Applying the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit to Our Work - Conclusion
Having reviewed and discussed the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, today we turn our attention to His Twelve Fruits. If we have graciously accepted His Gifts and allowed them to shape our lives, we may now enjoy these Fruits, just as we can enjoy the fruits of our labor.
The Novena to the Holy Spirit explains:
One suggestion to help us appreciate the full meaning and splendor of these words of the Novena: We may need to shake off the dust of secularism and mediocrity that's likely settled on us as we live and work in this 21st century after the Birth of Christ. To do that, we should first recognize that those who refer to contemporary Western civilization as "post-Christian" aren't exaggerating. God continues to be pushed to the perimeters of our society and culture with no end in sight. Living an authentic Catholic life continues to present a challenge to even the most serious and sincere of us.
But if we can squarely face our current state of affairs, as well as our possible complicity - conscious or not - in some, if not most, of the secular agenda, we may be able to grasp a great opportunity: 1) to make amends for any lukewarmness that may have infected our spiritual lives; 2) to reap the rewards that come with a serious, sincere effort to practice our faith.
The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit can serve as a wonderful example of those rewards. They are:
Read through that list. What would your life be like if you were indeed blessed with these fruits? Better or worse? We won't attempt to answer the question for you. You need to do that for yourself. But one thing we all should know is this: It would be Catholic.
Applying these to work, we might consider these Twelve Fruits as benchmarks against which we can evaluate how we're doing. For example, last week two last minute (and, naturally, urgent) requests appeared in my email. Even though I was winding down my end of operations before taking a little time off, I couldn't ignore them. They came one after the other, at the end of a long day. They had to be addressed. After an initial burst of annoyance, mixed with a spike of stress, self-control begot the patience I would need to effectively respond. It took a great deal of time and effort to square things away. But it all got done without that initial annoyance and stress. Maybe generosity played a role too, as I understood the benefit to others that would ensue from the timely fulfillment of these requests.
Later, at home, kindness and gentleness, by God's grace, displaced the usual short-tempered, petulant behavior that my wife might more typically have had to endure, were it not for these Twelve Fruits. I wonder whether my praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit this year, and my subsequent thinking and writing about His Gifts and His Fruits might have had something to do with this benevolent and fortunate change in temperament. Perhaps.
What's more important here, though, isn't the role my own efforts might have played. Rather, it's that we understand these Gifts are offered and given freely; we accept them gratefully; we generously practice the virtues they instill in us. As for this last point, we should remember that God will always provide the graces we need to do our part in His Divine Plan.
Given their variety and richness, we might spend more time considering these wonderful Fruits of the Holy Spirit in future posts. Now it's time to get back to work. Let's conclude our series on the Seven Gifts with this prayer from the Novena:
The Novena to the Holy Spirit explains:
"The gifts of the Holy Spirit perfect the supernatural virtues by enabling us to practice them with greater docility to divine inspiration. As we grow in the knowledge and love of God under the direction of the Holy Spirit, our service becomes more sincere and generous, the practice of virtue more perfect. Such acts of virtue leave the heart filled with joy and consolation and are known as Fruits of the Holy Spirit. These Fruits in turn render the practice of virtue more attractive and become a powerful incentive for still greater efforts in the service of God, to serve Whom is to reign."
One suggestion to help us appreciate the full meaning and splendor of these words of the Novena: We may need to shake off the dust of secularism and mediocrity that's likely settled on us as we live and work in this 21st century after the Birth of Christ. To do that, we should first recognize that those who refer to contemporary Western civilization as "post-Christian" aren't exaggerating. God continues to be pushed to the perimeters of our society and culture with no end in sight. Living an authentic Catholic life continues to present a challenge to even the most serious and sincere of us.
But if we can squarely face our current state of affairs, as well as our possible complicity - conscious or not - in some, if not most, of the secular agenda, we may be able to grasp a great opportunity: 1) to make amends for any lukewarmness that may have infected our spiritual lives; 2) to reap the rewards that come with a serious, sincere effort to practice our faith.
The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit can serve as a wonderful example of those rewards. They are:
- Charity
- Joy
- Peace
- Patience
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Generosity
- Gentleness
- Faithfulness
- Modesty
- Self-control
- Chastity
Read through that list. What would your life be like if you were indeed blessed with these fruits? Better or worse? We won't attempt to answer the question for you. You need to do that for yourself. But one thing we all should know is this: It would be Catholic.
Applying these to work, we might consider these Twelve Fruits as benchmarks against which we can evaluate how we're doing. For example, last week two last minute (and, naturally, urgent) requests appeared in my email. Even though I was winding down my end of operations before taking a little time off, I couldn't ignore them. They came one after the other, at the end of a long day. They had to be addressed. After an initial burst of annoyance, mixed with a spike of stress, self-control begot the patience I would need to effectively respond. It took a great deal of time and effort to square things away. But it all got done without that initial annoyance and stress. Maybe generosity played a role too, as I understood the benefit to others that would ensue from the timely fulfillment of these requests.
Later, at home, kindness and gentleness, by God's grace, displaced the usual short-tempered, petulant behavior that my wife might more typically have had to endure, were it not for these Twelve Fruits. I wonder whether my praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit this year, and my subsequent thinking and writing about His Gifts and His Fruits might have had something to do with this benevolent and fortunate change in temperament. Perhaps.
What's more important here, though, isn't the role my own efforts might have played. Rather, it's that we understand these Gifts are offered and given freely; we accept them gratefully; we generously practice the virtues they instill in us. As for this last point, we should remember that God will always provide the graces we need to do our part in His Divine Plan.
Given their variety and richness, we might spend more time considering these wonderful Fruits of the Holy Spirit in future posts. Now it's time to get back to work. Let's conclude our series on the Seven Gifts with this prayer from the Novena:
Come, O Divine Spirit, fill my heart with Thy heavenly fruits, Thy charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, faith, mildness, and temperance, that I may never weary in the service of God, but by continued faithful submission to Thy inspiration may merit to be united eternally with Thee in the love of the Father and the Son. Amen.
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