Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Introduction

Isaiah, one of the Hebrew prophets, lists the gifts of the Spirit:

"The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord [awe and wonder], and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2-3).

Catholics believe that when they are anointed with the special oil called "chrism" at Baptism and again at Confirmation, they receive the Holy Spirit in their lives. The Church teaches that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, alive in the world today, dwelling with people and in people, guiding and giving strength.

Wisdom

Do you tend to live for the moment, or do you try to look ahead and consider the future? If you jump right in and worry about the consequences later, you probably haven't called on the gift of wisdom.

Wisdom is about looking ahead, making the best of things until good times came along. Wisdom listens to people with more experience. Sometimes it weighs all the evidence and makes a different decision, but wisdom listens first.

Understanding

All the gifts of the Spirit are connected. Wisdom and Understanding are certainly linked. Does someone you know seem to have problems? Try being a listener, not giving advice, but listening. The gift of understanding helps you to really hear what another person is saying. Sometimes that's all that is needed.

Someone using the gift of understanding has other skills as well, like the ability to keep a confidence and never gossiping about anything that is shared.

Right Judgement

Right judgment, or counsel, is a gift you can exercise all the time. Not a day goes by that you don't have to make dozens of decisions. Some are pretty easy, like what to have for lunch. Some aren't so simple. Should you cheat in a test? Would your friend be better off if you told his parents that he was smoking or would you be betraying him? The gift of right judgment assists you to weigh all the alternatives and consequences, to consider all you have been taught by your parents and responsible adults and to pray for guidance. You can be confident that God will be with you in your decision if you take the time for the thoughtful consideration that leads to right judgment.

Courage

Acting on your judgments requires courage. Are there any situations in school that are getting out of hand? Maybe you can exercise your gift of courage to solve the problem. Courage involves sticking up for others, even when that might make you unpopular. It means believing in positive values and then trying as best you can to live those values in daily life.

Knowledge

A person demonstrating the gift of knowledge doesn't take things at face value, but looks for the reasons and the results. Such a person might ask the Holy Spirit's help in dealing with the things that don't make sense right now.

A knowledgeable person is someone who knows that they don’t know everything; that other people sometimes have more experience or wisdom. Knowledgeable people seek to understand things so that their lives and the lives of others will be richer.