GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

BLOWING IN THE WIND
3 -THE GIFT OF KNOWLDEDGE

‘He knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!’ Something’s only precious to him if it’s costly. It’s impossible for him to appreciate beauty, love and unselfishness because no-one can put a price tag on them. He values a work of art because it cost a fortune, not because it’s beautiful.  Success is measured by his wealth and the costly status symbols he can amass. Something is worthwhile in so far as it’s profitable.  Such people have got their priorities very wrong. 

 The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Knowledge enables us to get them right.   If the gift of understanding enables us to penetrate the Mysteries of Faith and gives us an instinctive insight into the divine, the Gift of Knowledge helps us to identify with God’s approach to His creation. Quite simply He ‘saw that it was good, very good.’  He delighted in His handiwork –and so should we.     Any prayer urging us ‘to despise the things of this world’ is an insult to the Creator of Heaven Earth.  Instead, we should see them as reflecting the glory of God.
 

Through the Gift of Knowledge we instinctively share God’s perspective on His creation.  On the one hand we mustn’t so glorify created things that they become what is most important in our lives. Instead of leading us to their creator we would remain satisfied with what His creatures have to offer.  That’s idolatry.  The Gift of Knowledge helps us to avoid that pitfall.
 

It also keeps us aware of the dignity of the created world, brought into existence out of God’s exuberant love.   He has made us its custodians, responsible for treating it with respect, protecting it, developing it and sharing its fruits, which belong to the whole of humanity.  The gift of knowledge should make us sensitive to the dignity of the whole of creation and prevent us  exploiting and damaging it. 

 

 

Above all, through this gift we instinctively share God’s love for our fellow human beings.  They are His children, our brothers and sisters, made in His in image and likeness.  The Gift of Knowledge helps us to treat people with God’s love, respect and compassion. It causes us to recognize their dignity as persons, and not to regard them as sex objects to be exploited. 

 

 

This gift enables us to value and protect even the most insignificant part of God’s creation.   That is very much the theme of Pope Francis’s encyclical. ‘Laudato Si.’ .

 Isidore Clarke, O.P.

 

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

BLOWING IN THE WIND
3 -THE GIFT OF KNOWLDEDGE

‘He knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!’ Something’s only precious to him if it’s costly. It’s impossible for him to appreciate beauty, love and unselfishness because no-one can put a price tag on them. He values a work of art because it cost a fortune, not because it’s beautiful.  Success is measured by his wealth and the costly status symbols he can amass. Something is worthwhile in so far as it’s profitable.  Such people have got their priorities very wrong. 

 The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Knowledge enables us to get them right.   If the gift of understanding enables us to penetrate the Mysteries of Faith and gives us an instinctive insight into the divine, the Gift of Knowledge helps us to identify with God’s approach to His creation. Quite simply He ‘saw that it was good, very good.’  He delighted in His handiwork –and so should we.

Any prayer urging us ‘to despise the things of this world’ is an insult to the Creator of Heaven Earth.  Instead, we should see them as reflecting the glory of God.

Through the Gift of Knowledge we instinctively share God’s perspective on His creation.  On the one hand we mustn’t so glorify created things that they become what is most important in our lives. Instead of leading us to their creator we would remain satisfied with what His creatures have to offer.  That’s idolatry.  The Gift of Knowledge helps us to avoid that pitfall.

It also keeps us aware of the dignity of the created world, brought into existence out of God’s exuberant love.   He has made us its custodians, responsible for treating it with respect, protecting it, developing it and sharing its fruits, which belong to the whole of humanity.  The gift of knowledge should make us sensitive to the dignity of the whole of creation and prevent us  exploiting and damaging it. 

Above all, through this gift we instinctively share God’s love for our fellow human beings.  They are His children, our brothers and sisters, made in His in image and likeness.  The Gift of Knowledge helps us to treat people with God’s love, respect and compassion. It causes us to recognize their dignity as persons, and not to regard them as sex objects to be exploited. 

This gift enables us to value and protect even the most insignificant part of God’s creation.   That is very much the theme of Pope Francis’s encyclical. ‘Laudato Si.’ .

 Isidore Clarke, O.P.

 

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE SPIRIT IS BLOWING!
2-GIFT of UNDERSTANDING  

 

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand,”  (Is. 41. 10). 

 

The prophet Isaiah’s comforting words floated into my mind as I lay semi-conscious in a hospital bed.  Although as a Dominican I’d spent years reflecting on the sacred Scriptures it was only in this moment of personal crisis that God’s words spoke directly to me, reassured me and comforted me in my need. What was so familiar suddenly came alive for me, took on a new depth of meaning.
 

What I experienced was wonderful, but not extraordinary for a Christian.   At baptism we become God’s children and share His own divine life.   We receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These give us a divine instinct to think and behave like God.  The closer we are to God, the more we become like Him.
 

 The gift of understanding enables us to penetrate ever more deeply into the mystery of God and of His work of salvation. Certainly we believe in these mysteries.  But through the gift of understanding they touch not just our minds but our hearts.  That can transforms our lives.
 

