In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

AMEN

OPENING HYMN TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come.

From thy bright heavenly throne!

Come, take possession of our souls,

And make them all Thine Own!

2. Thou who art called the Paraclete,

Best gift of God above,

The Living Spring, The Living Fire,

Sweet Unction, and True Love!

3. Thou who are sevenfold in Thy grace,

Finger of God's right hand,

His Promise, teaching little ones

To speak and understand!

4. O guide our minds with thy blest light,

With love our hearts inflame,

And with thy strength, which ne'er decays,

Confirm our mortal frame.

5. Far from us drive our hellish foe,

True peace unto us bring,

And through all perils guide us safe

Beneath thy sacred wing.

6. Through Thee may we the Father know,

Through Thee the Eternal Son,

And Thee the Spirit of them both

Thrice blessed Three in One.

7. Now to the Father, and the Son

Who rose from death, be glory given,

With Thee, O holy Comforter,

Henceforth by all in earth and heaven.

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you sustain the moral life of Your faithful

who believe, hope and love you by the gifts of Your Holy Spirit. In this way, you put in our

hearts permanent dispositions which make us docile in following the promptings of the same

Spirit.

Holy Father, command Your Spirit to come forth and fill the earth. We beseech You, cause the

Advocate, the Spirit of Your Son, Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Promise, to come with His seven

fold gifts. Grant to the people, whom You have fashioned with Your own hands, the

perfection of your gifts, and make us wise and understanding. Let your Spirit fill us with

something of Your knowledge and the fortitude that belong in their fullness to Christ, Your

Well Beloved Son. Let these gifts together, with piety, counsel and the fear of You, Lord of

All creation, complete and perfect the virtues of all those who receive them. May Your Spirit

so direct the entire creation that all may become docile in readily obeying Your divine and

holy inspirations.

Holy Father, let your Good Spirit lead us on an even path, bringing us to share in the Divine

sonship You promised, so that we may become Your heirs and fellow heirs with Jesus Christ

Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the same Holy Spirit, One God forever and

ever. AMEN.

Opening Prayer

Introduction to the Novena

LEADER: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful

ALL: And enkindle in them the fire of your love.

LEADER: Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created

ALL: And You shall renew the face of the earth.

LEADER: Let us pray

ALL: O God, Who instructed the hearts of the faithful by the

light of the Holy Spirit, Grant us in the same Spirit to be truly

wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ, our

Lord. Amen

Dear friends in Christ, as we prepare for the celebration of Pentecost, let us spend some time in prayer, asking the Lord to fill us with the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. During these days, we are going to John Blessed John Paul II and Bishop Kevin Farell in meditating over these treasures from above. May the Holy Spirit come and dwell with us as we pray:

DAY READING THEME

FIRST DAY OF NOVENA 1 Corinthians 2:7-13 The Spirit: Gift from God

SECOND DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of Wisdom

THIRD DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of Understanding

FOURTH DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of Counsel

FIFTH DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of Fortitude

SIXTH DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of Knowledge

SEVENTH DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of Piety

EIGHTH DAY OF NOVENA The Gift of the Fear of the Lord

NINTH DAY OF NOVENA

Charity (love)

Joy

Peace

Patience

Benignity (kindness)

Goodness

CCC says - Generosity / BC says - Long-suffering (Patient endurance) (Love on

trial. It enables you to forbear and forgive others Colossians 3:13)

Mildness (gentle)

Faith

Modesty (sister fruit is chastity)

CCC says -Self Control BC says - Continency (self-restraint or abstinence) (self-

control) (Temperance - I Corinthians 9:25) According New Advent: It is a form of

the virtue of temperance. It requires self-sacrifice and control and finds fruitage in

a greater measure of moral power. The words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:12) may

be here appealed to. Moreover, the abstinence of which we speak is a condition of

increased physical vigor and energy.

Chastity (sister fruit is modesty)

Wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit,

because it is the perfection of faith.

Through wisdom, we come to value properly those things

which we believe through faith.

