The seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They are the gifts listed in Isaiah 11 which were to characterize the Just Man—the Messiah. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are the qualities God gives our souls to make them responsive to the grace of God. They help us …
The Holy Spirit (1) preserves the Church as the Body of Christ and as the Bride of Christ so that she can remain faithful to Him in holiness until the end of time; and (2) assists the Church in purifying and renewing herself and her members.1. The Holy Spirit preserves the Church as the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit, …
When a person accepts the Spirit of Christ, he receives the power to become an adopted child of God. He truly shares in God’s own divine nature and in the communion of the divine Persons. He is then led by God to a new way of life. The power to become God’s child is called sanctifying grace. All three Persons …
Sanctifying or habitual grace is a gift of God enabling us to be holy and pleasing to God. It confers on us a true share in God’s own divine nature and the communion of the divine Persons. By sanctifying grace, our souls participate and share in God’s very own life even while we live on earth. This grace helps us …
This new life of sanctifying grace gives man the ability to participate and share in God’s own life, uniting him to the Father and to Christ in a union of love that not even death can separate. Jesus said, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to …
God’s gift of grace: (1) helps us to overcome sin and live with God, (2) enables us to be closely united to the Blessed Trinity through the Theological Virtues, and (3) helps us to live as adopted children of God. 1. God’s gift of grace (especially actual grace) helps us to overcome sin and live with God. The grace we …
By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: (1) we are given sanctifying grace, the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the Theological and Cardinal Virtues; (2) our weakness of soul is healed; (3) we are helped to overcome our evil desires and selfishness and to practice virtues such as charity and patience; and (4) our prayers and lives are …
Our greatest dignity as Christians consists in the fact that we are children of God and have God’s life in our souls through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must try to live holy lives and strive always to keep God’s grace as our most precious treasure. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us live …
The Theological Virtues are faith, hope, and charity. These virtues are supernatural capacities to receive three divine powers from Jesus’ fullness of grace. These virtues are called theological, or divine, because they unite us directly to God. God infuses them into our souls, along with sanctifying grace, in the Sacrament of Baptism. The Theological Virtues, along with the Gifts of …
The Theological Virtue of faith is the supernatural virtue by which we firmly believe in our hearts all the truths God has revealed. The virtue of faith enables us to accept as true and choose to live by the body of truths that are found in the Creeds and in the teachings of the Church, for these are based upon …