LITTLE HEAVEN

TURN OUR HEARTS TOWARDS HOME 5

By Glen Leo Mendonca, 

                                                                    Pastoral Associate

'Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people. Enkindle in them the fire
of our love."

We - the people of God - have chanted these words for centuries, praying and
longing for God to purify our minds and hearts and to transform us,
individually and as a society, into holy disciples.

Fast forward to our times - - -The coming of the Spirit with his gifts to
each one of us, at our Baptism and more fully at our Confirmation, enables us
to profit by and fulfill the acts necessary for salvation. Without the Spirit
there is no fulfillment possible.

The Seven Gifts or special graces of the Holy Spirit are Wisdom (sapientia),
Understanding (intellectus), Knowledge (scientia), Counsel (consilium), Piety
or love (pietas), Fortitude or Courage (fortitudo) and Fear of the Lord
(Timor Domini). The gifts are habits by which the soul responds to the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. These gifts perfect the exercise of the
intellectual and moral virtues.

The Gift of Wisdom: the first and highest of the gifts, it makes the soul
responsive to God in the contemplation or penetrations of the truth of divine
things and directs the mind to judge all things according to their
principles. 

The Gift of Understanding: gives insight into the meaning of what one
believes, it is given to the mind for grasping revealed truths easily and
profoundly.

The Gift of Knowledge: It perfects the virtue of faith. It enables a person
to judge everything from a supernatural view point or also called the science
of the saints.

The Gift of Counsel: It perfects the virtue of prudence. It speaks to the
heart and in an instant enlighten a person what to do especially in a
personal difficult situation. It enables a person to judge promptly and
rightly as by a sort of supernatural intuition,

The Gift of Piety: It perfects the virtue of religion. It produces an
instinctive filial affection for God as Abba father and devotion toward those
who are specially consecrated to God

The Gift of Fortitude: is a special strength of will, it enables
extraordinary readiness to undergo trials of love for God or in fulfillment
of the divine will

The Gift of Fear of the Lord: it confirms the virtue of hope. It is a fear of
doing anything contrary to the will of God. It inspires a person with
profound respect for the majesty of God.

The Spirit's action is a gradual one, cleansing, refining fire that we need
to fan into flame with acts of faith, hope, and love, walking in Christ's
footsteps as we witness our faith. 

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