The truths of Christian belief are more important than

the things of this world, and wisdom helps us to order our

relationship to the created world properly, loving Creation

for the sake of God, rather than for its own sake.

Day Two

The Spirit is indeed the power that teaches us (John 16:13) and it is the gift of wisdom that not only enables us to see ourselves as others see us but to see ourselves as God sees us.

Indeed, it is the gift of the divine perspective, the ability to see not only ourselves, but the world as God sees it, to see God’s goodness, and love in the midst of chaos, to see beauty where others see ugliness and repulsion. But wisdom is not infused, rather it inspires the manner in which we apply the knowledge and experience we possess. We must seek the knowledge needed to apply the gift. “Without knowledge wisdom is missing.”(Sir. 3:24)

When wisdom enables us to see ourselves as God sees us, it strips away the self-deception and self righteousness that blinds us to our true selves. It confronts us with the naked reality of who we are, and challenges us to become true disciples and imitators of Jesus.

Seeing others through the eyes of God means discarding the prism of self-interest through which we see what we want to see. It rips off our mask and the masks of others, it lays bare our prejudices and stereotypes and reveals the struggling humanity we all share.

Beyond seeing with the eyes of God, wisdom enables us to “see” with the heart of God, to live with compassion and empathy rather than condemnation and censure.

Wisdom is a foundational gift that facilitates and works in concert with the other Gifts of the Spirit: understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.

Wisdom is the result of an intimate relationship with God. It comes to us from God and draws us back to Him. (Bishop Kevin Farell)

“Who can know your counsel, unless you give Wisdom

and send your Holy Spirit from on high?

Thus were the paths of those on earth made straight,

and people learned what pleases you,

and were saved by Wisdom.

Wisdom 9:17-18

Spirit of

Understanding is the second gift of the Holy Spirit,

and people sometimes have a hard time

understanding how it differs from wisdom.

While wisdom is the desire to contemplate the

things of God, understanding allows us grasp, at

least in a limited way, the very essence of the

truths of the Catholic Faith.

Through understanding, we gain a certitude about

our beliefs that moves beyond faith.

The Gift of Understanding “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”

Luke 24:45

The gift of understanding is a spiritual gift that provides deeper insights into our

faith and our relationship with God. Like all the gifts of the spirit, it flows from an intimate

union with God, and enables us to discern His will in the choices we make in our lives.

St. Anselm’s phrase “faith seeking understanding” has been used as a definition of

theology. If that is so, then we are all theologians for our Christian journey is to understand the

faith that is within us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes St. Augustine who wrote,

“I believe in order to understand, and I understand the better to believe.” (CCC 2518)

It is the gift of understanding that opens us to the content of Revelation and the

great mysteries of our faith, the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation or the Resurrection. Of course

the gift of understanding does not imply that we do not need to use our intellect, in the study

of Sacred Scripture. For example, it would be presumptuous to believe that study was

unnecessary for a correct understanding, (Dei Verbum 12 n.8) rather it enlightens our mind to

fathom the spiritual dimension, to see God’s hand at work in the world and in the knowledge

and experience we have acquired.

The same gift enables us to see the Church as the continuing, saving presence of

Jesus despite the human weaknesses we all bring to it. Through the gift of understanding we

can find God even in the trials of life and the times of spiritual barrenness, those times when

our prayer is “dear God, where are you.”

Understanding is the servant of faith that, like the gift of wisdom, it enables us to

“see” with our hearts while listening to our intellect. It perfects, deepens and illumines our

faith.

It is the “Good Friday” gift that promises “Easter Sunday.” (Bishop Kevin Farell)

Counsel, the third gift of the

Holy Spirit, is the perfection of

the cardinal virtue of prudence.

Prudence can be practiced by

anyone, but counsel is

supernatural.

Through this gift of the Holy

Spirit, we are able to judge how

best to act almost by intuition.

