The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Counsel
“I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future” (Luke 13:8-9).
“The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1830).
Note from the editor: This article is part of a series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Read the articles about knowledge, fortitude, understanding, fear of the Lord, piety, and wisdom.
What Is Counsel?
When we discuss counsel as a gift of the Spirit, we are first and foremost describing a heart’s conversion toward the voice and will of the Father. It’s a trinitarian disposition: a trait shared by Christ, through the Holy Spirit, orienting ourselves to the Father’s will for our life.
When discussing the gift of counsel, Catholic Answers defines it as “[allowing] a man to be directed by God in matters necessary for his salvation.” We may see counsel in positive matters, such as when a friend confides in us and we share the Gospel and teach him or her about a relationship with Jesus. Other times, counsel is an opportunity to coach another and may manifest in the conviction of the heart that leads to conversion. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul explains this conviction best, saying, “These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did” (1 Corinthians 10:6).
The gift of counsel is the ability to walk with another and grow in holy friendship. It means building a community and orienting our heart outside of itself and outside of our front door. It requires intimacy, vulnerability, and time. It requires us to stand in place so long that our roots grow and extend deep into the soil. It requires us to be and thrive as we are, in a single place, enriching ourselves in the nutrients of fertile soil, the resources of the Church, and time.
Cultivating the Ground
Jesus’s parable of the fruit in the orchard explains it well: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future’” (Luke 13:6-9).
How often are we the owner of the orchard, becoming so frustrated by the people around us who don’t seem to “get it,” that we wish to do away with them altogether? How often are we the gardener who will stay with the fig tree to nurse it to health and help it bear fruit?
The counsel of others toward our own character is also important, and it requires our own receptivity. We must be willing to humble ourselves and believe that the counsel of our trusted friends is an instrument of the Holy Spirit, directing us in matters necessary for our salvation.
The gift of counsel fulfills this need in the Church: We are our neighbor’s keeper, and the souls of our neighbors matter. Our time and investment in friendship, not simply to fix people but to love them fully and purely, can bring our family, friends, and peers to a rich relationship with Christ, fulfilling the will of the Father.
We must also be available to hear the counsel of others, to receive their gifts and wisdom in earnest as an avenue toward heaven. Without the friendship and guidance of others, we create insular echo chambers that do not promote growth. Instead, they leave us stagnant and satiated.
The gift of counsel reminds us of our communal dependence on another, acting as one necessary part of the whole Body of Christ. The care, intimacy, and time we share helps us to grow and flourish and, in time, bear good fruit.
Mindy Edgington is a fiery, Midwestern Catholic convert from St. Louis, Missouri. By day, Mindy works for a Catholic health care system in group purchasing and IT contracting. Outside of work, she is a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in foster care, Bible study leader at her local parish, and avid reader who is proud of her library card. She now lives in Omaha, NE with her husband, Octavio, who is currently in law school at Creighton University. They're accompanied by their hound dog, Brody. You can follow her on Instagram @mindy.edgington.