Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit Psalm 1:3: ‘the just one is like a tree planted near streams; it bears fruits and its leaf does not wither’. As baptized and confirmed Christian, you are not what others might say about you but you are Spirit-filled person, you are like a tree by running water, bearing fruits of the Spirit and you will not wither. It is said that God would use anything to move you to love; all conflicts in life, in the world are to discover the power of love, reminding us love alone can heal. In life’s many challenges and despair, confirmation encourages us to accept reality and listen to Jesus saying, do you want to be healed [John 5:7]. Our encounters with Christ in baptism and confirmation were about God’s healing and empowering grace in us and go ever deeper in that experience of being made new in Christ. Zacchaeus [Luke 19] had a life-changing, healing encounter with Christ and fruits of the Spirit were visible in his life!
The 7 gifts of the Spirit are: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, courage,
piety and fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:1-3 speak of the Messiah being filled with these
gifts of God. John 16:13, Jesus says, when the Spirit comes, he will lead you to
fullness of truth and teach you all about me! Gifts of wisdom, knowledge and
understanding are called three habits of the thinking mind, Spirit filled habits!
• Wisdom: love of things divine, loving things faith inspires in us and to be rich with God.
• Understanding: it is about truths of faith, Spirit moves us to deepen our grasp of what
Jesus taught us; study of scripture, prayer and meditation help us to say yes to revealed truths.
• Knowledge: Spirit guides us to follow the way of Christ according to our understanding of truth and say no to sinful ways.
• Counsel: Spirit helps us to discern God’s will and be prudent in life’s decision making. This gift prevents us from choosing what jeopardizes our peace and relationships.
• Courage: Spirit gives us courage to overcome obstacles in practice of faith. Luke 12:12, Jesus says: ‘do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.
• Piety [godliness]: this gift inspires a childlike joy in living our faith, desire God and serve him.
• Fear of God: this gift is about a loving respect for God and his presence with us.
Encountering Christ, Zacchaeus received these gifts and he made courageous decisions to change his life and find joy in Christ. Jesus said to him: today salvation has come to this house!
Nine Fruits of the Spirit [Galatians 5:22-23]
• Love: God is love, the Spirit is known as the bond of love between Father and Son. God’s image in us is love. Spirit stirs in us fruits of love: forgiveness, reconciliation, repair injustice.
• Joy: Paul says: always be joyful, in the Lord; let your good sense be obvious to all because the Lord is near [Philippians 4:4]. Joy means, we move with God; we are not slaves of sin. For this reason confession brings great joy!
• Peace: Jesus says: blessed are the peacemakers [Mathew 5:9]. We experience peace
because we say no to all abusive behavior, violence, hatred, prejudice and all that causes disunity and chaos. We seek harmony with others and with all God’s creation.
• Patience: Jesus said: Learn from me, I am meek and humble of heart [Mathew 11:29].
With patience you are ready to listen to others and engage in dialogue; you give others a chance to put things in oder. You have the fire of faith in you to do the good fight.
• Kindness: Mother Teresa said: it is not enough just to care for others, you must do so with a smile. Practice of love unfolds often as kindness; it is servant spirituality.
• Goodness: God is good; God saw creation as good. This means we respect the dignity of others, try to behold beauty in everything or move others to beauty, embrace works of charity.
• Faithfulness: this is God’s nature; we value our relationships with God and others; we shun betrayals. In the story of Little Prince, it says: ‘you become responsible forever what you have befriended’.
• Gentleness: our faith inspires change in others not resentments or alienation; it is
non-violent attitude. Isaiah 42:3 says about the Servant of God: ‘he will not break the
crushed reed or snuff the faltering wick’.
• Self-control: we are not driven by anger, passions, vengeance or selfish desires or not to be addicted by anything!
The gifts of the spirit are like roots of a tree and the fruits like good fruits a tree would
produce! Prayer/meditation is the fertilizer for the tree of our life! These gifts and fruits
are about remaining in God’s love, be alive in God, to dance with God!