Because of the gift of counsel,

Christians need not fear to stand

up for the truths of the Faith,

because the Holy Spirit will guide

us in defending those truths.

Day Four

Continuing the reflection on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, today let us consider the gift of Counsel. It

is given to the Christian to enlighten the conscience in moral choices which daily life presents: a

need that is keenly felt in our days, disturbed by not a few crises and by a widespread uncertainty

about true values, if that which is called “reconstructing consciences”. That is to say, one is aware of

the necessity of neutralizing certain destructive factors which easily find their way into the human

spirit when it is agitated by passions, and of introducing healthy positive elements into it.

In this commitment to moral restoration the Church must be, and is, in the forefront; hence the

prayer that arise: from the hearts of her members – of all of us – to obtain especially the help of light

from on high. The Spirit of God responds to this plea through the gift of Counsel, by which he

enriches and perfects the virtue of prudence and guides the soul from within, enlightening it about

what to do, especially when it is a matter of important choices (for example, of responding to a

vocation), or about a path to be followed among difficulties and obstacles. In fact experience

confirms that “the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans”, as the Book of

Wisdom says (9:14).

The gift of Counsel acts like a new breath in the conscience, suggesting to it what is licit, what is

becoming, what is more fitting for the soul (St Bonaventure). Thus the conscience becomes like the

“healthy eye” of which the Gospel speaks (Mt 6:21), an eye which acquires, as it were, a new pupil,

by means of which it is able to see better what to do in a given situation, no matter how intricate and

difficult. Aided by this gift, the Christian penetrates the true meaning of gospel values, in particular

those expressed in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5:7).

Let us therefore ask for the gift of Counsel! Let us ask for it through the intercession of her who, in

the litany, is greeted as “Mater Boni Consilii”, Mother of Good Counsel. (Blessed John Paul II)

Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and

constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist

temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of

fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials

and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in

defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song."70 "In the

world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the

world.” (CCC 1808)

Fortitude - is the strength to arise above adversity and cultivate virtues

beyond the basic requirements of Christianity.

While counsel is the perfection of a cardinal virtue, fortitude is both a

gift of the Holy Spirit and a cardinal virtue.

Fortitude is ranked as the fourth gift of the Holy Spirit because it gives

us the strength to follow through on the actions suggested by the gift of

counsel.

While fortitude is sometimes called courage, it goes beyond what we

normally think of as courage.

Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs that allows them to suffer death

rather than to renounce the Christian Faith. (Bishop Kevin Farell)

Day Five

Today’s gift of the Spirit is the gift of Fortitude. In our time many extol physical force, to the extent of also

approving the extreme forms of violence. In fact, man has daily experience of his own weakness, especially in

the spiritual and moral sphere, yielding to the impulses of internal passions and external pressures.

Precisely to resist these multiple stimuli, it is necessary to have the virtue of fortitude, which is one of the four

cardinal virtues on which the whole structure of the moral life rests. It is the virtue by which one does not

compromise in fulfilling one’s duty.

This virtue finds little room in a society in which surrender and accommodation on the one hand, and

domination and toughness on the other, are widespread in economic, social and political relations. Timidity

and aggressiveness are two forms of lack of fortitude which are often found in human behavior; they result

repeatedly in the distressing sight of one who is weak and cowardly towards the powerful, or of one who is

arrogant and overbearing towards the defenseless.

Perhaps today as never before the moral virtue of fortitude needs the support of the corresponding gift of the

Holy Spirit. The gift of Fortitude is a supernatural impulse which gives strength to the soul, not only on

exceptional occasions such as that of martyrdom, but also in normal difficulties: in the struggle to remain

consistent with one’s principles: in putting up with insults and unjust attacks: in courageous perseverance on

the path of truth and uprightness, in spite of lack of understanding and hostility.

When, like Jesus in Gethsemane, we experience “the weakness of the flesh” (cf. Mt 26:41; Mk 14:38), or

rather, of human nature subject to physical and psychological infirmities, we should ask the Holy Spirit for the

gift of Fortitude to remain firm and decisive on the path of goodness. Then we will be able to repeat with St

Paul: “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and

calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (1 Cor 12:10).

