Saturday, March 16, 2024

Bonaventure for Lent XXVIII

 ...the gifts of the Holy Spirit are seven in number for the sake of helping us suffer in the same spirit as Christ. In accepting his passion, Christ was moved to endure his sufferings by the will of the Father, by the needs of humanity, and by the strength fo his own virtue. He was moved by the will of the Father, which he knew through understanding, loved through wisdom, and reverenced through fear. He was moved by our needs, which he was led to understand through knowledge and for which he was led to show compassion through piety. Not least of all, he was moved by the strength of his own virtue, which counsel made capable of farsighted choice, and fortitude, of vigorous achievement. And so the gifts are properly seven.

[Bonaventure, Breviloquium (5.5.6), Monti, tr., Franciscan Institute Publications (St. Bonaventure, NY: 2005) p. 189. I've highlighted the names of the seven gifts.]