Please Donate To Catholic Relief Servies For Trusted Aid To Haiti Victims

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Haiti still needs all of our help and will continue to need our aid for years to come. As we all continue to pray for Haitians and everyone involved in the rescue and recovery efforts, many of us want to offer financial assistance as well. So where should you send your valuable, hard-earned money and KNOW that your money is in trusted hands and going where you want it to go to help the victims in Haiti?

Give to Catholic Relief Services

The following information is taken directly from the web page of Catholic Relief Services, ranked as one of the top charities around the world.

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(I have correctly and professionally provided an official credit and legal citation to the CRS web-site. I also place the information in "quotations" which correctly indicates that the statement is from CRS and not myself. I take no credit in the words of CRS, but only own the desire to share information for trusted use of charitable donations).

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You can go directly to the site by following this link or read the information that I have posted for you.

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To donate, you need to go to CRS at:

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http://www.catholicrelief.org/

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Here is the information for you to feel more confident of where your money is being used for not only Haiti aid, but throughout the world:

"You've probably heard some of the inspiring stories of people whose lives have been transformed through the generosity of CRS donors like you. Your donations hold incredible power to alleviate suffering and restore hope for our brothers and sisters overseas. But we know you want to be sure your gifts will be used wisely, and we respect your concern. Through careful stewardship of resources, we make sure the funds you have so generously entrusted to us go where they are most needed. We want you to feel confident that your decision to give to Catholic Relief Services is a sound one, and that your donations will be used effectively and efficiently to make a lifesaving difference.

Please take a moment to review some of the resources provided here and learn more about how we work. CRS is most thankful for your help—we would be unable to carry out our lifesaving work without it.

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CRS is Efficient

Additional Ratings and Rankings of CRS:
Chronicle of Philanthropy's Top 400 Charities
NonProfit Times' Top 100
Valued Partner of Guidestar
Awarded Best in America Seal

How we ensure your donation will be used wisely:

We are one of the most efficient organizations in the world. Did you know that 93 percent of the money we spend goes directly to programs that benefit the poor overseas? We work hard to keep our overhead down and consistently work smarter and find better ways of doing things to eliminate redundancies that often plague other organizations. You are always welcome to review our financial statements.

Additionally, we meet all 20 of the strict Charity Standards set by the

Better Business Bureau's charity rating arm, the Wise Giving Alliance, and have an "A" rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy. Both of these charity watchdog groups use criteria that confirm fiscal efficiency, such as percentage of funds going directly to programs, cost to raise a dollar, transparency and honoring of donor intent.

CRS-funded relief supplies are packed by students at Saint Paul University in Manila, the Philippines, to be delivered to flood victims affected by 2009 Typhoon Ketsana.

We strive for efficiency in all that we do. Under our Guiding Principles, based on Catholic social teaching, we follow the tenet of subsidiarity: A higher level of government—or organization—should not perform any function or duty that can be handled more effectively at a lower level by people who are closer to the problem and have a better understanding of the issue. In many of the countries where we work, our local Church partners represent an efficient network already on the ground. Their work allows us to mobilize quickly to distribute food, emergency supplies and information, often within hours of a disaster. Together, we can meet the most critical needs and then help people "build back better" so that their communities will be stronger and better able to contend with future events.

CRS is Effective

How do we know we are making a difference?

Catholic Relief Services has more than 60 years of experience and technical expertise to help as many people as possible in an organized and manageable way, quickly and reliably. The unspeakable 1994 genocide in Rwanda was a turning point for our agency as we vowed to not only meet immediate needs but also challenge structures that promote injustice. In 1988, our experience responding to Hurricane Mitch in Central America gave us invaluable knowledge and honed our approach to disaster response. It was this expertise—and the overwhelming donor response—that fueled our five-year effort to help survivors rebuild their lives after the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Our programs are carefully executed, monitored and evaluated by our talented staff—some of the best and brightest—who have chosen to dedicate their lives to serving the poor overseas, even if it often means long hours and scant visits back home to the United States. It is the caliber of CRS' staff around the world that has earned CRS respect in the humanitarian community. Thanks to their expertise, CRS is regarded as a leader in many of the diverse fields that we work. Below are some examples where CRS embodies the best:

A CRS water project has had a profound impact on the health of residents, especially children—who are most susceptible to illness and disease—in Legedini, southern Ethiopia.

Founding member of the Sphere Project that set the standards for humanitarian and disaster response.
Founding member of NetHope, an Information Technology consortium with the goal of bringing technology to the developing world.
Member of the PEPFAR Consortium—the largest undertaking by any nation to combat HIV and AIDS.
CRS' work for orphans and children affected by HIV is considered to be a key model to follow, and a forum was held in 2008 to share best practices.

Learn more about why CRS' emergency response programming is held in high esteem by reading this article about Pat Johns, known as the "Master of Disaster." CRS' microfinance programming helps the very poorest by introducing savings and internal lending communities and self-help groups that strengthen the entire community.

CRS strives to be innovative and solve problems in creative ways that often resolve two needs at the same time. Take, for instance, building keyhole gardens in Lesotho. These waist-high gardens allow people with HIV to tend their gardens without stooping, giving them a way to get manageable levels of exercise as well as grow fresh food to eat.

