Let us begin with the Prayer to the Holy Spirit:
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
I believe that these days, you will be hard-pressed to find a person who has nourished all Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. While many have taken care of, say, fortitude and piety, it seems that they have not fostered wisdom and counsel in themselves. And it seems that only the Saints raised to the altars were able to perfectly nourish all these gifts.
Why these gifts are important
We received the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, and yes, they are sealed and strengthened in us in Confirmation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1830) states that these gifts “sustain the moral life of Christians, and make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”
But along with the rise of modernity and inventions, so emerged the secular world and its effects, such as atheism, low moral standards, perversion, deviations and permissiveness. Even Catholics are not safe from these effects; for we often find ourselves struggling with the temptations from living in this secularized society. And unless fortified in the will and in good relationship with the Lord, which enable us to battle all these, many of us Catholics repeatedly fall into sin, which affects our sanctifying grace and the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
That is why more than ever, we need to be more conscious if we are truly cultivating the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit through prayers, the Sacraments, penances and sacrifices, to be able to fight off all the evils of the world, and therefore, lead good lives pleasing to God, and serve Him and our neighbors in perfect faith, hope and charity.
Confusion among the gifts
What I have always noticed in the articles you find on the internet is that they are using overlapping definitions of these Gifts instead of distinguishing them apart, which is rather confusing. They define Wisdom in similar terms with Counsel, for example. I also see ones with interchangeable meanings of Wisdom, Fortitude and Counsel. But while all related, the gifts of the Holy Spirit actually differ from each other. Each one is unique.
My Reflection
These Posts will explain the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I tried to really comprehend what they actually mean and recognize what makes them different from each other. By using examples, I will define and distinguish every gift and give more clarity to it. This way, our Readers will be able to focus on cultivating each particular Gift of the Holy Spirit. I will also make the explanations more understandable for all laity, speaking in layman’s terms.
3. COUNSEL
The Gift of Counsel, the third gift of the Holy Spirit, enables us to make right, proper and timely choices, which will make us closer to being holy, or stay in the path to holiness.
For example, “Should I accept this man’s offer or not?” “Should I say yes or no to them?” “Should I try to go on with this or not?” In answering these, we make hypothetical end results or effects of our decisions in our minds. We then compare and evaluate them, guided by our knowledge and practice of the Faith. This is when the person choosing makes either the right decision, getting the desired outcome, or the incorrect decision, with an outcome very far from the imagined desire.
We know of people who simply made bad decisions in life. And the faithful do not seem to be exempt from making bad decisions. There are Catholics who make wrong choices despite having prayed before making a decision, probably due to a lack of strong Counsel.
Our loving God wants us to make choices wherein we will be far from danger, jeopardy or any sort of peril, and not be lost nor our belongings be put to waste. And why do life decisions matter in holiness? Wrong decisions put a person at risk of being tempted, oppressed, taken advantage of or victimized. When that happens, he or she encounters hardships. Unless they have a strong faith and trust in God, they then become ‘occupied’ with troubles, depressed, or bothered, which often affect and slow down their spiritual activities like devotions, or cause them to be slothful in their spiritual lives. I also knew a few Catholics who gave up on God, or shifted from being passionately pious in talking about the Catholic Faith to sounding almost like Protestants, because they seemed to ‘lose’ themselves from the misfortunes caused by their wrong decisions, affecting their faith in God and belief in the religion. In other words, a weakened Gift of Counsel in a person led them to mistaken decisions, sins and ‘issues’ in their relationship with God.
Mind you, the “right decision” I’m talking about here is not the same as the ‘lucky’ decision of a non-practicing Catholic or a non-believer of the Catholic God. Instead, it refers to the decision inspired by the Holy Spirit; a decision that will lead to the holiness of the person. For example, a practicing Catholic decides to apply for work in a company that sells men’s magazine, which contains sensual, immoral and sexual content. He’s quite lucky to be accepted in a job that pays very well. But the nature of his job is clearly not of God. Or, say, a woman decides to marry this handsome and wealthy man, who is non-Catholic or a non-practicing Catholic, and they get married outside the Church or in a civil ceremony. Neighbors gossip how ‘lucky’ she is. But her man is clearly not of God. Such decisions demonstrate a lack of counsel, made without consideration of the teachings of the Church. Although they may seem harmless, and even look helpful, unholy decisions will affect a person’s life and spirituality one way or another sooner or later.
Those who are strong in their Gift of Counsel make the right or good decision from intuition infused by the Holy Spirit. The result of their decisions turns out just as they imagined, or they are led into an even better outcome, such as a better life wherein they are able to serve God better, away from a sinful life.
***
My other articles in this Series:
Wisdom: The First Gift of the Holy Spirit
Understanding: The Second Gift of the Holy Spirit
Fortitude: The Fourth Gift of the Holy Spirit
Saint Paul the Apostle, pray for us!
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
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