These are “gifts” because God freely gives to each of us these gifts to strengthen our spiritual life. At Confirmation we hear the expression “soldier of Christ” conveying the sense that we are on the battlefield -- to defend ourselves against the forces of the Evil One. Yet, the reality is if we do not know the enemy, we do not know how to defend ourselves; and for that matter, we do not even know how to make use of these seven gifts that we freely received.
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The Evil One is the one who leads us away from God; away from the Sacramental life, namely, Confession and Communion; the Evil One is the one who falsifies truth so instead of following Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), we are following the path set out by Satan, the path to perdition.
Does your Confirmation make a difference in your life? What about the Gifts you have received? These Gifts that are freely given to us by the power of the Cross. Christ died so we can have Eternal life; but this also means to be a disciple of His and to follow His teachings. We receive the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, so we have the graces we to be faithful disciples of Christ.

If we live by the standards of the world which is constructing a self-focussed morality, this is the antithesis of Christ’s teachings. Christ taught us that to love in truth is to offer oneself for the good of the other. The gifts of the Holy Spirit strengthen us to love in truth – as Christ taught and lived Himself. For our sins to be forgiven presupposes that there are sins to forgive (John 20:23). Are we capable of acknowledging sin in our life? Sins that our society endorses and promotes. Sin-driven ideologies that have hijacked some Catholic school boards while ignoring Catholic sexual ethics. It makes me wonder if people actually believe in the reality of sin. The only pandemic on my mind that is not addressed is the moral sickness of our society.

The moral pandemic is due to a crisis of truth. How can we say we have faith when we do not even know what is true? We are left to give up on truth and simply follow rhetoric – persuasive impact arguments that appeal to emotions. So, our feelings are stirred up to believe what is false and reject what is true. Is this not what happened to the man and the woman in the Garden who believed Satan rather than God? Read Genesis 3 carefully to see how “sleezy” Satan is turning innocent people completely against the God who created them.

This is why God our Father sent His Son. This is why Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice on the Cross for us. This is why Christ sent us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete: because we cannot save ourselves! Because we cannot get to heaven on our own efforts or even our own intelligence. We cannot even love as we are meant to love without the grace of God.

And so, on our Confirmation day we received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Can we honestly ask ourselves, how we have grown, if at all, in these seven gifts? Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord. The Book of Proverbs (9:10) tells us the Wisdom begins with the Fear of the Lord. “Fear” is to be understood as the reverence and awe that we have before the Transcendent God whom we dare not offend. When this reverence and awe are lost, as we see in our society, God is replaced with movie celebrities and music icons and their power to shape societal beliefs, norms, and behaviour. What about fortitude which is another word for courage? Do we stand up for Christ’s teachings or have we watered Christianity and Christ’s teachings to simply “feeling good?” Do we have the courage to stand up for truth? That is, the Truth Christ taught; not the truth of the agenda-driven media. Are we “soldiers” of truth?

Our month started with the outstanding models of faith, Mary and Joseph. A life of holiness is possible because Christ’s resurrection teaches us that after death, there is eternal life. And there is life in the Spirit. But also eternal damnation awaits for those who give themselves over to Satan. We are given the Holy Spirit to live as Christians; Christ knew that we needed this supernatural strength to follow His teachings. We can reject grace, of course, and live in darkness. Without light, without truth, there is no sin to confess, there is no need for John’s Gospel or the teachings of Christ.

Pentecost is a time to give thanks to God for the gifts He has given us. Pentecost is also a day to be honest with ourselves and ask what we have done with these gifts.

Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we say, “Jesus is Lord!”

May Mary who conceived the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit intercede for us. Amen.

So, we can ask ourselves: “Would people know what Christianity teaches by the way I live my life? Would there be coherency between what my faith professes and how I live it?” (Also, words echoing Pope Benedict XVI.) Finally, what makes Catholicism attractive that draws others to our communities of worship?

The Catholic Church is not a Club where people who share similar “club” values can hang out. Christ did not die to create a club. Christ offered Himself for us as a sacrifice. Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross is the true meaning of Love. Anything outside of sacrifice is cheap love. A fake version of the real thing. Sacrifice and love are fundamentally inseparable. To be drawn to Catholic teaching means to be drawn to what Christ teaches: Truth. And truth attracts, just as the beautiful attracts, just as goodness attracts.

People are attracted to holiness.

The cheap vulgarity of disordered pleasure, the ecstasy of power, and fame that usurps the Creator is not attraction, it’s a reminder of the Golden Calf that has not left us: a dead end – a downhill spiral that leads to hell.

St. Padre Pio had an austere formation as a capuchin friar, a rough life in terms of health, and ongoing diabolical attacks. He lived and died for the same Truth Christ taught; the same love Christ offered. Padre Pio fulfilled his call to sanctity as a human being created by God, but living by, and cooperating with, God’s grace, dependant on the life-giving Sacraments of the Church.

For those seeking truth, and goodness, and beauty, certainly Catholicism is attractive – our faith leads us to Eternal Salvation which Christ offers by the Blood of His Cross. How can this not be attractive? We are not the ones to make the Christian religion attractive; Christ has already achieved this for us. But each one of us holds the light of Christ, the light of our Baptism, that attracts, and leads us through darkness.
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Christ attracts; the beautiful cannot be hidden. Truth can be silenced but not denied. The One who attracts is Christ because we are drawn by Love. 

This means we grow together spiritually fundamentally through prayer: praying for each other. A community of believers which is called to live in truth and love cannot advance spiritually if there is no forgiveness, if there is no compassion, if there is no correction. A mother who feeds her child knows that not all things are good for the growing child. Nor can the child eat/drink simply whatever is pleasurable. This is also true for adults. We just cannot lead a healthy life based on our capricious self-gratifying whims. Self-restraint, temperance, exercise, healthy eating… We are advised and warned by medical professionals – even packaging contains warnings. This is equally true for the spiritual life.

As individuals we belong to One Church that leads us to Eternal salvation. This is why God sent us His Son: so we may have Eternal life. We are given Mary as Mother, to watch over us. But we each have our part to play in this “womb community.” We also have the responsibility to bring life of Christ to others, and to nurture others through prayer, teaching what is true: Jesus, the Son of God, is our hope and our salvation. Amen.
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Fr. David Bellusci, OP
PPPG, Spiritual Director, Vancouver