The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit Explained

Did you know that Baptism is the greatest gift parents can give their child? Did you know that through this sacrament we receive beautiful spiritual gifts from the Good God, our Heavenly Father?
First of all, Original Sin is washed away, the sin that had closed the gates of eternal life to us. We also receive sanctifying grace, which allows us to share in God’s own divine life. Through grace, we become adopted children of God. God looks upon us and loves us as His true sons and daughters, giving us the right to call Him, “Father!”

And as if that were not enough, the baptized person becomes a temple and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and of the entire Holy Trinity. In other words, God begins to dwell in the soul not only as Creator, but also as Father and Friend.

Baptism opens for us the gates of Heaven. But in order to attain eternal glory, we must live a Christian life that is consistent with the principles of the Gospel. The truth is, this is not easy. We must struggle against sin, against our disordered inclinations, and against the devil, who seeks to draw us away from God. We must cultivate virtue, perform good works, and keep God’s commandments. Humanly speaking, it can seem impossible.

Yet the Holy Spirit—whose mission is to lead us to Heaven—grants us, in Baptism, the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity), the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance), and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These divine gifts help the soul grow in holiness.

But what exactly are the gifts of the Holy Spirit for?
They are supernatural dispositions infused by God that elevate the powers of the soul to a divine level, making us capable of receiving and readily responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. To become saints, we must imitate Christ—our model—in everyday life. Yet many times we do not know how to do this. That is why the Holy Spirit comes to our aid, giving us inspirations and interior promptings to guide us. The gifts of the Holy Spirit prepare the soul to listen to, discern, and follow these inspirations.

Without a proper understanding of and devotion to the Holy Spirit, all these gifts received at Baptism—including the gifts of the Holy Spirit—run the risk of becoming neglected, weakened, or remaining dormant. As a result, the soul’s growth toward Christian maturity can be hindered, and its journey toward salvation placed in danger.

For this reason, if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit and all the graces He has prepared for the baptized, stay tuned. We will be publishing a series of articles on the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, so that He may become better known, more deeply loved, and more faithfully listened to. A soul that is docile and obedient to His inspirations can attain holiness more easily and more quickly.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Their Meaning

What Are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

As we mentioned earlier, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural dispositions infused by God into the powers of the soul, enabling us to receive and readily follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit in a divine or superhuman manner. They are permanent supernatural habits placed in the soul by the Holy Spirit together with sanctifying grace, and they remain there as long as the soul remains in a state of grace.

The first and greatest gift of God is the Holy Spirit Himself, who is the very Love with which God loves Himself and loves us. The liturgy calls Him Altissimi donum Dei—“the gift of the Most High God.” From Him flow all the other gifts.

What Is the Difference Between Gifts, Virtues, Fruits, and Beatitudes?

These are four distinct realities, yet they are profoundly connected within the supernatural life:

• The infused virtues dispose the soul to act supernaturally according to reason enlightened by faith—but in a human manner.
• The gifts of the Holy Spirit dispose the soul to be moved directly by the Holy Spirit—that is, in a divine manner.
• The fruits of the Holy Spirit are the beautiful acts that spring forth when the soul cooperates docilely with these gifts.
• The Beatitudes are the most perfect and complete fruits: every Beatitude is a fruit, but not every fruit is a Beatitude.

Here is a brief summary:

Where Do the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Appear in the Bible?

How Many Gifts of the Holy Spirit Are There?

There are seven: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord.

The Masoretic text of Isaiah lists only six because it repeats the gift of fear at the end. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate list seven because they include the gift of piety. This difference comes from the Hebrew word yira’t, which may be translated as either “fear” or “piety.”

St. Ambrose and St. Augustine insist that the number seven here signifies fullness, since every desirable gift dwelt in the Messiah in its fullness. For this reason, it would be rash to propose names other than the seven unanimously handed down by Tradition.

What Is the Nature of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

The classic theological definition is:

“The gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural dispositions infused by God into the powers of the soul, enabling it to receive and readily follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit in a divine or superhuman manner.”

Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, in The Great Unknown, explains this definition point by point:

• Supernatural habits: Isaiah says that the gifts “shall rest” upon the Messiah, indicating habitual permanence. The Holy Spirit is never present in the soul without His gifts.
• Infused by God: These are supernatural realities that the soul cannot acquire through its own efforts, because they infinitely surpass the purely natural order.
• In the powers of the soul: They reside in the soul’s operative faculties, just as the infused virtues do, perfecting and elevating their supernatural activity.
• To receive and readily follow: The purpose of a habit is to perfect the faculties so they can easily receive and respond to the movement of the one who acts upon them.
• The promptings of the Holy Spirit Himself: The Holy Spirit acts as the direct and principal mover, unlike the infused virtues, in which man himself acts as the principal agent.
• In a divine or superhuman manner: This is the essential distinction. Acts that proceed from the gifts of the Holy Spirit are incomparably more perfect than those that proceed from the infused virtues.

How Does the Divine Motion of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Work?

This is the most important and most difficult point of the doctrine of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The divine motion of the gifts is essentially distinct from the motion that activates the infused virtues.

In the infused virtues:

• God acts as the first principal cause.
• Man acts as the second principal cause, entirely subordinate to the first.
• The acts are entirely man’s because they proceed from his reason and free will.
• The mode of operation is human-supernatural.

In the gifts of the Holy Spirit:

• God acts as the sole principal cause.
• Man passes to the category of instrumental cause because he is conscious and free, but instrumental.
• The acts are materially human, but formally divine.
• The mode of operation is divine or superhuman.

Fr. Royo Marín uses a beautiful image to explain it: it is like the melody that an artist draws from his harp: materially it belongs to the harp, but formally it belongs to the artist who plays it.

What role does freedom have under the motion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

• The passivity of the soul is only relative, only with respect to the initiative of the act, which corresponds exclusively to the Holy Spirit.
• Once the divine motion is received, the soul reacts actively and associates itself with it with all the force of its free will.
• This preserves freedom and merit under the action of the gifts.
• The more perfect the action becomes, the more the soul follows the divine motion with greater docility, without distorting it with purely human initiatives.

Why are the gifts of the Holy Spirit necessary?

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary for two fundamental reasons, which Fr. Royo Marín expounds with rigor:

1. For the perfection of the infused virtues

• The infused virtues are divine habits that reside in human faculties.
• According to the theological axiom: “what is received is received according to the mode of the recipient.”
• The infused virtues, upon being received by the human soul, are diminished and acquire the human mode. They are as if “suffocated” in that human atmosphere.
• That is why a sinner who repents and confesses easily returns to his sins, despite having recovered all the infused virtues with grace.
• The gifts of the Holy Spirit come to provide the infused virtues with the divine atmosphere they need to develop all their supernatural potentiality.
• Without the predominant regime of the gifts, it is impossible to reach Christian perfection.

2. For one’s own salvation

• Human nature is wounded by original sin and inclined toward evil.
• In grave and unforeseen temptations where sin or heroism is decided in an instant, human reasoning is too slow.
• In those situations the soul needs to move “as if by supernatural instinct,” in other words, under the motion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• Without that motion, the fall would be almost certain given the weight of concupiscence.
• It is enough that these situations may occur at some point to conclude that the action of the gifts is necessary even for eternal salvation.

The 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit explained

1. The Gift of Fear of the Lord

What is the nature of the gift of fear?

• It is the first in the hierarchical scale of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, since it is the foundation for the others.
• It is defined as a supernatural habit by which the just person, under the instinct of the Holy Spirit, acquires a special docility to turn away from sin and submit to the divine will, because he feels dominated by a reverential feeling toward the majesty of God.
• It is not worldly fear (which avoids temporal evils rather than offending God) nor servile fear (which avoids sin only out of fear of punishment).
• It is perfect filial fear: the fear proper to a son who loves his father and avoids disobeying him so as not to displease him, since it is founded on charity and reverence.
• Its deiform mode has its exemplar in the infinite holiness of God and His total separation from all evil. The Holy Spirit transmits to the soul something of the infinite detestation that God has toward sin.

Why is the gift of fear important?

• It perfects hope, because it uproots presumption by giving a feeling of radical powerlessness before God.
• It strengthens temperance, by restraining the disordered tendency toward pleasures out of reverential fear of offending God.
• It elevates religion to its maximum perfection, filling it with the reverence that the angels themselves experience before the divine majesty.
• It perfects humility, plunging the soul into the abyss of its nothingness before the all of God.

What are the effects of the gift of fear on the soul?

