Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Connect

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

By

Our journey of remembrance does not end with Easter Sunday. The Father’s plan to reconcile humanity begins with the Incarnation, His sending of the Son, and is completed with the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son.

It is the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who gives us the strength to respond to the Father, as Jesus did, by joining our imperfect response to the Father’ healing and forgiving love to Jesus’ perfect response. That is why we pray to the Father through Jesus in unity with the Holy Spirit.

On Pentecost we celebrate the public manifestation of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) with the descent of the spirit and Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as “both Lord and Messiah.” Because of the expansion of the Apostolic community by the baptism of three thousand on that occasion we often refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the Church.

However Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit was already active in the community. In the Liturgy of the Word last Sunday the Gospel of John relates of when Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week after his Resurrection, he breathed on them and said to them “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This event is sometimes referred to as the Johannine Pentecost because it is found only in John.

We have celebrated the gifts of the Holy Spirit In our Lenten blogs, Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety and Fear of the Lord, but Paul also celebrates the Fruits of the Spirit that result from practicing the gifts in our lives. They are “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity and faithfulness. (Gal 5:22)

As we anticipate Pentecost we should remember that the power of the Spirit is within us, the gifts are ours, freely given, but we must be open to them, lest they be quenched. (1 Thess 5:19)

Photo Credit: Lawrence OP on Flickr

The Gift of Fear of the Lord

By

In Isaiah’s messianic prophecy on the Root of Jesse we read, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.”

We might ask ”what can be delightful about fear?” The two words seem directly opposite to one another. But the Hebrew word used by the prophet is yirah which refers not to a fear based on terror but rather a fear based on reverence or awe. It is the feeling we get when confronted by the majesty of God’s creation, the overpowering splendor of the night sky or the endless sea, before which we feel overwhelmed by our own insignificance.

As is often the case with words that become clichés, awesome has been stripped of its power, but it aptly communicates the experience of joy and delight Paul describes in his letter to the Church at Philippi. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!”

Fear of the Lord means a filial reverence, an awareness of the inconceivable reality that we are sons and daughters of God, confident in the knowledge of the Father’s unconditional love.

As with all the Gifts of the Spirit, fear of the Lord comes from an intimate personal relationship with Jesus who is the personification of the Father’s unconditional love for us. (John 3:16)

The Gift of Piety

By

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God”
Rom 8:14

The Gift of Piety leads us to a profound awareness of what it means to be a child of God. We experience God not as a stern judge but as a loving Father. This is accompanied by a filial reverence and love for the Father and respect and esteem for others as adopted sons and daughters of God.

Piety, which comes from the Latin pius meaning dutiful, is not excessive and emotional devotionalism, rather it is reverential fidelity that is reflected not only in worship but in active discipleship.

The Gift of Piety takes away hardness of heart and extinguishes feelings of anger, jealousy and bitterness and replaces them with the Fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Gal 5:22-23).

Through Piety we participate in the sonship of Jesus which leads us to a relationship of joyful confidence in the Father’s love and mercy, which impels us to show solicitude, tolerance, understanding and pardon toward others. We become, as it were, mirrors of the Father’s love and forgiveness

The Gift of Fortitude

By

Gifts of the Spirit are not meant for mystics they are meant for all of us. I recently heard a simple but profound definition of Fortitude as: “what makes you do the right thing.” The “right thing” is shaping our lives to the call of Christ rather than the call of the world.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reminded us that Christianity is counter-cultural in today’s world. In one of his final teachings, he observed that, “the tests that Christians are subjected to by society today are numerous and affect our personal and social life. It is not easy to be faithful to Christian marriage, to practice mercy in our everyday lives, or to leave space for prayer and inner silence.” It is the Gift of Fortitude that strengthens and sustains us to bear witness to Gospel values in an increasingly alien society.

Fortitude supports us in following the path of discipleship, it gives us the strength to embrace the difficulties of life instead of fighting them, it is what sustains us on our spiritual journey and gives us the ability to accept life’s changes with grace and confidence in Jesus. Fortitude enables us to turn each day over to God and not over to fear.

Just as the Spirit of Counsel prompts us to choose the right course when facing the unknown, it is the Spirit of Fortitude that enables us to make the decision and stay the course. Fortitude not only sustains us in doing good but also in enduring evil. It helps us remain firm in hope in the face of incomprehensible tragedy and desolation of spirit.

I think particularly of the importance of the Gift of Fortitude for those dealing with serious and debilitating illness and those preparing for death. Fortitude enables them to keep the faith in dark moments. Indeed, it is the same gift that enables those caring for the aging and the seriously ill or disabled to persevere in their ministry of love in times of weariness and frustration.

There can be no greater example of the Gift of Fortitude than Jesus, who “When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)

The Gift of Knowledge

By

Without knowledge, wisdom is missing
Sir. 3:25

Despite its name, the Gift of Knowledge has nothing to do with information; rather it has to do with insights and perspectives prompted by the Holy Spirit. Because of it the most mundane events of daily life can become revelations of God’s grace.

