CHARITY CONTAINS IN ITSELF THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The human spirit, so that it may follow easily the movements and promptings of reason, in order to attain the natural happiness which it can strive for by living according to the law of moral integrity, needs:
1. Temperance, to control the disordered tendencies of sensuality;
2. Justice, to give God, neighbour and oneself what is due;
3. Fortitude, to overcome the difficulties one feels in doing good and rejecting evil;
4. Prudence, to discover what means are most proper to attain to good and to virtue;
5. Knowledge, to know the true good to which we must aspire, and the true evil we must reject;
6. Understanding, to penetrate thoroughly the first and main foundations or principles of the beauty and excellence of a virtuous life.
7. And finally Wisdom to contemplate the Divinity, the first source of all good. These are the qualities by which the spirit is rendered gentle, obedient and pliable to the laws of the natural reason which is in us.
In the same way, Theotimus, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, wishes to make our soul supple, pliable and obedient to his divine impulses and heavenly inspirations. These are the laws of his love. In their observance consists the supernatural happiness of this present life. So he gives us seven properties and perfections nearly similar to the seven we have just spoken of. These are called gifts of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture and in the books of theologians.
Now these virtues are not only inseparable from charity, but all things well considered and strictly speaking, they are the principal virtues, properties and qualities of charity.
1. Wisdom is in fact no other thing than the love which relishes, tastes and experiences how kind and gentle God is;
2. Understanding is nothing else than love attentive to consider and enter deeply the beauty of the truths of faith to know therein God in himself and then from there coming down to consider him in creatures;
3. Knowledge, on the other hand, is nothing but the same love keeping us attentive to know ourselves and creatures, to make us rise up to more perfect knowledge of the service we owe to God;
4. Counsel is also love in so far as it makes us careful, attentive and able to choose well the means proper to serving God in a holy manner;
5. Fortitude is love encouraging and enlivening the heart to carry out what counsel has decided should be done;
6. Piety is the love which sweetens labour and makes us wholeheartedly, with pleasure and with filial affection, occupy ourselves in works that are pleasing to God our Father;
7. In conclusion, Fear is no other thing but love in so far as it makes us flee and avoid what is displeasing to the Divine Majesty.
In this way, Theotimus, charity will be for us another Jacob’s ladder (Gen. 28:12), made up of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These will be like so many sacred steps by which angelic persons will go up from earth to heaven, to be united to the heart of God Almighty, and come down from heaven to earth to take the neighbour by the hand and lead him to Heaven.
· As we ascend the 1st step, Fear makes us give up evil;
· On the 2nd, Piety arouses us to will to do good;
· On the 3rd, Knowledge makes us discern the good we are to do and the evil we are to flee;
· On the 4th, by Fortitude we take courage against all the difficulties that there are in our enterprise;
· On the 5th, by Counsel we choose suitable means;
· On the 6th, we unite our Understanding to God to behold and penetrate the features of his infinite beauty;
· On the 7th, we join our will to God to savour and experience the sweetness of his incomprehensible goodness.
From the top of this ladder, God bends towards us, gives us the kiss of love and makes us taste the sacred breasts of his sweetness better than wine (Song 1:2).
Having deliciously enjoyed these favours of love, we could desire to return to the earth to bring our neighbour to the same happiness.
Then from the 1st and highest step, where we filled our will with a most ardent zeal and have perfumed our soul with perfumes of God’s sovereign charity, we come down to the 2nd step.
At the 2nd step, our Understanding receives an incomparable light and makes provision of the most excellent considerations and maxims to glorify the divine beauty and goodness.
From there we come to the 3rd where by the gift of Counsel we consider by what means we may instill the relish and esteem of the divine sweetness into the mind of our neighbours.
At the 4th step, we encourage ourselves as we receive a holy Fortitude to overcome the difficulties that we may find in this project;
At the 5th, by the gift of Knowledge we begin to preach exhorting souls to practise virtues and to flee vice;
At the 6th, we strive to impress holy Piety on them so that recognizing God as their most loving Father they may obey him with filial Fear;
At the last step, we urge them to fear the judgments of God, so that mingling this fear of being damned with filial reverence, they may the more earnestly forsake the earth to ascend to heaven with us.
Charity then contains the seven gifts. It is like a beautiful lily with six petals whiter than snow and in the centre the splendid tiny golden hammers of Wisdom. These drive into our hearts the taste and loving relish of the goodness of the Father, our Creator, of the mercy of the Son, our Redeemer, and of the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier. Thus I place this twofold Fear on the two lowest steps in order to harmonize all the translations with the holy and sacred ordinary [Vulgate] edition.[1] If in the Hebrew the word Fear is used twice, this is not without a mysterious meaning. It is to show that there is a gift of filial fear which is nothing else but the gift of piety; and there is a gift of servile fear which is the beginning of all our progress towards the supreme wisdom (Ps 111:10).
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[1] Isa 11:2-3