• Profound adoration: a vivid feeling of the greatness of God that plunges the soul into submission and acceptance of His will.
• Horror of sin: a most vivid contrition upon understanding the malice of any offense to God, however small it may seem.
• Extreme vigilance: constant attention to avoid even the slightest occasions of sin.
• Perfect detachment: considering as “rubbish” all the grandeurs and riches of the earth after having glimpsed the divine majesty.

What beatitudes and fruits are derived from the gift of fear?

• Principal beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Mt 5:3). Filial reverence impels one not to seek self-aggrandizement in honors or riches.
• Secondary beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn.” Knowledge of one’s own misery leads to weeping for past errors.
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: modesty (fruit of reverence before God), continence and chastity (derived from the channeling of the passions)

What vices are opposed to the gift of fear?

• Pride: directly opposed because the gift of fear excludes it at its root by making man feel his own nothingness before God.
• Presumption: indirectly opposed by injuring divine justice through disordered trust in mercy.

How to foster the gift of fear?

• Meditate on the greatness of God: reflect on His creative power and absolute majesty.
• Reverential treatment: become accustomed to treating God as Father but with profound respect, avoiding excessive familiarity.
• Horror of sin: consider the malice of divine offense.
• Meekness and humility: treat one’s neighbor with gentleness, seeing them as brothers in Christ.
• Frequent invocation: ask the Holy Spirit for reverential fear through prayers and ejaculations.

2. Gift of Fortitude

What is the nature of the gift of fortitude?

• It is defined as a supernatural habit that strengthens the soul to practice, by instinct of the Holy Spirit, heroic virtues with an invincible confidence in overcoming any danger or difficulty.
• Unlike the virtue of fortitude, which acts in the human mode and does not always remove fear, the gift acts in the divine mode, because it relies on divine omnipotence which provides unshakeable security.
• It allows one to overcome obstacles that seem humanly impossible, as was seen in the apostles after Pentecost, upon receiving the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Why is the gift of fortitude important?

• The infused virtues in themselves are “suffocated” in the human atmosphere. The gift provides them with the necessary “divine air” for their full development.
• In sudden and violent temptations where sin or heroism is decided in an instant, human reasoning is too slow, so the supernatural instinct of the gift of fortitude is required.
• It is necessary to victoriously combat internal passions, the seductions of the world, and the assaults of the devil.

What are the effects of the gift of fortitude on the soul?

• Unshakeable energy: total determination not to stop on the path to holiness, whatever may happen.
• Destruction of lukewarmness: elimination of slackness and negligence in the service of God.
• Intrepidity in the face of danger: courage before any enemy.
• Joy in suffering: capacity to endure the greatest pains with supernatural joy, as in the martyrs or Saint Thérèse.
• Heroism of the small: strength to be obstinately faithful to daily duty in its smallest details.

What beatitudes and fruits are derived from the gift of fortitude?

• Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (holiness)” (Mt 5:6). Only a divine fortitude allows one to desire holiness with such impetus and constancy.
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: patience (to suffer evils with heroism) and long-suffering (to persevere in good despite the delay of results).

What vices are opposed to the gift of fortitude?

• Timidity or disordered fear: prevents undertaking great things for God out of fear of difficulties.
• Slackness: born of love of one’s own comfort, which seeks to avoid abjection and pain.

How to foster the gift of fortitude?

• Exact fulfillment of duty: strive in what one can with ordinary grace. God does not usually give the gift to reward laziness.
• Do not ask for the cross to be removed: instead of complaining about trials, ask for strength to bear them in a holy manner.
• Voluntary mortifications: practice small daily victories so that the soul does not tremble before pain.
• Turn to the Eucharist: seek in communion the “bread of the strong” to receive the fortitude of Christ.

3. Gift of Piety

What is the nature of the gift of piety?

• It is defined as a supernatural habit infused by God to excite in the will, by instinct of the Holy Spirit, a filial affection toward God as Father and a feeling of universal brotherhood toward all men as brothers and children of the same Father.
• It resides in the will.
• Unlike the virtue of piety—which operates in the human mode—the gift acts in the divine mode, with incomparably greater perfection and delicacy.
• It is the gift that communicates to the soul the spirit of the family of God.

Why is the gift of piety important?