There are many of Christ’s followers – pastors and faithful, priests, religious, and laity, engaged in every area of

apostolic and social work who in all times, including our own, have experienced and experience martyrdom of

body and spirit, in intimate union with the Mother of Sorrows beside the Cross. All have been victorious thanks

to this gift of the Spirit.

Let us ask Mary, whom we now greet as Queen of Heaven, to obtain for us the gift of Fortitude in all the

vicissitudes of life and at the hour of death. (Blessed John Paul II)

Day Six

SPIRIT

OF

KNOWLEDGE

Without knowledge, wisdom is missing

Sir. 3:25

Despite its name, the Gift of Knowledge has nothing to do

with information; rather it has to do with insights and

perspectives prompted by the Holy Spirit. Because of it

the most mundane events of daily life can become

revelations of God’s grace.

Through this gift we perceive that the birth of a baby is a

revelation of God as are wonders of nature, the Grand

Canyon or the Great Teton Mountains. It enables us to

comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity without being

able to fully grasp it.

It is a contemplative gift through which we perceive the experience of God as intimate and

always present. Because of the Gift of Knowledge we are enabled to view the world through

the eyes of God rather than through the prism of our own desires and emotions. Through

divine initiative we see things as they really are and not just as they appear to be.

The gift does not offer some secret knowledge of God given only to a chosen few, that is the

heresy of Gnosticism, rather it is freely given to all. We only need to be open to it.

Because of the Gift of Knowledge we see beyond the darkness of pain and suffering and

perceive that grace is more powerful than sin.

Knowledge gives us the ability to judge and discern between the will of God and the

temptations offered by the devil. (Bishop Kevin Farell)

Today we reflect upon the gift of Knowledge, by which we are granted to know the true value of creatures in their

relationship to the Creator.

We know that modern man, precisely because of the development of the sciences, is particularly exposed to the

temptation to give a naturalistic interpretation to the world. Before the manifold magnificence of things, their

complexity, variety and beauty, he runs the risk of absolutizing and almost divinizing them to the extent of making

them the supreme purpose of his very life. This happens especially when it is a matter of riches, pleasure and power,

which indeed can be drawn from material things. These are the principal idols before which the world too often

prostrates.

In order to resist such subtle temptations and to remedy the pernicious consequences to which they can lead, the

Holy Spirit aids people with the gift of Knowledge. It is this gift which helps them to value things correctly in their

essential dependence on the Creator. Thanks to it, as St Thomas writes, man does not esteem creatures more than

they are worth and does not place in them the end of his life, but in God.

He thus discovers the theological meaning of creation, seeing things as true and real, although limited,

manifestations of the Truth, Beauty, and infinite Love which is God, and consequently he feels impelled to translate

this discovery into praise, song, prayer, and thanksgiving. This is what the Book of Psalms suggests so often and in

so many ways. Who does not recall some instances of this raising of the soul to God? “The heavens are telling the

glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork” (Ps 18 [19]:2; cf. Ps 8:2). “Praise the Lord from the

heavens, praise him in the heights…. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining starsl” (Ps 148:1, 3).

Enlightened by the gift of Knowledge, man discovers at the same time the infinite distance which separates

things from the Creator, their intrinsic limitation, the danger that they can present, when, through sin, he

makes improper use of them. It is a discovery which leads him to realize with remorse his misery and impels

him to turn with greater drive and confidence to him who alone can fully satisfy the need of the infinite which

assails him.

This was the experience of the saints; and in a very special way this was the experience of Our Lady who, by the

example of her personal journey of faith teaches us to travel “among the events of the world, having our hearts fixed

on where true joy resides” . (Blessed John Paul II)

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” Rom 8:14

The Gift of Piety leads us to a profound awareness of what it means to be a child of God. We

experience God not as a stern judge but as a loving Father. This is accompanied by a filial

reverence and love for the Father and respect and esteem for others as adopted sons and

daughters of God.

