I'm going to post the next few days with commentary on the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I will enter two today, since yesterday was Pentecost. We all should strive for these gifts to better ourselves in God's eyes, not necessarily for those eyes of the world. This is from 'The Liturgical Year' by our beloved Abbot Gueranger. Keep in mind that this was written in 1870, 146 years ago. See how much times have changed?
An intro first.
The Gifts of the Holy Ghost
by Father Prosper Gueranger 1870
It is our intention to explain, during this Week, the workings of the Holy Ghost, both in the Church, and in the faithful Soul. These seven Days are given to us, that we may know and appreciate the great Gift sent us by the Father and the Son. Moreover, the Spirit Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, has seven different ways whereby He manifests His presence in our souls. It behooves us, therefore, to devote this happy Week to the study and love of the Sevenfold Gift, whereby are to be wrought our salvation and sanctification.
The Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost are seven energies, which He graciously puts into the soul, when He enters there by sanctifying grace. Actual graces put these divinely infused powers into motion, either all at once or separately; and hereby, acts supernatural and meritorious of life everlasting, are produced by the free consent of our will.
The Prophet Isaias, guided by divine inspiration, has told us of these Seven Gifts. He is foretelling the workings of the Holy Ghost upon the Soul of the Son of God made Man, Whom he calls the Flower of a virginal Root of Jesse. He says: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the Spirit of Wisdom, and of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and of Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge, and of Godliness, and he shall be filled with the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Is. xi. 2, 3). These mysterious words do not only express the qualities of the Holy Ghost; they also describe the effects He produces in the soul of man; and it is in this sense that they have been interpreted by the Holy Fathers and Theologians.
The sacred Humanity of the Incarnate Son of God is the supernatural type of our own; and what the Holy Ghost operated in the former, for its sanctification, that same, in proportion, He wills to do in the latter. He infused into the Son of Mary the seven energies mentioned by the Prophet; the same seven Gifts are prepared for regenerated man. But let us notice the order in which they come. Isaias begins with the Spirit of Wisdom, and ends with the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. Wisdom, as we shall see further on, is the noblest prerogative of which man is capable; whereas the Fear of the Lord is but the beginning of Wisdom, as the Royal Psalmist assures us (Ps. cx. 10). The Soul of Jesus was created for a personal union with the divine Word, and was therefore treated with exceptional honor; the first and foremost Gift infused into it was that of Wisdom, and the Gift of the Fear of the Lord followed, necessarily indeed, (because a creature is not perfect unless it have this quality,) but still as a sequel and completion. With us, on the contrary, frail and inconstant as we are, the Fear of God is the foundation of our whole spiritual building, and by it we raise ourselves gradually to that Wisdom which brings union with God. It is by means of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that man attains to perfection; but they are bestowed upon him in the order inverse of that wherein Isaias names them, when speaking of the Son of God. We receive them at the time of our Baptism; and, when we have the misfortune to lose them, (as we do when we lose sanctifying grace, that is, when we commit a mortal sin,) they are restored to us by the Sacrament of Penance.
Let us respectfully consider how the whole work of our salvation and sanctification is marked with the mysterious number of Seven. There are seven principal Virtues which render us dear to our Maker; it is by seven Gifts, that the Holy Ghost leads us to our last end; the seven Sacraments apply to us the merits of the Incarnation and Redemption; it is after seven Weeks from the Pasch, that the Holy Spirit is sent upon the earth, there to establish and maintain the kingdom of God. Can we wonder after this, that Satan should have sacrilegiously mimicked the work of God, striving to destroy, by the seven deadly sins, the creatures whom God would save?
The Gift of Fear of the Lord
Pride is the obstacle to man's virtue and wellbeing. It is pride that leads us to resist God, to make self our last end, in a word, to work our own ruin. Humility alone can save us from this terrible danger. Who will give us humility? The Holy Ghost; and this, by infusing into us the Gift of the Fear of God.
This holy sentiment is based on the following truths, which are taught us by faith: the sovereign majesty of God, in comparison with Whom we are mere nothingness; the infinite sanctity of that God, in Whose presence we are but unworthiness and sin; the severe and just judgment we are to go through after death; the danger of falling into sin, which may be our misfortune at any time, if we do not correspond to grace, for although grace be never wanting, yet we have it in our power to resist it.
Man, as the Apostle tells us, must work out his salvation with fear and trembling (II. Philipp. ii. 12); but this Fear, which is a gift of the Holy Ghost, is not the base sentiment which goes no further than the dread of eternal punishments. It keeps alive within us an abiding compunction of heart, even though we hope that our sins have long ago been forgiven. It prevents our forgetting that we are sinners, that we are wholly dependent upon God's mercy, and that we are not as yet safe, except in hope (Rom. viii. 24).
This Fear of God, therefore, is not a servile fear; on the contrary, it is the source of the noblest sentiments. Inasmuch as it is a filial dread of offending God by sin, it may go hand-in-hand with love. Arising as it does from a reverence for God's infinite majesty and holiness, it puts the creature in his right place, and, as St. Paul says, it contributes to the perfecting of sanctification (II. Cor. vii. 1). Hence this great Apostle, who had been rapt up to the third heaven, assures us that he was severe in his treatment of himself, lest he should become a cast-away (I. Cor. ix. 27).
