Salesian Literature

A TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD

Chapter 15  :  Charity contains the gifts of the Holy Spirit

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If the heart of man is to know facility in following the promptings, the instincts of reason; if it is to achieve the natural happiness which it can seek, living by the laws of decency – it needs: temperance, to repress the disordered tendencies of sensuality; justice, to give God, neighbour and self their due; fortitude, to overcome the difficulties to be met in doing good, avoiding evil; prudence, to discover the best ways of becoming good and virtuous; knowledge, to recognize the exact good to set the heart upon, to exact evil to turn aside from; understanding, to fathom the first and basic principle of the beauty of a good life; and finally wisdom, to contemplate the godhead, the origin and source of all that is good.

 

These are the dispositions which render the heart meek, obedient, pliable to the laws of that natural reason we possess.

 

In the same way, Theotimus, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, means to render our souls supple, pliable and obedient to his divine impulses, his heavenly inspirations.  These are the laws of his love; in their observance lies the supernatural happiness of this life.

 

So he gives us seven supernatural habits or perfections, somewhat similar to the seven natural ones I have just mentioned.  They are called by holy Scripture (cf. Is. 11:2-3; Acts. 2:38), and in theological books, gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Now, not only are they inseparable from charity, but (all things considered and strictly speaking) they are charity’s chief values, habits, dispositions.

 

Wisdom, for instance, is simply the love which tastes and savours the experience of how kind, how good God is; understanding is simply love intent on studying, on grasping the beauty of the truths of faith – to know God in himself, first of all, and then to see him in his creatures; knowledge, on the contrary, is simply that same love keeping us intent on knowing ourselves and creatures, so as to lift our minds to a more perfect knowledge of the service we owe to God; counsel is also a love which makes us careful, anxious and capable of choosing just those things that will enable us to serve God holily; fortitude is love which encourages and puts new life into our hearts, so that we may carry out what counsel has decided should be done; piety is the love which tempers toil, which moves us to do whatever pleases God, our Father, and moves us to do it wholeheartedly, lovingly, with filial devotion; fear, in conclusion, is simply love that impels us to flee or avoid whatever is displeasing to God.

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