TODAY’S READINGS

The first reading is from Is 11:1-10, the famous passage that gives us the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
A Spirit of counsel and of strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,
and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. (vv. 2-3a)

Refer to this helpful article for Aquinas’s breakdown of these gifts and some additional interesting commentary. Also worth checking out is this video by the good Dominicans at the Thomistic Institute.

“This text is important for the whole pneumatology of the Old Testament, because it constitutes a kind of bridge between the ancient biblical concept of ‘spirit,’ understood primarily as a ‘charismatic breath of wind,’ and the ‘Spirit” as a person and as a gift, a gift for the person. The Messiah of the lineage of David (‘from the stump of Jesse’) is precisely that person upon whom the Spirit of the Lord ‘shall rest.’ It is obvious that in this case one cannot speak of a revelation of the Paraclete. However, with this veiled reference to the figure of the future Messiah there begins, so to speak, the path towards the full revelation of the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Trinitarian mystery, a mystery which will finally be manifested in the New Covenant. (Dominum et Vivificantem, 15)” (The Navarre Bible: Major Prophets, 88-89)

“The way to heaven is opened by the sevenfold grace of the Spirit. Isaiah speaks from the viewpoint of heaven, numbering the steps in descending order: wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and piety, and fear of the Lord. Since it is written ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,’ it is clear that the way ascends from fear to wisdom instead of going down from wisdom to fear. The prophet thus reasons from heavenly things to humbler things. (St Gregory the Great, Homilies on Ezekiel 2, 7, 7).” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Isaiah, 36)

God bless.