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Session Three: The Role of the Holy Spirit in Living out our Faith. Gifts & Fruits
This section serves to provide parents and catechists some background information so that they may be more fully prepared to teach the sessions. There are additional resources and links to various curriculum here.
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What does it mean to receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, knowledge, piety, counsel, fortitude, and fear of the Lord. The gifts sustain our moral life. "These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1830)." The gifts of the Holy Spirit enable us to be led by the Holy Spirit. Where is the Holy Spirit leading us? Ultimately, to the Father!
Romans 8:17 says that "all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
The gifts of the Holy Spirit help us to live out the theological virtues: faith, hope, and love. They open up our understanding of the spiritual things and they enable us to go beyond our own human limits!
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in Summa Theologiae :- Wisdom is both the knowledge of and judgment about “divine things” and the ability to judge and direct human affairs according to divine truth (I/I.1.6; I/II.69.3; II/II.8.6; II/II.45.1–5).
- Understanding is penetrating insight into the very heart of things, especially those higher truths that are necessary for our eternal salvation—in effect, the ability to “see” God (I/I.12.5; I/II.69.2; II/II.8.1–3).
- Counsel allows a man to be directed by God in matters necessary for his salvation (II/II.52.1).
- Fortitude denotes a firmness of mind in doing good and in avoiding evil, particularly when it is difficult or dangerous to do so, and the confidence to overcome all obstacles, even deadly ones, by virtue of the assurance of everlasting life (I/II.61.3; II/II.123.2; II/II.139.1).
- Knowledge is the ability to judge correctly about matters of faith and right action, so as to never wander from the straight path of justice (II/II.9.3).
- Piety is, principally, revering God with filial affection, paying worship and duty to God, paying due duty to all men on account of their relationship to God, and honoring the saints and not contradicting Scripture. The Latin word pietas denotes the reverence that we give to our father and to our country; since God is the Father of all, the worship of God is also called piety (I/II.68.4; II/II.121.1).
- Fear of God is, in this context, “filial” or chaste fear whereby we revere God and avoid separating ourselves from him—as opposed to “servile” fear, whereby we fear punishment (I/II.67.4; II/II.19.9).
They are with us at our Baptism and they are sealed in us at Confirmation.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are listed in the Bible in Isaiah 11:1–3:
The Lord sent His Spirit to us not only to draw us closer to Himself, but to help us to love one another. When Jesus was asked, what the two greatest commandments were, He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). The gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary for these two things.There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
In loving God and neighbor, we are called by the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit to transform the world. This transformation necessitates that we must be open to the Holy Spirit and remain in a state of grace by going to Confession and Mass regularly.
Consider the amazing things that the Catholic Church has accomplished because of following the Holy Spirit. It truly is miraculous the world-wide, cross cultural spread of Christianity back even before we had the global connections modern technology provides. All of these things we take for granted were also initiated by Christians:
- Healthcare for all, hospitals and healthcare missions were run by religious orders
- Education for all schools and universities, also run by religious orders
- Abolitionist movements to end slavery
- Equality and protection of human rights under the law
- Scientific Contributions: Louis Pasteur (invented pasteurization), Blaise Pascal (theory of probabilities), Roger Bacon (created scientific method), Fr. Roger Boscovich (father of atomic theory), Fr. George Lemaître (father of the Big Bang Theory).
- Charity and dignity of the poor
- Sanctity of Human Life
- Forgiveness and Redemption
Christian ideas have changed the world in countless ways.
The Holy Spirit enables us to do "supernatural" things, beyond our own limitations. These gifts enable us to lead heroic and saintly lives. The life of a saint is not a boring life! It is a challenging life full of miracles, adventures, and ultimate happiness.
What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?
The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galations 5:22). These are the things people will notice about how we interact with the world around us, from our family to our school to work and to community. When we have the Holy Spirit within us, the fruit of our lives is that we are more loving, joyful, patient, generous, and kind.
Our lives apart from the Holy Spirit also have certain qualities. St. Paul writes to the Galations chapter five that the works of the flesh are "immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like."
What are the fruits people see in our lives? If we find ourselves impatient and unkind, unforgiving, unfaithful, jealous, or angry, we need to get ourselves back into grace and into right relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't just change us in hidden ways, but transforms all of our interactions with people. Fr. Dave Pivonka says, "The fruits of the Spirit are what most people see in my life. People don't see how often I pray necessarily, but they will notice if I am patient, generous, kind and loving."
When we exhibit these fruits to others it is one of the strongest ways that we can be witnesses to Christ in the world.
What are charisms of the Holy Spirit?
Dr. Mary Healy explains charisms as: A charism is not a natural ability but a supernaturalgift of the Holy Spirit. It either enables a person to do what is humanly impossible (for instance, prophecy or healing) or it elevates a natural gift like teaching or hospitality to a supernatural level of efficacy. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Paul lists some of the more obviously supernatural gifts such as healings, prophecy and miracles. In other passages, he lists gifts that seem more ordinary but are no less important, such as service, teaching, exhortation, contribution, administration and acts of mercy. (Rom 12:7-8)
The word, "charism" comes from the Greek word, "charisma." It means "gratuitous gift" or favor.
"Charisms are to be accepted with gratitude by the person who receives them and by all members of the Church as well. They are a wonderfully rich grace for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ, provided they really are genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit and are used in full conformity with authentic promptings of this same Spirit, that is, in keeping with charity, the true measure of all charisms." (CCC 800)
CCC 801 – "It is in this sense that discernment of charisms is always necessary. No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church’s shepherds. ‘Their office [is] not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good,’ so that all the diverse and complementary charisms work together ‘for the common good.’"
There are many ways to discern what charisms we may have, but it is best discerned with a spiritual director or mentor to make sure we are using those charisms for the Lord.
St. Peter says,(Peter 4:8-11) "As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." -