• It is absolutely necessary to bring to heroic perfection the virtues of justice, religion, and piety.
• Without it, service to God can be performed out of duty; the gift makes it fulfilled effortlessly, as the loving service of a son to his father.
• It is indispensable for the infused virtues to reach their full development, allowing the soul to see in all creation the “house of the Father.”

What are the effects of the gift of piety on the soul?

• Filial tenderness toward God: a sweet experience of “Abba, Father.” In saints like Saint Thérèse it provoked tears of love when praying the Our Father.
• Adoration of divine paternity: the soul is absorbed in contemplation of the mystery of the eternal generation of the Word.
• Filial abandonment: unalterable peace and total confidence in the arms of the Father, without asking for or rejecting anything outside His will.
• Universal brotherhood: seeing in each neighbor a brother in Christ, with an impulse toward heroic works of mercy performed naturally.
• Devotion to the sacred: tender love toward the Virgin Mary as Mother, the angels and saints as older brothers, the Pope, superiors, and the souls in purgatory.

What beatitudes and fruits are derived from the gift of piety?

• Beatitudes: the meek (meekness facilitates the exercise of piety), those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (the gift perfects this virtue), and the merciful (piety is manifested in compassion toward one’s brother).
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: directly, goodness and kindness; indirectly, meekness.

What vices are opposed to the gift of piety?

• Impiety: the voluntary breach of filial duty toward God.
• Hardness of heart: born of disordered love of oneself, which makes the soul insensitive to the interests of God and the miseries of one’s neighbor. It is manifested in the inability to weep for sins.

How to foster the gift of piety?

• Cultivate the spirit of adopted children: constantly remember that God is Father and turn to Him with confidence and abandonment.
• Cultivate universal brotherhood: treat all men as true brothers in Christ.
• See God in creation: consider that everything that exists belongs to the “house of the Father.”
• Practice total abandonment: accept with indifference and love whatever God disposes or permits.

4. Gift of Counsel

What is the nature of the gift of counsel?

• It is defined as a supernatural habit by which the soul, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, instantly intuits what should be done in particular cases in order to the supernatural ultimate end.
• It perfects the virtue of prudence.
• Unlike prudence—which reasons and deliberates slowly—the gift of counsel acts by divine instinct, providing quick and sure solutions.
• The Holy Spirit acts as the sole moving cause; the soul collaborates as an instrumental cause.

Why is the gift of counsel important?

• It is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit indispensable in unforeseen and difficult situations where sin or heroism is decided in an instant and human reasoning would be too slow.
• It allows one to reconcile apparently opposing virtues: gentleness with firmness, the prudence of the serpent with the simplicity of the dove.
• It is manifested in the Gospel in Jesus’ silence before Herod, His response about the tribute to Caesar, or Solomon’s judgment.

What are the effects of the gift of counsel on the soul?

• Preservation from a false conscience: prevents the soul from deceiving itself or using moral principles to justify personal whims.
• Security in doubt: resolves difficult situations successfully, as frequently occurs in the confessional with holy spiritual directors.
• Success in governance: inspires superiors and directors with the most opportune means to guide others with justice and charity.
• Extreme docility: paradoxically, the soul moved by this gift is the most inclined to consult and obey superiors, because the Holy Spirit inspires it that God governs men through other men.

What beatitudes and fruits are derived from the gift of counsel?

• Beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful” (Mt 5:7)—nothing is so useful for one’s own salvation as the exercise of mercy.
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: goodness and kindness.

What vices are opposed to the gift of counsel?

• Precipitation: acting by natural impulse without consulting the Holy Spirit.
• Rashness: lack of attention to the lights of faith due to excessive confidence in oneself.
• Excessive slowness: not executing quickly what the Holy Spirit has already dictated as appropriate.

How to foster the gift of counsel?

• Profound humility: recognize one’s own ignorance and incessantly ask for the lights of heaven.
• Reflection and calm: do not proceed hastily; on the contrary, do what one can naturally while awaiting divine assistance.
• Interior silence: silence the noises of the world and the passions to hear the voice of the “interior Master.”
• Obedience and docility: submit faithfully to the judgment of superiors and the spiritual director.

5. Gift of Knowledge

What is the nature of the gift of knowledge?

• It is defined as a supernatural habit infused by God with sanctifying grace, which resides in the understanding and allows one to judge rightly created things in relation to God.
• Unlike human knowledge (acquired by natural reasoning) or theology (which discourses on revelation), the gift judges creation by divine instinct or connaturality.
• Its proper function is the right judgment of creatures. It is distinguished from other gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as understanding (which intuits truth) and wisdom (which judges divine things).
• It constitutes what is called the “knowledge of the saints.”

