Catechism

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

This is taken directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

III. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit

1830

The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

1831

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.¹⁰⁹ They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations.

Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.¹¹⁰
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God . . . If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.¹¹¹

1832

The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity."¹¹²

IN BRIEF

1833

Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good.

1834

The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.

1835

Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.

1836

Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due.

1837

Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.

1838

Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.

1839

The moral virtues grow through education, deliberate acts, and perseverance in struggle. Divine grace purifies and elevates them.

1840

The theological virtues dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have God for their origin, their motive, and their object�God known by faith, God hoped in and loved for his own sake.

1841

There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. They inform all the moral virtues and give life to them.

1842

By faith, we believe in God and believe all that he has revealed to us and that Holy Church proposes for our belief.

1843

By hope we desire, and with steadfast trust await from God, eternal life and the graces to merit it.

1844

By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the form of all the virtues, "binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:14).

1845

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Christians are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.