Piety, which comes from the Latin pius meaning dutiful, is not excessive and emotional

devotionalism, rather it is reverential fidelity that is reflected not only in worship but in active

discipleship.

The Gift of Piety takes away hardness of heart and extinguishes feelings of anger, jealousy

and bitterness and replaces them with the Fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Gal 5:22-23).

Through Piety we participate in the sonship of Jesus which leads us to a relationship of

joyful confidence in the Father’s love and mercy, which impels us to show solicitude,

tolerance, understanding and pardon toward others. We become, as it were, mirrors of the

Father’s love and forgiveness. (Bishop Kevin Farell)

Day Seven

Our reflection on the gifts of the Holy Spirit leads us today to speak of another important gift, piety. With

it, the Spirit heals our hearts of every form of hardness, and opens them to tenderness towards God and

our brothers and sisters.

Tenderness, as a truly filial attitude towards God, is expressed in prayer. The experience of one’s own

existential poverty, of the void which earthly things leave in the soul, gives rise to the need to have

recourse to God in order to obtain grace, help and pardon. The gift of piety directs and nourishes such

need, enriching it with sentiments of profound confidence in God; trusted as a good and generous

Father. In this sense St Paul wrote: “God sent his Son,… that we might receive adoption. As proof that you

are children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no

longer a slave but a son,…” (Gal 4: 4-7; cf. Rom8: 15).

Tenderness, an authentically fraternal openness towards one’s neighbor, is manifested in meekness.

With the gift of piety the Spirit infuses into the believer a new capacity for love of the brethren, making

his heart participate in some manner in the very meekness of the Heart of Christ. The “pious” Christian

always sees others as children of the same Father, called to be part of the family of God which is the

Church. He feels urged to treat them with the kindness and friendliness which are proper to a frank and

fraternal relationship.

The gift of piety further extinguishes in the heart those fires of tension and division which are bitterness,

anger and impatience, and nourishes feelings of understanding, tolerance, and pardon. Such a gift is,

therefore, at the root of that new human community which is based on the civilization of love.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit for a renewed outpouring of this gift, entrusting our prayer to the intercession of

Mary, sublime model of fervent prayer and maternal tenderness. May she, whom the Church salutes in

the Litany of Loreto as the “Singular vessel of devotion”, teach us to adore God “in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:

23) and to open ourselves with meek and receptive hearts to all who are her children, and therefore our

brothers and sisters. Let us ask her in the words of the “Salve Regina”, “…O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet

Virgin Mary!” (Blessed John Paul II)

As with all the Gifts of the Spirit,

fear of the Lord comes from an

intimate personal relationship

with Jesus who is the

personification of the Father’s

unconditional love for us. (John

3:16)

We might ask ”what can be delightful

about fear?” The two words seem

directly opposite to one another. But the

Hebrew word used by the prophet

is yirah which refers not to a fear based

on terror but rather a fear based on

reverence or awe. It is the feeling we get

when confronted by the majesty of

God’s creation, the overpowering

splendor of the night sky or the endless

sea, before which we feel overwhelmed

by our own insignificance.

As is often the case with words that

become clichés, awesome has been

stripped of its power, but it aptly

communicates the experience of joy

and delight Paul describes in his

letter to the Church at Philippi.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall

say it again: rejoice!”

Fear of the Lord means a filial

reverence, an awareness of the

inconceivable reality that we

are sons and daughters of God,

confident in the knowledge of

the Father’s unconditional love.

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and

his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (Bishop Kevin Farell)

Day Eight

Today we reflect on the seventh gift of the Holy Spirit, the “Fear of the Lord“. Sacred Scripture affirms that “the fear

of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps110 [111] :10; Prov 1: 7) . However, what kind of fear does it mean? It

certainly is not that “fear of God” which causes people to flee from every thought and memory of him, as something

or someone who disturbs and upsets. This was the state of mind which, according to the Bible, made our first parents,

after their sin, hide “themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Gen 3:8) . This was also the

sentiment of that unfaithful and wicked servant of the gospel parable who hid in the earth the talent that he received

(cf. Mt 25:28, 26).