That happened on the road to Emmaus, as the risen Lord walked and talked with two disciples.  As they told Him of their distress at Jesus’ crucifixion He explained to them how the Scriptures had foretold His death and resurrection. Although they knew the Scriptures they hadn’t made the connection with His Passion.   But on reflection everything fell into place.   Thanks to the gift of understanding they exclaimed,

“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”     (Lk. 24.32).
 

As a priest I’ve often marveled at the way the gift of understanding enables devout young children and unlettered adults to go to the heart of the deepest of mysteries. Without being learned theologians they can recognise and love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; they can talk freely with Him in their prayers. With a God-given instinct they can tell if something is against the faith, without their being able to explain how.  And the great reassurance for the preacher is that the gift of understanding can enable his listener to get something helpful out of even the worst of sermons!

Isidore Clarke O.P.

 

THE CROWN THAT LASTS

This year, more than most years, is loaded with competitions and challenges!

I’m thinking of the Rio Olympics with records to be broken and medals to be won; as well as the Caribbean with its Carnivals, its Regattas and Barbados with its Crop-Over. Here there is intense rivalry in composing and singing songs, designing and wearing costumes. Rival Steel Bands vie for the Crown.

The challenge of exams weighs heavily not only on those who have to sit them but also upon their families watching and praying that their loved ones be successful. Youngsters strive to perform well enough for them to be accepted into Secondary Schools. Adults in Tertiary Education have to prove their superior excellence in a world choked with a super-abundance of talent. At every level exam results define future prospects.

 

If this challenge does not incline people to have goals, ambitions, what will? Surely the self-esteem engendered by committed effort is much to be preferred to the wishful thinking of those waiting to see how things will turn out as they lazily watch the world go by!

 

The Bible doesn’t spare our feelings when it has the Psalmist declaring "I have no love for half-hearted men!" (Ps. 119.113); and the Angel of the Lord in the Book of Revelation makes it known, "Since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth," (3.16).

St. Paul uses the world of sport as a parable for the basics of the Christian life and, indeed, for every worthwhile human endeavour. "Someone who enters an athletic contest wins only by competing in the sports…a prize can be won only by competing according to the rules," (2 Tim.2.5).

I fear today we would need many a reprint of ‘Red Cards’ designed to meet the cheating, the foul-play, in every walk of life – from within the family to international politics (and everything in between)!

I fear today we would need many a reprint of ‘Red Cards’ designed to meet the cheating, the foul-play, in every walk of life – from within the family to international politics (and everything in between)!

 

St. Paul would have us know that success is not meant to come easily: "Do you not realize that, though all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, only one of them gets the prize? Run like that -- to win. Every athlete concentrates completely on training, and this is to win a wreath that will wither, whereas ours will never wither. So that is how I run, not without a clear goal; and how I box, not wasting blows on air. I punish my body and bring it under control, to avoid any risk that, having acted as herald for others, I myself may be disqualified," (I Cor. 9.24-27).

In many competitions it is each against the rest with only one being the winner. In the spiritual life our godly selves are striving against our sinful inclinations and the temptations of the Evil One. By the grace of God all of us are meant to be winners and to receive from God a ‘Crown that Lasts’ for eternity.

 

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews,(12.1-3) uses the necessity of having athletic training and role models to stimulate us to take seriously our own Spiritual Life, our very Salvation, "We too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken his seat at the right of God's throne. Think of the way he persevered against such opposition from sinners and then you will not lose heart and come to grief. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of bloodshed."

In every sphere of human endeavour those who honestly try are already heroes; those who cheat their way towards acclaim deserve to be toppled from their thrones and podiums since their crowns and medals are worth less than garbage.
 

PETER CLARKE, O.P..

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE SPIRIT IS BLOWING!
1 WISDOM

Losing Jesus and finding Him in the Temple is counted as one of the Sorrows of Mary, as it would

have been for any parent. Who would blame Mary for affectionately chiding Him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."

Astonishing that He replied, "Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?" Jesus, being not only the Son of Mary but also Son of God, thought the time had come to introduce them to the bewildering idea that He had this lofty relationship with His Heavenly Father. With His feet firmly grounded Jesus, through the Gift of the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, was here setting His life priorities from God's perspective rather than from a very down-to- earth 'Nazareth- Carpenter-shop' perspective

(Lk. 2).

God wants His Gift of Wisdom to give all of us, both young and old, an instinctive, powerful intuition of what He intends for us and expects of us.

Through Wisdom we come to value properly those things we believe through Faith. The truths of the Christian Faith are more important than the things of this world. Wisdom helps us to order our relationship to the created world properly by loving creation for the sake of God, rather than for its own sake.

St Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians raises our understanding of the Gift of Wisdom to a much higher level – one that enables believing Christians to accept and make sense of the Crucifixion of Jesus.To Jews it was the weakness of being a failure; to the gentiles it was meaningless nonsense.

"We are preaching a crucified Christ, to the Jew an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness, but those who have been called, a Christ who is both the power of God and the wisdom of God."(1 Cor 24 ).

Surely, only this Gift of Wisdom could have inspired Paul to write to the Philippians,

"Because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For Him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ,"(Phil. 3.8).

The Gift of Wisdom enables us to recognize, appreciate and live according to God's priorities. This will happen if we keep our sails hoisted, so that we are propelled by the breath of the Holy Spirit

AND KEEP MOVING IN GOD'S DIRECTION!

Peter Clarke, O.P.