The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Piety

To love is to wish one well and to do all you can to bring that about. The gift of piety resembles the virtue of love. it gives me a childlike affection for God. I am obliged to love as God loves me. My love for you must be totally separated form whether or not you are lovable.

Through this gift you can see people in a totally different light. For instance, when you analyze why you don't like people, you will find it is because they do not do what you expect them to do., the don not give what you expect them to give, they do not please you. but if you love as God loves, you are not disappointed in anyone, because you know human nature.

The gift of piety makes me love. What is love? Love is an intangible desire, a giving of the self, something that makes my change for the better. "God is Love," St. John says (1 John 4:8). When I love Him as Father, a part of that love comes into me -- it is the Spirit. And when the Spirit of the Lord enters into my heart, He transforms me; He makes a new creation; a new mind, a new heart Love makes us new.

So my love for you must make you new, it must change both of us. You cannot posses God's love and give it to others without changing that person in some way. If your neighbor is not changed for the better because he knows you, you do not love him, you love yourself! The greatest witness of the first Christians was their love. "See how these Christians love each other," people said. We must love like that.

The fit of piety should do another thing for you. It should allow you to release everyone to the Lord. The gift of piety makes you look upon everyone as someone very precious with an immortal soul. It protects me form judging others. So every day ask the Spirit of the Lord to give you a great degree of the gift of piety that you might have patience and compassion, that you might love first and never be disappointed. Because, remember as you love your neighbor, so you love God.

God is Love

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Fear of the Lord

The first gift the apostles received (referenced in Isaiah 11:2) was fear of the Lord.

There are two reasons to fear: out of punishment or out of love. If you love someone deeply, you do not want to hurt them in any way. You will do anything to avoid offending them. That's what fear of the Lord is: a childlike fear, rooted in love.

This fear of the Lord gave the apostles a deep knowledge of God as Father. They had the experience, through the power of the Spirit, of being sons of God, and they would do nothing to offend their Father. It drove them, and hopefully will drive us, to imitate the Father's mercy and compassion.

This spiritual gift informs us that God is truly our Father and enables us to look upon all mankind as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father. We have the same concern for our brothers and sisters as the Father has. Without taking this leap, taking this spiritual step, there can be no other. This gift enables us to rise above our human nature. It teaches us to love like God loves.

The fear of the Lord even elevates temptation. Temptation ceases to be negative, but becomes positive. You no longer think: I can't do this because I'll go to hell or I'll get caught. No. You now refrain from doing wrong because you love our Father and our Father would be displeased. It's about love and it frees you.

This gift of the fear of the Lord is like an aid to keeping the first commandment to love God the Father with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength.

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Mother Angelica's writings on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Today I notice a lot of people have lost hope. They've lost hope in government, in their leaders, in their churches. We are getting to the place where the first Christians were, a state of despair. I think we have a magnificent opportunity of participating in the coming of the Spirit in the same way the first Christians did. In the last supper discourse (John 16) Our Dear Lord said, "The Advocate, the Holy spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything." You see, the coming of the Spirit was the very reason Jesus Himself came. he came to redeem you -- and redemption is not just going to Heaven, it means a complete change in our life, so that you become something you were not. It is the work of the Spirit to transform you into the image of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Lord did not take the first Christians out of their surroundings, He left them where they were and gave them a power to rise above themselves. You have that same power.

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. John 16: 13

Gift of Wisdom: Centering Prayer

O taste and see that the Lord is good... Psalm 34:8

Is it really possible to taste God? The answer is yes, but we cannot bright it about by our own efforts. We can only prepare ourselves for it by reducing the obvious obstacles we can perceive and by allowing the action of divine love to purify our unconscious motivation. The Gift of Wisdom has a very important place in Centering Prayer because it is this gift that causes the prayer at times to be full of insights, delightful, and profoundly silent -- a silence that can almost be tasted or heard. The Gift of Wisdom communicates the mystery of God's presence as a personal experience. It brings to an end any doubts about God's love for us that we might have brought with us from early childhood, such as feelings of rejections or lack of self-worth. There is not greater affirmation of our goodness than to be affirmed by the Divine Presence.

You have taught me the way of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence. Acts 2:28