our hearts the holy fire of love, so that we sigh for nothing but the infinite, the eternal, the divine.