Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

— Galatians 4:6

Either before you arrive or as you wait for class to begin, find this short passage from Sacred Scripture in your Bible or through an online search. Reading it will prepare you for this week’s material.

—Isaiah 11:1–5

O God our Father, who with the Son sent the Spirit into the world to sanctify us in the truth, pour your spirit upon us here and now. Fill us with his many gifts and strengthen us to live out the call of your Son. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As you watch the video lesson, refer to these key highlights. Feel free to use the space provided to take notes.

• The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are knowledge, understanding, wisdom, counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear (or awe) of the lord.

• The gifts of the Holy Spirit assist and strengthen faith, hope, and charity. Every gift has a particular meaning and role.

• The gifts of the Holy Spirit empower us to live up to the Beatitudes.

• The Beatitudes are the pattern of holiness Christ proposed in the Sermon on the Mount.

• The Beatitudes show us the Gospel’s call to fullness of life in Christ.

Wisdom of the Saints

Do all the things that you have to do prudently, holding God before your eyes; do and say what you have to say and do in the Presence of God. . . . There shall you find the Master, the Holy Spirit, rich in clemency, who shall pour upon you a light of wisdom that shall make you discern and choose what shall be to his honor.

— St. Catherine of Siena

Take a moment to go through these questions with the group. For larger classes, divide them up into partners. Answers are provided to assist you in leading discussion.

1. Why does God give us the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
   The gifts of the Holy Spirit make us receptive to the action of the Holy Spirit. They allow us to be moved by God and strengthen the work of faith, hope, and charity.

2. How does one receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
   Anyone who has sanctifying grace also has the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We receive them at baptism, but they are especially strengthened at confirmation. Their action is meant to increase in us throughout our life.

3. What are the Beatitudes? Why are they called “beatitudes”?
   The Beatitudes are the heart of Jesus’s teachings at the Sermon on the Mount. They show us the way to true happiness. Beatitude comes from a Latin word that means “blessedness” or “happiness.”

4. How do the Beatitudes relate to the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
   The gifts of the Holy Spirit propel us to live up to the call of the Beatitudes. We cannot live up to the call of the Gospel without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Catechism Connection

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.

— CCC 1830

Discuss these questions with the group, pair them with a partner, or ask them to meditate on their own.

1. Choose a gift of the Holy Spirit. How do you think this gift could help you? Does it respond to a need in your life?

1. Read through the list of Beatitudes again in the fifth chapter of Matthew (vv. 3–11). Is there one you find particularly consoling? Is there one you find puzzling?

After concluding your group discussion, return to watch the second video where converts to the Catholic faith discuss their conversion and how they live today as Catholics.

Rome to Home

The Beatitudes are also relevant to the answer given by Jesus to the young man’s question: “What good must I do to have eternal life?” Indeed, each of the Beatitudes promises, from a particular viewpoint, that very “good” which opens man up to eternal life, and indeed is eternal life.

— John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, no. 16

Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Permanent dispositions that make man receptive to the Holy Spirit. They are Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, and Fear (or awe) of the Lord.

Counsel: The gift of the Holy Spirit that strengthens our human prudence and moves us according to God’s plan.

Fear of the Lord: The gift of the Holy Spirit that strengthens our hope and gives us a holy reverence or awe for God.

Beatitudes: The teachings of Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount about the way to true happiness. They show us the face of Christ and the vocation of all Christians.

God’s Word

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

— Romans 8:14

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This serves as a review of the material that your students can read after each class, but it may be helpful for you to read as well. Consider reading it before each class to better prepare you for group discussion.

The Christian moral life includes many lists. There are the Ten Commandments, the moral virtues, the theological virtues, the precepts of the Church, and so forth. A description of the Christian moral life would not be complete without an explanation of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes. It may seem daunting to have another list of things to consider, but it is really a great consolation. The gifts of the Holy Spirit show us just how much God intends to bless us with his grace, while the Beatitudes show us what the Christian life should look like when it is lived to the fullest.

