During the First Friday gathering on Sept. 4, Bishop Robert Gruss encouraged the faithful to deepen their relationship with the Holy Spirit and rediscover the spiritual gifts they received through baptism and confirmation.
The bishop’s presentation, part of the Diocese’s Year of the Holy Spirit, focused on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and how those gifts are intended to guide Catholics in living out God’s will.
“Most Catholics never talk about their relationship with the Holy Spirit,” Bishop Gruss said. “And we should be asking for that. Holy Spirit, come alive in me. I want this relationship with you in a way I’ve never had it before.”
Bishop Gruss encouraged those gathered to regularly pray for the Holy Spirit to stir up the gifts given to them.
He compared the gifts to a valuable present that has been placed on a shelf and forgotten.
“The Lord does not want the gifts of the Holy Spirit ... to be like that gift from your grandmother that gets stuck on the top shelf of your closet,” he said. “Our lives, human and spiritual, will be far more fruitful if we begin to engage these gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
Gifts given at Confirmation
Bishop Gruss explained that the seven gifts — wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord — are rooted in Scripture and are named in the prayer used during the sacrament of Confirmation.
He encouraged Catholics to remember that the grace received through the sacraments does not disappear, but can become dormant if people are not conscious of it or do not seek to live it.
“It needs something to wake them up, a new awakening,” he said. “In the spiritual life, we call that asking the Holy Spirit to bring us a new springtime to our hearts.”
Bishop Gruss connected the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the prophecy of Isaiah and to Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue at Nazareth that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.
He then pointed to Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and empowered them to proclaim the Gospel and establish the Church.
The same Spirit, Bishop Gruss said, continues to work in the lives of Catholics today.
“The Holy Spirit was given to you at baptism and confirmation so that you could participate in God’s mission in the world,” he said.
Called to courageous discipleship
Bishop Gruss emphasized that every Catholic is called to participate in God’s mission, although that mission will look different for each person.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit, he said, help people discern God’s will and understand how they are being called to serve.
That includes people living out the vocation of marriage.
“The spiritual definition of marriage is living this vocation in which this vocation is a living witness in God and in participation in God’s mission in the world today,” he said.
Bishop Gruss also challenged Catholics to recognize that discipleship requires sacrifice and courage.
“To be a disciple of Jesus means to live a life of sacrifice for him and go where he leads you,” he said.
He spoke of these gifts as spiritual gifts. He distinguished spiritual courage from ordinary human courage, explaining that the apostles were willing to face persecution and even death because the spiritual gift of fortitude was active in them.
Bishop Gruss encouraged Catholics to pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and to learn more about the gifts they have received.
“I’m trying to wake a sleeping giant in you and across the diocese,” he said. “And that sleeping giant is the Holy Spirit that has given you more treasure than you possibly can imagine.”
He compared those gifts to a buried treasure that God wants people to uncover and use.
“The Lord wants you to dig it up, open the treasure chest and see what he’s given you,” he said.
Bishop Gruss will continue his series of talks on the Holy Spirit throughout the Diocese’s Year of the Holy Spirit.