CRS is Accountable

How do we maintain integrity in all the work that we do?

As a faith-based 501(c)(3) charity, Catholic Relief Services is exempt from filing a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service. However, we make all of this information available on our website every year. We invite you to look under the hood and read our Financial Information Form, Annual Report and Summary of Program Activities. You'll see that 93 percent of the money we spend goes directly to programs that benefit the poor overseas.

We so value the trust placed in us by our donors that we have created a Pledge to Donors. To report back on how donations are being used to transform lives overseas, we publish a monthly CRSbriefing e-newsletter, presenting stories of those we serve with our donors' support. Additionally, our interactive Annual Report highlights the previous year's accomplishments and a breakdown of how much money was raised and how it was spent.

We strive to be good stewards, not only with the donations entrusted to us, but also through careful program planning that ensures good stewardship of natural resources by using strategic measures in watershed management and conservation agriculture that will protect resources for future generations.

Each year we sign pledges with many outside organizations to uphold integrity in the work we do overseas. We also comply with U.S.-based charity watchdog groups who confirm that we meet their strict standards:

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (CRS is governed by the USCCB)
Caritas Internationalis (consortium member)
National Catholic Development Conference (accountability standards)
Association of Fundraising Professionals (Donor Bill of Rights)
Direct Marketing Association (Commitment to Consumer Choice)
InterAction (PVO Standards)
Sphere (Standards in Disaster Response)
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance (Charity Standards)
Independent Charities of America (Best in America seal holder)
2008 Global Accountability Report results - CRS ranked six out of 30 overall.

Finally, please take a minute to review our revised Mission Statement, Guiding Principles and Privacy Policy. We are most accountable to those we serve, alleviating the suffering of the poor overseas and giving Catholics in the United States the opportunity to live their faith in solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world."

Again, this information is directly from the CRS web-site, with proper, legal citation and quotations, and is only posted for you to help you make a more confident decision, with the help of the Holy Spirit, regarding which relief organization to send your financial assistance to for the victims in Haiti and around the world.

Blessings,

~ bella

The Catholic Practice of "First Saturday" Devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart

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On the first Saturday of every month, Catholics are called by the Blessed Mother (as relayed to us through many of her visitations, including Fatima), to honor her. We believe that on Holy Saturday, the eve of Easter, Mary, the mother of Christ, suffered terribly, yet had great faith.

Catholics believe that on these first Saturdays of each month, we help to console the sorrows of our heavenly father, our Lord, Jesus Christ and our Lady, Christ's mother . . . because we have sinned against

Mary's Immaculate Heart. The First Saturdays devotion had already been an established custom in the Catholic Church. In 1905, Pope Pius X approved the devotion and granted indulgences for its practice of the First Saturdays of twelve consecutive months in honor of the Immaculate Conception.
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For this devotion, whether alone or in a group, one can select any five success months, and engage in each of the following four (4) activities, each of which must be done with the sincere intention (in their minds and hearts) to honor Mary and for the reparation of the damage done to her Immaculate Heart:

1. Go to confession: This can be done one week earlier, however, the intention of reparation to the Immaculate Heart must be in one's mind and heart prior and during confession.

2. Attend Saturday Mass.

3. Receive the Eucharist with the necessity of offering it in reparation to Our Lady, and finally,

4. Pray the Rosary with a minimum of 15 minutes spent in the company of Mary while properly meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary (which represent Christ's life). One or more decades of the Rosary can be said. Our Lady promises us that she will be present to those who keep her company.

All of these spiritual elements of the five "First Saturday" devotions are unique in that the primary intention within the hearts of devotees is to repair the damages caused to her for blasphemies and offenses against her, her name and her holy initiatives.
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In 1925, Sister Lúcia, the only Fátima visionary to survive into adulthood reported that the Blessed Mother came to her in her convent at Pontevedra, Spain with the following statement:
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"Look, my daughter, at my Heart encircled by these thorns with which men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, strive to console me, and so I announce: I promise to assist at the hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all those who, with the intention of making reparation to me, will, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the beads, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary."

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace... I shall come to ask for... the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays..."

Five ways in which people offend the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1.attacks upon Mary's Immaculate Conception

2.attacks against her Perpetual Virginity

3.attacks upon her Divine Maternity and the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all mankind

4.for those who try to publicly implant in children's hearts indifference, contempt and even hatred of this Immaculate Mother

5.for those who insult her directly in her sacred images.

Our Lady said to Lucia:

“I shall come to ask... that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.”

It was there Our Lady completed her request for the Five First Saturdays and gave her great promise. Appearing with the Queen of Heaven in that apparition was the Infant Jesus, Who said to Lucia:

“Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation.”

Our Lady then spoke:

“See, my daughter, my Heart encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, strive to console me. Tell them that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.”

To those who faithfully follow Our Lady’s requests for the Five First Saturdays, she has made a wonderful promise which she will certainly fulfill:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation.”