Why is the gift of knowledge important?

• Indispensable for faith to reach its full practical development.
• Without it, the soul runs the risk of being seduced by the charm of creatures by losing sight of their connection with the supernatural world.
• It provides a supernatural instinct to discover the value, usefulness, or danger of created things in order to eternal life.

What are the effects of the gift of knowledge on the soul?

• Right judgment of creatures: teaches one to experience the emptiness and nothingness of the creature before God, while discovering the Creator’s footprint in nature.
• Guidance in faith: allows one to discern instinctively whether a doctrine or devotion harmonizes with the faith or opposes it.
• Self-knowledge: makes one see promptly the state of the soul and the secret movements of the heart.
• Direction of one’s neighbor: inspires preachers and directors with the most opportune words to guide others toward God.
• Detachment and holy use: teaches one to value creatures as “rubbish” before God and to use them as a lever to rise toward Him.
• Repentance: upon discovering the vanity of the created and the malice of sin, fills the soul with most vivid contrition.

What beatitudes and fruits are derived from the gift of knowledge?

• Beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn” (Mt 5:5)—the soul mourns upon recognizing its past abuses of creatures, but receives the reward of spiritual consolation by ordering them properly to God.
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: faith (fides)—as special certainty about supernatural truths—and spiritual joy (gaudium).

What vices are opposed to the gift of knowledge?

• Culpable spiritual ignorance: when man allows himself to be voluntarily absorbed by vain things or human sciences without moderation.
• Intellectual pride: trusting excessively in one’s own ingenuity, preventing the illuminations of the Holy Spirit.

How to foster the gift of knowledge?

• Meditate on the vanity of the earthly: reflect on the fragility and short duration of created things.
• Relate everything to God: become accustomed to seeing the Creator’s footprint in the beauty of creatures.
• Oppose the spirit of the world: reject the twisted judgments of society that places its happiness in the temporal.
• See Providence: strive to discover the hand of God in all events, prosperous or adverse.
• Purity of heart: guard the senses and exactly fulfill duties to attract illuminations from on high.

6. Gift of Understanding

What is the nature of the gift of understanding?

• It is defined as a supernatural habit, infused by God with sanctifying grace, by which man’s intelligence, under the illuminating action of the Holy Spirit, becomes apt for a penetrating intuition of revealed and natural things in order to the ultimate end.
• Unlike the virtue of faith—which operates in the human mode, slow and discursive—like the rest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it acts in the divine mode: intuitive and rapid.
• Its specific function is the simple apprehension or penetration of truth, without making judgments. This distinguishes it from the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and counsel, which do involve a judgment about what is apprehended.

Why is the gift of understanding important?

• Human knowledge is by nature discursive and incapable of grasping the absolute simplicity of God.
• Without this gift, faith always remains in an imperfect state and “suffocated” by the human atmosphere.
• It is necessary to attain pure faith and mystical contemplation, because it allows the understanding to unite with God.

What are the effects of the gift of understanding on the soul?

• Seeing the substance under the accidents: perceiving the hidden divine reality, for example, under the Eucharistic veils.
• Discovering the meaning of the Scriptures: understanding the Word of God profoundly.
• Grasping the meaning of figures: seeing spiritual realities through symbols and liturgical ceremonies.
• Intuition of causes and effects: seeing God and His Providence in all the events of the world.
• Seeing God “in a certain way”: purifies the “eye of the spirit” so much that it allows an experience of God so clear that it approaches intuitive vision already in this life.

What beatitudes and fruits are derived from the gift of understanding?

• Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). The gift purifies the mind of errors and corporeal phantasms to allow that spiritual vision.
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: faith (fides)—as absolute certainty in what is believed—and spiritual joy (gaudium).

What vices are opposed to the gift of understanding?

• Spiritual blindness: total privation of the vision of divine goods, frequently caused by lust.
• Dullness of spiritual sense: weakening of interior sight for things of the spirit, provoked by gluttony and excessive immersion in the sensible.

How to foster the gift of understanding?