However, this type of fear is not the true concept of the fear which is the gift of the Spirit. Here it is a matter of

something much more noble and lofty; it is s sincere and reverential feeling that a person experiences before the

tremendous majesty of God, especially when he reflects upon his own infidelity and the danger of being “found

wanting” (Dan 5:27) at the eternal judgment which no one can escape. The believer goes and places himself before

God with a “contrite spirit” and a “humbled heart” (cf. Ps 50 [51] :19), knowing well that he must await his own

salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nonetheless, that does not mean an irrational fear, but a sense of

responsibility and fidelity to the law.

All this is what the Holy Spirit takes up and elevates with the gift of the Fear of the Lord. It certainly does not exclude

the trepidation that arises from an awareness of the faults committed and the prospect of divine chastisement, but

mitigates it with faith in the divine mercy and with the certitude of the fatherly concern of God who wills the eternal

salvation of each one. With this gift, however, the Holy Spirit instills in the soul most of all a filial love which is a

sentiment rooted in love of God. The soul is now concerned not to displease God, whom he loves as a Father, not to

offend him in anything, to “abide in him” and grow in charity (cf. Jn 15:4-7).

The practice of the Christian virtues and especially of humility, temperance, chastity and mortification of the senses,

depends on this holy and just fear, united in the soul with love for God. Let us recall the exhortation of the Apostle

Paul to his Christians: “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh

and spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:11 ).

It is a warning for all of us who sometimes, so easily, transgress God’s law, ignoring or defying his chastisements. Let

us invoke the Holy Spirit, that he may generously pour out the gift of the holy fear of the Lord on the people of our

day. Let us invoke him through the intercession of her who, at the message from the heavenly messenger, “was greatly

troubled” (Lk 1:29) and, although perturbed by the unimagined responsibility that was being entrusted to her, was able

to pronounce the “fiat” of faith, obedience and love. (John Paul II, Angelus, June 11, 1989)

THE SPIRIT: VIRTUES AND VICES

Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, You did not spare Your only Begotten Son, but gave Him up for the salvation of all that you have made. Through Him, You made known to us the Promise of Your Holy Spirit, who will proceed from You and from Your very same Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Come Holy Spirit!

Most Holy Father, it is your will, therefore, that the Holy Spirit form in us the perfections which are the first fruit of Your eternal glory. Free us, we humbly pray, from the capital sins of avarice, envy, sloth, wrath, gluttony, lust and above all pride; liberate us from the undesired fruits of evil-living, contention, murder, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, rivalry, furious outburst and selfish acts. Come Holy Spirit!

Father, it is our ardent desire to experience the effects of the Spirit working in us, causing us to do infinitely more that we can ask or imagine. Therefore, command that the same Spirit may rule our hearts, our minds, our will and make us produce the fruits of our baptism, the good fruits of peace and love, patience and joy, generosity and kindness, faithfulness and chastity , goodness and gentleness, modesty and self-control. Come Holy Spirit!

Concluding Prayer

CHARITY

1822 Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

1823 Jesus makes charity the new commandment.96 By loving his own "to the end,"97 he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. Whence Jesus says: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love." And again: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."98

1824 Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: "Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love."99

1825 Christ died out of love for us, while we were still "enemies."100 The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself.101

The Apostle Paul has given an incomparable depiction of charity: "charity is patient and kind, charity is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Charity does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."1021826 "If I . . . have not charity," says the Apostle, "I am nothing." Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, "if I . . . have not charity, I gain nothing."103 Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: "So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity."104

1827 The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which "binds everything together in perfect harmony";105 it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love.

1828 The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who "first loved us":106

If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.1071829 The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.108