- Matthew 28:16-20
It is significant that one of the first things Jesus did after his Resurrection was give the gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Jesus knew what was going to happen and that the disciples would need someone to help them. He knew the challenges they would face and how difficult their mission to spread the Gospel was going to be. So he gave them the Spirit and, with it, the gifts that the Spirit brings. With these gifts, He knew that they would be successful and that the Church would grow.
But it did not stop there. If it had, Christianity would have died out two thousand years ago when the last Apostle died. Instead, the Apostles were given the ability to pass on the gift of the Spirit to others. And so that gift has been passed down, from generation to generation, via baptism and confirmation, to the present day. We, living in 2017, have received the same Spirit that the Apostles received on that first Pentecost, and we receive the same gifts: wisdom, good counsel, understanding, knowledge, piety, courage and wonder and awe. It is these gifts that we are called to use as we carry out our mission of sharing God’s love with all those we meet. But how do we know if we are using them well?
As Jesus tells us in Matthew’s Gospel, “By their fruits you will know them” (7:16). And so it is with the Holy Spirit. When we use His gifts correctly, we experience the Fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity. In these virtues, we see the hallmarks of a holy life and virtues that we all should try to live out. But the key to all of this is that we can only accomplish it with the help of the Spirit. Just as we need to receive Jesus on a regular basis in the Eucharist, we need to constantly turn to the Holy Spirit for guidance and support. His gifts are freely given to all of us, but we will only see their fruits when we open ourselves up to the movements of the Spirit.