By his grace, God gives us not only the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity but also the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: knowledge, understanding, wisdom, counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear (or awe) of the Lord. These gifts assist and strengthen the work of the theological virtues in our life and allow us to act in an even more supernatural way. The gifts are stable dispositions, or qualities, God places in our souls to make us receptive to his action. According to the classic image, they are like sails placed in the ship of our soul. Just as a ship needs sails in order to receive the force of the wind and be propelled through the sea, so, too, we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit to receive the powerful movements of the Holy Spirit.

God has an incredible task to accomplish: the building up of the kingdom of God through the preaching of the Gospel and the salvation of souls. In order to be successful at a task, we need to choose the right method to accomplish it. We choose means that suit our end or goal. And so it is in the work of salvation. Divine tasks call for divine direction and power. God has chosen divine means (the gifts of the Holy Spirit) to suit his divine ends (salvation).

These gifts are listed in the book of the prophet Isaiah as traits belonging to the promised Messiah. Jesus Christ was the one most filled with the Holy Spirit, so as we are conformed to Christ, we are also infused with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Anyone in the state of sanctifying grace also enjoys these gifts. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused at baptism, but they are especially strengthened through the sacrament of Confirmation. As we grow in the life of holiness, the gifts become more operative too. Our “spiritual sails” should grow to become more receptive to God’s action, more dependent upon his guidance and force.

Each of the gifts has a special meaning and role. The gift of knowledge helps us to see the passing value of earthly things, and wisdom helps to judge the immense value of spiritual things. Understanding strengthens our faith and helps us penetrate into divine mysteries. Counsel perfects our human prudence and moves us to act according to God’s plan. Piety helps us know our true identity as children of God. Fear of the Lord is not so much about being afraid of God as it is about revering him in holy awe. It gives us a reverence for God as a loving Father and strengthens our hope. Fortitude gives us confidence to overcome fears and attain difficult goods, even the great good of heaven!
It is good to pray for an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially those we feel we need. For example, if we are facing a hard decision, we should pray for the Holy Spirit’s gift of Counsel. If we are struggling with a difficult trial, we should pray for the Holy Spirit’s gift of Fortitude.

St. Augustine, St. Thomas, and many of the holy teachers of the Faith throughout the centuries have drawn a close connection between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes, which are the heart of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. Propelled by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Christians strive to attain the pattern of holiness set out in the Beatitudes. You have probably heard of the Beatitudes before: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is…

Beatitude comes from the Latin beatitudo, which means “happiness” or “blessedness.” Thus the Beatitudes are essentially promises of happiness. It does not seem like being poor, meek, or hungry, or mourning, or being persecuted are paths to happiness. The world tells us that power, wealth, and pleasure will make us happy. Christ offers us a different path. Following him results in the beginning in us of true happiness, above all by the life of grace, by which we receive the seed of eternal life. In this world, we will never be free from some measure of suffering—we will encounter some share in the Cross of Christ, to be sure—but this is a true beginning of the perfect happiness we await and which will be found in eternal life with God.

The Beatitudes reveal to us the face of Christ—he is the poor one who has been persecuted for righteousness sake, but who has received the blessed inheritance of the Son of God. While the Ten Commandments are the foundational laws of the moral life, the Beatitudes show us the Gospel’s call to the fullness of life in Christ. The Beatitudes reveal to us that Christianity does not have a morality of the minimum but a morality of the maximum. In other words, there is no upper limit to holiness. We are all called to strive in holiness, to grow in charity, and to hope for the fullness of happiness that comes through Christ.

• Gardeil, Ambroise. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Dominican Saints. Cluny Press, 2017.
• Kirby, Jeffrey. Kingdom of Happiness: Living Out the Beatitudes in Everyday Life. Saint Benedict Press, 2017.
• Pinckaers, Servais. The Pursuit of Happiness—God’s Way: Living the Beatitudes. Wipf & Stock, 2011.