Gift of Goodness

Courage Allows God to Tell His Story. Gift of the Spirit: Fortitude

It caught me by surprise as I walked to my car after picking up a prescription for my husband at MD Anderson Cancer Center.  Because of Covid and the hospital still on operational alert status, I had to do a curbside pick-up.  The tears welled up in my eyes and overflowed onto my cheeks thinking about the number of times I parked in the same patient discharge area over the past year and a half, each time waiting for my husband to be released after his cumulative 200+ days as an inpatient.  I witnessed my husband’s courage and the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Fortitude, like never before.  His willingness to undergo the bone marrow transplant and the associated risks to extend his life on this earth to be with those he loves is fortitude in action.  But here we are now enjoying a quarantined life and I was so grateful I was not picking him up again after a discharge. He is our miracle man, a living testimony of God as healer and a vehicle for God to tell His story.

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Gift of Goodness

Joyful and Reverent Love. Gift of the Spirit: Piety

We only need faith the size of a mustard seed.

Truth be told, I have never been curious enough to explore the Gift of Piety as the word itself has been off-putting to me, sounding pretentious or pompous.  But after learning the meaning of Piety as the quality of reverence, this gift of the Holy Spirit has taken on a whole new context for me.  As I contemplate this gift, I see how it is woven through recent times in my life when God was drawing me closer to Him through silence, and feeling sacred presence in adoration, the eucharist and on pilgrimage surrounded by holy saints.  It produces such feelings of joy and reverence in my heart. 

Continue reading “Joyful and Reverent Love. Gift of the Spirit: Piety”