Are the gifts of the Holy Spirit necessary for salvation?

As the Church prepares for the Solemnity of Pentecost, we are invited to pray the good Lord to send a new outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our souls. Thus, the novena to the Holy Spirit – from the Friday after Ascension Thursday through to the Saturday Vigil of Pentecost – enjoys a certain pride of place among the various novenas in the life of the Church.

But what exactly are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? And, are they necessary for our salvation?

You may find the Novena for the gifts of the Holy Spirit [here].

How the gifts differ from virtues

Like the virtues, gifts are stable realities in the soul. They are spiritual and immaterial things which are in the faculties of the soul, perfecting and guiding either the intellect or the will.

Some virtues are built up by human effort, these are called acquired virtues. Others are placed into the soul by God without human co-operation, these are called infused virtues.

Some virtues deal with the moral life (moral virtues), while others deal with the intellectual life (intellectual virtues). Finally, some deal with God in a supernatural way (theological virtues).

Now, the moral and intellectual virtues include both acquired and infused virtues. So, for example, there is the acquired intellectual virtue of prudence, but there is also the infused intellectual virtue of prudence – and this is truly another virtue, for it is supernatural in nature.

Further, all of the theological virtues (faith, hope, and love) are infused, they cannot be built up by human effort.

However, every virtue, whether acquired or infused, is under the control and power of man. For example: While no one can gain faith through human effort, once a man has received the virtue of faith (infused into his intellect by God), he has it within his power to make an act of faith.

And this is the real difference between a virtue and a gift: The gifts of the Holy Spirit truly are infused into a man’s soul (either into his intellect or his will), but they cannot be activated by man’s willing it. I can make an act of faith, hope, or love whenever I choose (so long as I am in the state of grace), but I cannot make an act of the gift of wisdom or of understanding at my willing it.

When I have the theological virtue of faith, I will to make the act of faith, and I move myself to that action. However, when I have the gift of understanding, it is only the Holy Spirit who can move me to make an act of that gift.

The easiest analogy is to think of a boat: The virtues are like the oars (men in the boat row forward by their own effort), while the gifts are like the sails (by which the wind propels the boat forward, and the men in the boat have no control over when the wind will blow).

See our earlier article on this analogy between the human soul and a boat [here].

 The gifts allow for a divine mode of acting

Now, because heaven is supernatural, it is beyond the human powers to attain to it. Though we certainly recognize that man merits his salvation by the grace of God, we must admit that a man cannot get to heaven through human effort.

And so, there is a tension in our theology: On the one hand, we want to emphasize that salvation is God’s work; but, on the other hand, we do not want to deny man’s co-operation. How can it be that God saves me, but that I also participate in this work?

St. Thomas, and the catholic moral tradition generally, answers this problem with an emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts are truly within man, in his soul (both in his intellect and in his will). And yet, by them, man is moved to action by the special prompting of God. So, on one level, the gifts are human, insofar as they are within man; but, on another level, they are divine, insofar as they are infused by God and are activated by God alone.

Let us return to the analogy of the boat, with the gifts being compared to sails. If the wind blows in the sails and pushes the boat forward, do we not admit that the sails (which are truly a part of the boat) are causing the boat to go forward? And yet, is it not also true that the wind (which is not part of the boat) is pushing the boat toward its destination?

By the gifts of the Holy Spirit, man acts in a divine mode which is far beyond his nature – and this is why these acts can only be initiated by God himself. And yet, though these actions are divine, they are also human because the gifts are truly within man’s soul.

What makes the gifts necessary for salvation

Now, the gifts are necessary for salvation (together with the theological virtues) because heaven is a supernatural goal which is beyond man’s power to attain. Since salvation is beyond human nature of itself, even the theological virtues are not alone sufficient – for the theological virtues operate still according to the human mode, and are under human control (after they have been infused).

Thus, man must be moved toward heaven according to a higher divine mode – and this is effected through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there is nothing lacking in the theological virtues: They do everything that they are supposed to do. The theological virtues are certainly the foundation of the life of grace. But we say, then, that the gifts are the crowning of the spiritual life.

Without the gifts, a man will not be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Further, the gifts are infused into the soul together with the theological virtue of charity – hence, whosoever is in the state of grace possesses the gifts, and if a man falls to mortal sin he loses the gifts.

A diagram of the virtues and the gifts

Theological and Cardinal Virtues	Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Charity	Wisdom
Hope	Understanding
Faith	Knowledge
Prudence	Counsel
Justice	Piety
Fortitude	Fortitude
Temperance	Fear of the Lord

Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love!