These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit

This Sunday, June 8, the solemnity of the third person of the Holy Trinity, the powerful Holy Spirit is celebrated.

This liturgical party is celebrated fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and puts an end to Easter time. The Holy Scripture narrates that, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the apostles received special gifts that gave their breath and the strength to display their evangelizing mission throughout the world.

In an interview granted to ACI Press in 2021, Mons. José Ignacio Munilla, current bishop of Orihuela-Alicante (Spain), recalled what are the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they help us advance in the search for holiness.

The prelate explained that the Catechism of the Catholic Church indicates that the seven gifts “are permanent provisions that make the docile man to follow the impulses of the Holy Spirit.”

In addition, he said they hold and lead to the summit the moral and spiritual life of Christians. “Without the gifts of the Holy Spirit it is not possible to reach the top of holiness,” he said.

Mons. Munilla also warned that these gifts are different from the exercise of virtues, and that to understand their importance “we could put the comparison between a sailboat driven by the wind with a boat displaced with oars.”

Although in the spiritual life “the gifts and virtues are mixed, the logical thing is usually that as it progresses in spiritual life, the gifts are getting greater prominence,” he added.

Next, we share which are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they help us in our way to holiness:

1. Don of understanding

This gift “perfects the theological virtue of faith” and “opens the knowledge of sacred writings.”

“It allows us to live the symphony of faith, contemplating the whole revelation as a great harmony,” he added.

2. Don of Wisdom

Mons. Munilla said that this gift perfects the virtue of charity, and stressed that “if we take into account that the virtue of charity is the most excellent, we will understand why the gift of wisdom is the most excellent.”

“It’s the ‘gift of gifts,” he said. “Just as the gift of understanding is the intuition of the truths of faith, the same thing of the gift of wisdom is to savor them internally,” he added.

The prelate also indicated that this gift leads us to a “tasty and experiential knowledge, which fills the soul of the interior taste for the things of God.”

3. Don of science

“Like the gift of understanding, it also perfects the theological virtue of faith. It allows us to know the things created, the heart of man and human history with a penetrating intuition. It is not merely a gift of prophecy, but about the gift of appreciating God’s footprints in everything,” he said.

4. Don of advice

Mons. Munilla said that this gift “perfects the virtue of prudence and human discernment” and helps “think according to divine logic.”

“It allows us to know the will of God promptly, as well as the right paths to embrace it,” he said.

5. Don from Fortaleza

Regarding this gift, he commented that “it robust the will beyond their natural abilities to be able to practice virtues in heroic degree, surpassing all kinds of obstacles.” Thus, “it perfects the cardinal virtue of the fortress, while perfecting the theological virtue of hope,” he said.

6. Don de Piedad

Mons. Munilla explained that this gift “perfects the virtue of justice and religion” and infuses “a deep filial affection to God, with a feeling of fraternity with all men.”

“The gift of piety is the one that introduces the exercise of prayer in mystical experience,” he added.

7. Don of Fear of God

Finally, the prelate stressed that the fear of God “perfects the virtue of humility” and “grants a deep reverential sense towards the majesty of God.”

“The awareness of our smallness and the need for grace reaches us; as well as a certain determination to avoid sin,” he concluded.

For more information about the gifts of the Holy Spirit you can consult the Book “Distribute your seven gifts” by Mons. Munilla.