Through this gift we perceive that the birth of a baby is a revelation of God as are wonders of nature, the Grand Canyon or the Great Teton Mountains. It enables us to comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity without being able to fully grasp it.

It is a contemplative gift through which we perceive the experience of God as intimate and always present. Because of the Gift of Knowledge we are enabled to view the world through the eyes of God rather than through the prism of our own desires and emotions. Through divine initiative we see things as they really are and not just as they appear to be.

The gift does not offer some secret knowledge of God given only to a chosen few, that is the heresy of Gnosticism, rather it is freely given to all. We only need to be open to it.

Because of the Gift of Knowledge we see beyond the darkness of pain and suffering and perceive that grace is more powerful than sin.

The Gift of Counsel

By

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever,”.
John 14:15-16

Gifts of the Spirit act in harmony and concert with each other, and all are illumined by the Gift of Counsel, which opens us to the Spirit in choices and decisions we make in our lives. The Gift of Counsel is not our conscience although the gift enlightens our conscience.

Counsel is a divine impulse; it is not God talking to us. It is usually a subtle inspiration that urges us to make a decision or to reconsider one. It may redirect us from a course of action that has been a significant part of our spiritual journey. It may suggest to us how to adjust to a change in our lives. It is God’s presence in our daily lives.

All decisions are not between good and evil but often are a matter of choosing the greatest good. The Gift of Counsel helps us discern about a vocation or marriage, or changing positions. It may challenge us to change prejudices or stereotypes. The Gifts of the Spirit help us follow our Christian vocation in every aspect of our lives. The Catechism tells us that “the moral life of Christians is sustained by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 1830)

Counsel, like all the gifts, flows from our relationship with God. It is ultimately a gift of God’s love and is a sign of His abiding presence. It flourishes when we frequent the sacraments and nurture a life of prayer and charity.

The Gift of Understanding

By

The Gift of Understanding
“Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”
Luke 24:45

The gift of understanding is a spiritual gift that provides deeper insights into our faith and our relationship with God. Like all the gifts of the spirit, it flows from an intimate union with God, and enables us to discern His will in the choices we make in our lives.

St. Anselm’s phrase “faith seeking understanding” has been used as a definition of theology. If that is so, then we are all theologians for our Christian journey is to understand the faith that is within us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes St. Augustine who wrote, “I believe in order to understand, and I understand the better to believe.” (CCC 2518)

It is the gift of understanding that opens us to the content of Revelation and the great mysteries of our faith, the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation or the Resurrection. Of course the gift of understanding does not imply that we do not need to use our intellect, in the study of Sacred Scripture. For example, it would be presumptuous to believe that study was unnecessary for a correct understanding, (Dei Verbum 12 ¶8) rather it enlightens our mind to fathom the spiritual dimension, to see God’s hand at work in the world and in the knowledge and experience we have acquired.

The same gift enables us to see the Church as the continuing, saving presence of Jesus despite the human weaknesses we all bring to it. Through the gift of understanding we can find God even in the trials of life and the times of spiritual barrenness, those times when our prayer is “dear God, where are you.”

Understanding is the servant of faith that, like the gift of wisdom, it enables us to “see” with our hearts while listening to our intellect. It perfects, deepens and illumines our faith.

It is the “Good Friday” gift that promises “Easter Sunday.”

The Gift of Wisdom

By

 

O would some Power with vision teach us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notions.
Robert Burns

Bobbie Burns, the Bard of Scotland, without realizing it, was referring to the Holy Spirit and the gift of wisdom when he penned these famous lines. The Spirit is indeed the power that teaches us (John 16:13) and it is the gift of wisdom that not only enables us to see ourselves as others see us but to see ourselves as God sees us.

Indeed, it is the gift of the divine perspective, the ability to see not only ourselves, but the world as God sees it, to see God’s goodness, and love in the midst of chaos, to see beauty where others see ugliness and repulsion. But wisdom is not infused, rather it inspires the manner in which we apply the knowledge and experience we possess. We must seek the knowledge needed to apply the gift. “Without knowledge wisdom is missing.”(Sir. 3:24)

When wisdom enables us to see ourselves as God sees us, it strips away the self-deception and self righteousness that blinds us to our true selves. It confronts us with the naked reality of who we are, and challenges us to become true disciples and imitators of Jesus.

Seeing others through the eyes of God means discarding the prism of self-interest through which we see what we want to see. It rips off our mask and the masks of others, it lays bare our prejudices and stereotypes and reveals the struggling humanity we all share.

Beyond seeing with the eyes of God, wisdom enables us to “see” with the heart of God, to live with compassion and empathy rather than condemnation and censure.

Wisdom is a foundational gift that facilitates and works in concert with the other Gifts of the Spirit: understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.

Wisdom is the result of an intimate relationship with God. It comes to us from God and draws us back to Him.

“Who can know your counsel, unless you give Wisdom
and send your Holy Spirit from on high?
Thus were the paths of those on earth made straight,
and people learned what pleases you,
and were saved by Wisdom.
Wisdom 9:17-18