• Enliven faith: intensely practice acts of faith with ordinary grace.
• Purity of soul and body: maintain absolute cleanliness of heart to attract divine light.
• Interior recollection: seek silence and solitude to hear the “interior Master.”
• Fidelity to grace: deny the Holy Spirit no sacrifice and follow His motions with docility.
• Frequent invocation: ask for the gift through the Veni Creator or the Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

7. Gift of Wisdom

What is the nature of the gift of wisdom?

• It is the most perfect and excellent of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the one charged with bringing charity to its ultimate perfection.
• It is defined as a supernatural habit, inseparable from charity, by which the soul rightly judges God and divine matters by their ultimate and highest causes.
• Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, it allows one to savor God through a kind of connaturality or divine sympathy (wisdom comes from to know and savor).
• Unlike the gifts of knowledge or understanding, its function is to make a savory judgment about God Himself.

Why is the gift of wisdom important?

• It is absolutely indispensable for charity to reach its full development.
• Without it, charity acts in a “human way,” kept “stifled” by the regulation of reason and human pettiness.
• It provides charity with the divine atmosphere necessary to soar to the heights of mysticism and heroic sanctity.

What are the effects of the gift of wisdom on the soul?

• Sense of eternity: saints judge everything—from an insult to a great event—from the perspective of God and His Providence, losing the instinct for what is purely human.
• Experience of mysteries: it allows one to penetrate the depths of divinity with a gaze “in the manner of God,” because it participates in His own way of knowing.
• Communion with the Trinity: the soul lives in intimate and permanent union with the three divine Persons, even amidst daily occupations.
• Heroism in charity: it produces a total death to selfishness, loving God for His infinite goodness and one’s neighbor with superhuman self-denial.
• Perfection of virtues: it gives all other virtues the ultimate touch of beauty and divine finish.

What beatitudes and fruits derive from the gift of wisdom?

• Beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt 5, 9). Wisdom orders all things and produces peace.
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit: principally charity, spiritual joy, and peace.

What are the vices opposed to the gift of wisdom?

• Stultitia or spiritual foolishness: dullness of spiritual sense that prevents judging things according to God. It often arises from lust.
• Fatuity: total inability to discern the divine in more serious cases.
• Anger: it clouds the mind and prevents serene judgment from God.

How to foster the gift of wisdom?

• See everything from God’s perspective: discover God’s hand in every event, transcending secondary causes.
• Combat the wisdom of the world: reject the pursuit of honors and praises, embrace the “folly” of the cross.
• Detachment from earthly things: do not become excessively fond of worldly things—even good ones like knowledge—so as not to spoil the spiritual palate.
• Do not cling to consolations: seek the God of consolations and not the consolations of God, being willing to serve Him in both aridity and joy.

Summary Table: The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Prayer to Ask for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Let us daily ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can do so by praying this or a similar prayer:

Come, Creator Spirit, visit the souls of the faithful; and fill with Your grace the hearts You created.

Spirit of Wisdom, You who know my most secret thoughts, and my deepest desires, both good and evil; enlighten me and make me know what is good to do it, and what is evil to sincerely detest it.

Intensify my interior life, through the gift of Understanding.

Advise me in my doubts and hesitations, through the gift of Counsel.

Give me the necessary energy in the fight against my passions, through the gift of Fortitude.

Envelop all my conduct in a supernatural atmosphere, through the gift of Knowledge.

Make me feel like Your child in all the vicissitudes of life, and turn to You, like a child with filial affection, through the gift of Piety.

Grant that I may venerate and love You as You deserve; that I may walk cautiously on the path of good, guided by the gift of the holy Fear of God; that I may fear sin more than any other evil; that I may prefer to lose everything rather than Your grace; and that I may one day reach that happy dwelling, where You will be our Light and Consolation, and, like a tender mother; You wipe away “every tear from our eyes,” where there is no weeping or sorrow, but eternal happiness. So be it.

Do you want to experience Pentecost with fervor? Check out these articles that can help you:

• What is the Easter Season and How Long Does It Last?: Complete guide to the Easter Season: meaning, Sundays, liturgical signs, Via Lucis, Regina Coeli, and the 2026 celebration calendar.
• Who is the Holy Spirit and What Does He Do?: The Holy Spirit is the Great Unknown. Who is the Holy Spirit and what does He do, what does the Bible say about Him, what does the Catholic Church teach?
• The 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit: The 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit explained one by one: what they are, how they differ from the gifts, and what they produce in the life of a Christian.