Her presence at the hour of our death and giving us the final grace of perseverance is of paramount importance (the final gift of the grace of perserverance is second only to the gift/grace of Faith). After completing the Five First Saturdays, one may continue the devotion simply to console the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady and to atone for the sins of the world.

Blessings and a beautiful First Saturday of September, 2009,

~ bella

Catholics Believe in VIRTUOUS Living: What Are The Virtues?

Hello My Dear Friends in Christ,

The following verse from the Bible is always recited in my college women's fraternity pledge:

"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Phil 4:8.63

And that verse should always lead us to think about The Virtues and how to live a virtuous life as a Catholic. The Catholic Catechism states that:

"A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God."

If you have been with me since I began this little blog of a blog, you'd know that I started it for numerous reasons, one of which is to strengthen my Catholic faith and in so doing, share my thoughts and insights with fellow like-minded and -souled sojourners on their pathes as well.

Lately, I have been thinking about the Virtues and found a lot of valuable information to help me and each of us. The source is the Catechism of The Catholic Church and is summized as follows:

THE VIRTUES

THE HUMAN VIRTUES

Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.

The Cardinal Virtues

Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called "cardinal"; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. "If anyone loves righteousness, [Wisdom's] labors are virtues; for she teaches temperance and prudence, justice, and courage." 64
These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.

Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going."65
"Keep sane and sober for your prayers."66
Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle.67
It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue of religion." Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. "You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor."68
"Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven."69

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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."71

Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: "Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart."72
Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: "Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites."73
In the New Testament it is called "moderation" or "sobriety." We ought "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."74
To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one's heart, with all one's soul and with all one's efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence).75

The Virtues and Grace

Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God's help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. The virtuous man is happy to practice them.

It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain moral balance. Christ's gift of salvation offers us the grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow his calls to love what is good and shun evil.

THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature:76
for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.

The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.77

Faith

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God."78
For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by faith." Living faith "work[s] through charity."79
1815 The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it.80
But "faith apart from works is dead":81
when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.

The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks."82
Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: "So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."83

Hope

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."84
"The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."85

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice.86
"Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations."87

Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the "hope that does not disappoint."88
Hope is the "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf."89
Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: "Let us . . . put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation."90
It affords us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation."91
Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.

We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will.92
In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end"93
and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for "all men to be saved."94
She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:
Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.95

Charity

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.

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

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

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."102
"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

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.

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.107

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

THE GIFTS AND FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.109
They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations.
Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.110
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God . . . If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.111

The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity."112

In Summary:

• Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good.
• The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith.
• They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
• Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.
• Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due.
• Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.
• Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.
• The moral virtues grow through education, deliberate acts, and perseverance in struggle. Divine grace purifies and elevates them.
• The theological virtues dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have God for their origin, their motive, and their object - God known by faith, God hoped in and loved for his own sake.
• There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. They inform all the moral virtues and give life to them.
• By faith, we believe in God and believe all that he has revealed to us and that Holy Church proposes for our belief.
• By hope we desire, and with steadfast trust await from God, eternal life and the graces to merit it.
• By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the form of all the virtues, "binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:14).
• The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Christians are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

References from the C.C.C.:

St. Gregory of Nyssa, De beatitudinibus, 1:PG 44,1200D.64 Wis 8:7.65 Prov 14:15.66 1 Pet 4:7.67 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,47,2.68 Lev 19:15.69 Col 4:1.70 Ps 118:14.71 Jn 16:33.72 Sir 5:2; cf. 37:27-31.73 Sir 18:30.74 Titus 2:12.75 St. Augustine, De moribus eccl. 1,25,46:PL 32,1330-1331.76 Cf. 2 Pet 1:4.77 Cf. 1 Cor 13:13.78 DV 5.79 Rom 1:17; Gal 5:6.80 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1545.81 Jas 2:26.82 LG 42; cf. DH 14.83 Mt 10:32-33.84 Heb 10:23.85 Titus 3:6-7.86 Cf. Gen 17:4-8; 22:1-18.87 Rom 4:18.88 Rom 5:5.89 Heb 6:19-20.90 1 Thess 5:8.91 Rom 12:12.92 Cf. Rom 8:28-30; Mt 7:21.93 Mt 10:22; cf. Council of Trent: DS 1541.94 1 Tim 2:4.95 St. Teresa of Avila, Excl. 15:3.96 Cf. Jn 13:34.97 Jn 13:1.98 Jn 15:9,12.99 Jn 15:9-10; cf. Mt 22:40; Rom 13:8-10.100 Rom 5:10.101 Cf. Mt 5:44; Lk 10:27-37; Mk 9:37; Mt 25:40, 45.102 1 Cor 13:4-7.103 1 Cor 13:1-4.104 1 Cor 13:13.105 Col 3:14.106 Cf. 1 Jn 4:19.107 St. Basil, Reg. fus. tract., prol. 3:PG 31,896B.108 St. Augustine, In ep. Jo. 10,4:PL 35,2057.109 Cf. Isa 11:1-2.110 Ps 143:10.111 Rom 8:14,17.112 Gal 5:22-23 (Vulg.).

Blessings,
~Bella

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