The Taize chant was soft. Slowly the choir began to implore the Spirit to descend on the ten adults to be baptized at the Easter Vigil.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus…

I closed my eyes. The chant moved through the congregation, rising stronger. The concelebrating priests gathered around the catechumens as the assembly invoked the Holy Spirit.

Veni, Sanctae Spiritus…

Warmth. Tears. O God…

It wasn’t a prayer. It was joy. Pure joy. Amazing wonder….

The gift of understanding is infused in the soul with sanctifying grace, by which the intellect, under the illuminating action of the Holy Spirit, grasps revealed truths with penetrating and profound intuition.

The “plus” of the gift of understanding is a simple intuition of truth, a type of infused contemplation. Our intellect is incapable of seizing the infinite, even though it lives of faith. The gift of understanding surpasses our human way of comprehension and enlightens us in a divine way. By the gift of understanding we “experience” what is true, we grasp the divine mysteries with the understanding of the Spirit himself in a way that produces a profound effect in the soul. It is a swift, deep penetration which makes us understand the inner meaning of the revealed truth.

By this gift we can understand the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture. We can grasp the spiritual realities of created things. St. Thomas stated: “In this very life, when the eye of the spirit is purified by the gift of understanding, one can in a certain way see God.” As a result, we begin to see all things through the prism of faith, almost guided by divine instinct.

Here are two ways you can dispose yourself with the help of grace for the activation of the gift of understanding:

• The Holy Spirit is the friend of recollection and solitude. Jealously preserve times of spiritual rest and intentional silence. Invoke the Holy Spirit frequently.
• Be faithful to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and the movement of grace within. Avoid thoughts, words, and actions that would sadden the Holy Spirit, and second every movement of the Spirit within you until you can say with Christ: “I always do what pleases him” (John 8:29).

Prayer

O divine Spirit! I beg you with confidence to illumine me. Reveal to me the divine greatness and the divine mysteries, so that I may adore and acknowledge them. Reveal to me what you wish of me so that I may correspond with complete fidelity. O loving Spirit, sustain me in this fidelity until death. Amen.