The spirit of independence and of false liberty which is now-a-days so rife amongst us, is a great enemy to the Fear of God; and one of the miseries of our age is, that there is little Fear of God. Familiarity with God but too frequently usurps the place of that essential basis of the Christian life. The result is, that there is no progress in virtue, such people are a prey to illusion, and the Sacraments, which previously worked so powerfully in their souls, are now well-nigh unproductive. The reason is, that the Gift of Fear has been superseded by a conceited self-complacency. Humility has no further sway; a secret and habitual pride has paralyzed the soul; and seeing that these people scout the very idea of their ever trembling before the great God of heaven, we may well ask them, if they know Who God is?
Therefore we beseech thee, O Holy Spirit! keep up within us the Fear of God, which thou didst infuse into our hearts at our Baptism. This saving Fear will ensure our perseverance in virtue, for it will oppose the growth of pride. Let it pierce our soul through and through, and ever abide with us as our safeguard. Let it bring down our haughtiness, and rouse us from tepidity, by its ceaselessly reminding us of the greatness and holiness of Him Who is our Creator and our Judge.
This holy Fear does not stifle the sentiment of Love; on the contrary, it removes what would be a hindrance to its growth. The heavenly Powers see and ardently love their God, their infinite and eternal good; and yet, they tremble before his dread Majesty: Tremunt Potestates. And shall we, covered as we are with the wounds of our sins, disfigured by countless imperfections, exposed on every side to snares, obliged to fight with so many enemies, shall we flatter ourselves that we can do without this strong and filial Fear? and that we need nothing to stimulate us, when we are in those frequent trials--a want of fervor in our will, or of light in our mind? O Holy Spirit! watch over us! Preserve within us Thy precious Gift! Teach us how to combine peace and joy of heart with the Fear of our Lord and God, according to those words of the Psalmist: Serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling (Ps. ii. II)!
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The Gift of Godliness
The gift of the Fear of God is intended as a cure for our pride; the gift of Godliness is infused into our souls by the Holy Ghost, in order that we may resist self-love, which is one of the passions of our fallen nature, and the second hindrance to our union with God. The heart of a Christian is not made to be either cold or indifferent; it must be affectionate and devoted; otherwise, it never can attain the perfection for which God, Who is Love, has graciously created it.
The Holy Ghost, therefore, puts the Gift of Godliness into the soul, by inspiring it with a filial affection for her Creator. You have received, says the Apostle, the Spirit of adoption of Sons, whereby we cry to our God, Abba! Father (rom. viii. 15)! This disposition mates the soul alive to whatsoever regards God's honour. It enables man to nourish within him a sorrow for his sins, in consideration of the divine mercy which has borne with and forgiven him, and of the Sufferings and Death of his Redeemer. It makes him thirst for God's glory to be ever spreading; he would, if he could, bring all his fellow-creatures to adore this God; he feels most keenly every insult that is offered to so dear a King. His greatest joy is to see others growing in their love and devotedness in the service of the sovereign Good. He is filled with filial submission to his Heavenly Father, Whose every will he is most ready to do, cheerfully resigned to whatsoever He may appoint.
His Faith is unhesitating and fervent. Affectionately docile to the Church, he is always in the disposition of mind to abandon his most cherished ideas the moment he discovers them to be, in any way, out of harmony with her teaching or practice, for he has an instinctive horror of novelties and insubordination.
This devotedness to God, which results from the gift of Godliness, and unites the soul to her Creator by filial love, makes her love all God's creatures, inasmuch as they are the work of His hands and belong to Him.
The Blessed in heaven hold the first place in the fraternal affection of such a Christian. He has a most tender love for the holy Mother of God (which seems to be lacking in our leaders today), and is zealous for her honour; he venerates the Saints; he is a warm admirer of the courage of the Martyrs, and of the heroic actions of the servants of God; he delights in reading of their miracles, and has a devotion to their sacred Relics.
But his love is not limited to the citizens of heaven; it is extended also to his fellow-creatures here on earth, for the gift of Godliness makes him find Jesus in them. He is kind to everyone, without exception. He forgives injuries, bears with the imperfections of others, and, where an excuse is possible for his neighbor, he makes it. He has compassion on the poor, and is attentive to the sick. His whole conduct is the index of a sterling warm-heartedness, that weeps with them that weep, and rejoices with them that rejoice.
All this is found in those, who use thy gift of Godliness, O Holy Spirit! By infusing it into our souls, Thou enablest us to withstand the workings of our self-love, which would corrupt the heart; Thou preservest us from that odious indifference to everyone around us, which dries up all feeling; thou drivest from us the sentiments of jealousy and hatred. Yes, Godliness inspired us with a filial love for our Creator, that softened the heart; and every creature of God became dear to us. O Blessed Paraclete! grant that this Gift may produce its rich fruits in us! Never permit us to stifle it by the love of self. Our Jesus has told us, that His heavenly Father maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad (St. Matth. v. 45): He would have us take this divine generosity as our model: do thou, therefore, foster within us that germ of devotedness, kindness and sympathy, which we received from Thee on the day of our Baptism, when thou first took possession of our souls!
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