Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

It's that time again, when young men and women prepare to have their baptisms confirmed, when the Holy Spirit is asked to descend upon them as He did the Apostles at the first Pentecost.

This year I was asked to give a talk to some of our confirmation students about how the Holy Spirit has acted in my life. What follows is what I prepared for them. When I speak, I do not follow my text exactly, I give room for the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and so this is different from the talks I gave, just as each of the talks were different from each other. Hopefully this will still speak to you in some way.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are these:

  • Wisdom
  • Understanding
  • Knowledge
  • Counsel
  • Fortitude
  • Reverence (Piety)
  • Fear of the Lord

We are asked time and again if we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, usually by a Protestant who is attempting to evangelize. It is an important question! But have you ever been asked if you have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit?

Consider yourself asked. Do you have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit? If not, why not?