There are strong, committed Catholics who have experienced the fire of the Holy Spirit in their lives! They are on fire with their love for the Church, their love for Jesus Christ and their hunger to share this Good News with others! They have experienced this fire through movements such as the ACTS retreat, Cursillo, Antioch Weekend, the Steubenville retreat, and so on. What could make them even more dynamic, though, is an awareness and use of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Church has long-taught about the gifts from Isaiah 11:2-3. These are the gift of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. These are very important gifts because they help us grow in holiness, but they are not the only gifts. There are also the charismatic gifts that St. Paul mentions in his letters. Included are such gifts as miracles, prophecy, tongues, the interpretation of tongues, healing and so on. These are gits that when combined with those from the prophet Isaiah, enable the believer to continue Jesus' ministry in the world today.
In addition to presenting what the gifts are, examples are given for most of the gifts to show how they can be used in the world today. Even when the Isaiah gifts have been presented in catechetical instruction their use in everyday life has often been ignored. It was for the purpose of empowering on-fire Catholics with an awareness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that the LIGHT Seminar was created. LIGHT is an acronym for Living in the Gifts of the Holy Trinity. It is a day-long seminar of teaching and prayer. Its purpose is to enlighten Catholics about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, motivate them to pray about the gifts God has given them, and encourage them to start using these gifts. The purpose of this book is to acquaint Catholics with this information whether or not they are able to attend a LIGHT Seminar. After all, it's not the LIGHT Seminar that's going to give them the gifts but an openness to the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, a suggested schedule for the LIGHT Seminar is provided if anyone is interested in having one.
The chapters include: The 7 Gifts of Isaiah 11:2-3, the Word Gifts (Tongues, the Interpretation of Tongues, Teaching), the Gifts of Power (Healing, Miracles); Gifts of Revelation (Prophecy, Word of Knowledge, Mental Images, Discernment of Spirits), the Gifts of Service (Mercy, Hospitality, Giving, Leadership, Serving in Ministry), and the gifts of Ephesians 4:11 (Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors.) Other chapters are, Obstacles to Living the Spirit-filled Life, a Prayer of Forgiveness, Daily Growing in the Spirit-filled Life, and Spiritual Warfare.
The basic theme is that these gifts are meant for every baptized Catholic. Evidence for the orthodoxy of the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is given from Church doctrine, history, Papal teaching and Scripture. The examples given in this book will, with God's grace, help Catholics discover the gifts God has given them, and those he may yet have in store for them. It is a next step for those enthusiastic Catholics who are on fire about serving God. After all, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not extraordinary blessings for the holy few. They are the means God has provided for each of us to continue Jesus' work on earth.
